ZIMBABWE’S Warriors will certainly play their final 2013 Nations Cup qualifier in September at Barbourfields as part of a directive by the Education, Sport and Arts Minister, David Coltart, for national sporting events to be held across the country.
All Africa reports that the Warriors have been camped in Harare for years now and have turned Rufaro and the National Sports Stadium into their permanent home grounds.
Zifa chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, recently said the National Sports Stadium remained the home of the Warriors and the team played its last two matches there despite serious concerns over the poor state of the surface.
But that is now going to change following Coltart’s directive that, from August 1 this year, international sporting events should be rotated throughout the country. The Sports Commission, rather than the associations, will now have the final say on where international sporting events will be held in this country.
That will see the Warriors playing in Bulawayo, the only other city outside Harare with a stadium that meets spectator and security requirements, on a regular basis.
More international cricket matches will now have to be played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
In a letter written to the Sport and Recreation Commission board, Coltart said there was an inequitable distribution of international sporting fixtures in this country.
“For some time I have been concerned about what I perceive as an inequitable distribution of international sporting fixtures in Zimbabwe,” wrote Coltart. “I recognise that only certain facilities are acceptable for international events and to that extent only certain stadium can be used. This will be taken into account in the formulation of the new directives.
“Accordingly, my proposed directives are that all sports associations recognised by the SRC will immediately advise the SRC of the venues which are accepted or recognised for international fixtures by the relevant international sporting body.
“With effect from 1st August 2012, the SRC shall only authorise international sporting events (in terms of Section 19 (d) of the SRC Act) which states 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.
“Ideally matches should be held systematically and sequentially at all venues, in other words, there must also be equitable sharing of sporting series as well as individual matches.”
Coltart said everything was currently centred in the capital.
“The current problem is that virtually all matches in some disciplines are played in Harare,” wrote Coltart.
“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.
“My intention is that this directive should take effect from the 1st of August 2012 and accordingly in anticipation of this I would like the SRC to bear this in mind for fixtures still to be held this year,” said Coltart.