The ManicaPost
FOR the first time in post-independence era, Manicaland will have two teams in the country’s top-flight football league next season following the recent promotion of correctional services side Tenax FC.
Manica Diamonds, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company-bankrolled outfit, is almost completing its first season in the country’s elite football league.
While simple mathematics reveals that Manica Diamonds might face relegation, hopes are high that the club will be able to survive the chop and may only need a point from the remaining two matches to be safe.
Therefore, this sets the tone for an epic Manicaland Premiership derby.
No doubt, sport in general and football in particular is now a multimillion-dollar industry the world over, hence apart from sports entertainment, the promotion of Tenax into the Premiership must also be viewed from the business perspective by the people of Manicaland.
Jobs that will be created directly or indirectly as the club makes the huge leap into the Premiership are valuable not only to Tenax FC as a club but the generality of the people of Manicaland.
Now that we have had the assurance from the-powers-that-be at Tenax that the club will not be relocating to any other place, we have every reason to rally behind them as they partake their top-flight league debut season.
More importantly for Tenax FC, this should not end with just one season in the Premiership. We need them to stay in the top-flight league for a long time to come.
We have had a number of Manicaland-based teams that got promoted and demoted after just one season in the top-flight league and we surely do not wish this to happen to Tenax FC.
In order to have a prolonged stay in the Castle Lager Premiership, it is our hope that the Tenax FC administration is aware of the need to secure sound sponsorship for the team.
We sincerely hope that the club administration is aware that space on their team jersey is a valuable asset in their hands that could earn them sponsorship.
We also hope that the club is aware of the need to get a few more talented and experienced players that will help give depth in order for them to compete favourably in the Premiership.
Without underestimating the boys who worked very hard to get the team into the Premiership, there is need to add more players given that the level of competition is now different from what they managed to withstand in the Eastern Region Division One.
The same goes for the appointment of the new coach.
It is a fact that Blessing Madombi will not be the head coach for Tenax FC next season simply because he does not have the requisite CAF A coaching badge.
Much as it is true that Tenax FC needs exceptionally talented players from any other part of the country or even beyond, there is also nothing wrong with the people of Manicaland expecting to see their own young men donning the green and gold Tenax FC stripe.
In the same breath, we hope the promotion of Tenax FC into the Premiership is also a wake-up call to the local authorities to speed up refurbishment works at Sakubva Stadium.
Will it not be a source of ridicule and shame for two Premiership clubs based in the country’s fourth largest city to play their home matches in a small town like Rusape whose facilities are deemed better?
We could go on and on but after all is said and done, we wish Tenax FC an impressive Premiership debut season.
