The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE Glow Petroleum-bankrolled Rainbow National League (RANL) 2024 season kicked off with some exhilarating netball action at Sakubva Beit Hall Court in Mutare as well as other match venues across the country.
Three teams – Tenax Queens, Santa Queens and Mweyamutsvene High School – kept a relatively small crowd in attendance on the edge of their seats with some captivating action on the court in the three encounters that were played last Saturday.
The 2024 season of the RANL has a total of 21 teams based in Mutare, Marange, Bikita, Masvingo, Harare, Chitungwiza, Shamva and Bulawayo.
RANL started in 2018 with a total 123 affiliates clubs, divided into the National League and other lower divisions, but down trimmed to 21 teams to cater for one league.
RANL spokesperson, Moses Gukurume said: “We are looking forward to an exciting league season after we managed to reigning most of the clubs that we had last season, including the reigning champions, Glow Petroleum, second placed Correctional Queens and Mambas who settled for third place. We also have new teams for the 2024 season that came on board that include Mutare-based Santa Queens, Bikita-based Lithium Queens and ZRP Masvingo.”
Gukurume said the inclusion of school teams in this competitive league dovetails with their mission to develop grassroots talent.
“School teams have also come on board, a development which dovetails with our mission of developing grassroots talents and nurturing talent from early ages. Mweyamutsvene High School and Shamva-based Filchrist have joined us and we are excited about this development. This ensures that our brand will not be extinct at any given time because we have youthful clubs coming in whose players and institutions have a much longer shelf life,” he said.
Apart from the prizes for champions and second and third placed teams at the end of the season, the RNL has maintained its glitz, thanks to individual awards meant to recognise the outstanding exploits of players of the season, golden hand – top goal scorer as well as the people’s choice award among others.
Other bubbles that were hosted during the opening round of the 2024 league season include Bikita Minerals, White City, Patchway, Harare Municipal, Seke Teachers and TelOne Showgrounds bubbles.
In the Sakubva Beit Hall bubble, experience prevailed over determination as Tenax Queens outclassed Mweyamutsvene 63-28, before beating Santa Queens 39-25.
Mweyamutsvene High School came back for their second match of the bubble on more determined and succumbed to a decent 33-23 scoreline to Santa Queens.
