Education, Sport and Arts Minister, David Coltart, has issued a directive for national sporting events to be held across the country with effect from August 1st 2012.
As published in ZimEye, in a directive letter to the Sports and Recreation Commission chairman Joseph James, Minister Coltart spelt out the need to decentralise Warriors’ football matches away from Harare to other deserving towns around the country, and called for the football fraternity to emulate other sporting events like cricket that are nationally spread out.
Coltart’s directive effectively means that the next Warriors match may move to Barbourfields Stadium away from Harare where all national sporting activities have historically been played at either the National Sports Stadium and Rufaro Stadium.
According to Coltart the purpose behind this directive is to ensure national equity and fairness and also build a national sense of pride.
“The purpose behind these directives is to ensure national equity and fairness. The current problem is that virtually all matches in some disciplines are played in Harare. If we are to build national support for all sporting disciplines and a national sense of pride, our national teams must be seen by as many Zimbabweans as possible throughout the nation,†he says.
Coltart’s directives letter broadly reads:
“All sports associations recognised by the SRC will immediately advise the SRC of the venues which are accepted/recognised for international fixtures by the relevant international sporting body. For example, I believe that the National Sport Stadium, Rufaro and Barbourfields are the only grounds which meet Fifa specifications and so, in future, matches should be held alternately and evenly at all three of these grounds.
With effect from 1st August 2012, the SRC shall only authorise international sporting events (in terms of Section 19(d) of the SRC Act) on condition that all sporting associations hold all matches involving representative Zimbabwean teams, including both friendly and official matches, at all internationally accepted venues on an equitable and alternating basis.
For the avoidance of doubt, in any calendar year matches should be evenly spread amongst all internationally accepted venues. For example, in every calendar year, Zifa will have to ensure that the Warriors and Mighty Warriors play an equal number of matches each at the National Sports Stadium, Rufaro and Barbourfields. Ideally matches should be held systematically and sequentially at all venues.
If financial considerations demand that a particular series be held at one venue (and because of that, an even distribution of matches at all venues cannot be achieved in that calendar year) then the SRC must only grant permission for future series in subsequent years if the relevant sports association holds any subsequent series at a different venue. In other words, there must also be equitable sharing of sporting series as well as individual matches.
The purpose behind these directives is to ensure national equity and fairness. The current problem is that virtually all matches in some disciplines are played in Harare. If we are to build national support for all sporting disciplines and a national sense of pride, our national teams must be seen by as many Zimbabweans as possible throughout the nation.â€