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Sports Reporter

AN ambitious project to renovate Wadzanai Stadium in Shamva is underway as Division One newboys Simba Bhora prepare for life in the country’s second-tier football league this year.

A borehole has been drilled to provide an endless supply of water, the playing surface is being relaid and flattened while a new security wall is being erected.

In an era where the ugly boardroom politics at ZIFA dominate the headlines, such great community-changing initiatives, which provide the sport with a real value, rarely gets even a mention.

Which is actually quite a surprise for a country which has seen its main football stadiums — the National Sports Stadium, Rufaro and Mandava — being deemed not good enough to host international matches.

But, then, Zimbabwean football has always been an enigma.

It’s the toxic politics that usually get the coverage, the administrators who normally gets the headlines and the uglier the story the better chances it has of making the back pages of newspapers.

It’s like nothing else is happening, it’s all doom and gloom when the reality is that there are some people desperate to make a difference to a game they love.

Like the small community of Shamva where scores of men and women have been volunteering, spending countless hours, to try and give their town’s stadium a facelift.

The initiative is being led by the local football club, Simba Bhora, formerly Simba Stars, who last year won the right to play in the ZIFA Northern Region Division One League this season.

For the club, it’s a return for another crack at playing in the domestic Premiership and their leadership believe this is just fate playing out its golden hand.

After all, they ask, how did it happen that on the 10th anniversary of their boardroom fight against Douglas Warriors in 2009, for the right to play in the domestic Premiership, they again won a ticket back into Division One?

Back then, in 2009, Simba Stars challenged the declaration that Douglas Warriors has edged them for a place in the Premiership.

They took their fight to ZIFA and the case eventually spilled into the corridors of FIFA but, with their spirits sapped by the lengthy battle, the club’s officials withdrew their case and ended the saga.

Douglas Warriors had a dance with the Premiership, albeit a brief one, and Simba were left to start all over again and the club’s deflated owners retreated and briefly closed shop.

When they decided to have another dance with the game, they started from the very bottom, in Division Two and last year won the ticket to play in Division One.

That called for an urgent need to revamp their home ground and a lot of money is now being pumped into the project amid a wave of excitement among the football-mad Shamva residents.

On Saturday, the owners of Simba Bhora and club officials had a tour of the stadium, after watching trials which were conducted by coach Arthur Tutani, at Shamva Sports Club earlier in the day.

Scores of the local residents converged at the stadium during the tour, a confirmation of the huge football interest in the town, and its unreserved support for its hometown team.

“There’s still some big work to be done to the stadium to the level that we want but we are determined to get the job done,” said Simba Bhora director, Simba Ndoro.

“The community has been very supportive of the club and this is their own football team and it’s only fair that we play our matches in this stadium so that the people get a sense of ownership of the project.

“We are working together with the community to get the stadium ready and hopefully by the time we start our league matches everything will be ready.

“The stadium is our identity, our home, and we want a facility that suits our vision because we have some big dreams, it’s not about just playing in Division One but winning the league and getting into the Premier League.

“We tried to do that about 10 years ago and came very close and we learnt our lessons and we are sure that we can do it this time around although we know it won’t be easy because we have to respect our opponents.”

Ndoro said Mushowani gave Mashonaland Central something to brag about last season and they wanted to follow a similar path.

“The people of our province love football, when we play at home there is always a full house and we have fans coming from Madziva, Bindura and even Mount Darwin to come and support us,” said Ndoro.

“There is a sense of ownership, by the community, of the team and you hear them shout “Chinhu Chedu,” meaning it belongs to us and we are one family, really.”

Ndoro grew up in Shamva and has always been desperate to make a change for his community and believes a revamped stadium, and a competitive football club, could do just that.

Some of the players who were trying their luck at Saturday’s trials included former Black Rhinos, FC Platinum and CAPS United forward, Brian Muzondiwa.