THE first part of Walter Magaya’s sponsorship of USD 320 000 of the Heart Women Soccer League kicked in over the weekend when chairpersons of the 16 Zimbabwe Women Soccer League converged at the Yadah Hotel for a workshop on corporate governance and football administration.
The workshop allowed men and women entrusted with running the women’s game to be on the same page with the sponsor and meet his expectations.
Premier Soccer League (PSL) Chief Executive Kenny Ndebele, former ZIFA Technical Director Wilson Mutekede, and former CAPS United Public Relations Manager and founder of Amor Sport Joyce Kapota were some of the workshop facilitators, sharing their rich knowledge on their area of expertise.
Magaya who owns PSL club, Yadah FC, has in the past given one-off donations to various sporting codes, said sponsoring The Heart Women’s League is a new territory for him.
“We have never gone this close to sponsorship in this manner, the workshop was about how clubs should be managed. That’s why we brought in facilitators who are experts in sport like Ndebele, Mutekede and Joyce giving lectures,” said Magaya.
“If we can’t positively influence the administration, not me teaching them but facilitating ways that can make them good administrators, then we would have failed our sport.
Veteran football administrator who is also the Chairperson of The Heart Women Soccer League, Theresa Maguraushe was happy with the quality of the topics covered during the conference and believes that it will help in professionalising the league
“We learnt a lot today (Saturday) from the seasoned football administrators who were the guest speakers at our workshop and I know that a seed of professionalism has been sown into all of us who attended the workshop,” she said.
“I enjoyed the discussion on branding, if we follow what Miss Kapota said and brand at a personal level, it will be easy for us then to unlock the value of the league’s brand and give the sponsor a big return on his investment.”
The second phase of the sponsorship kicks in this coming weekend with a 16-team knockout tournament to be held at The Heart Stadium with the winners set to walk away with $10 000, the runners-up will get $5 000 and the third-placed team will get $3 000.
The tournament is sponsored to the tune of close to $ 50,000, with the player of the tournament receiving $ 1,500, something that has never been heard of in women’s football in Zimbabwe.
Herentals Queen’s chairperson, Pauline Benza thanked Magaya for his kind gesture.
“I just can’t believe what I am seeing, I positively mean this. We went to a continental tournament in Malawi a few weeks back and we lost in the semifinals but there was no prize money,” said Benza.
“To get a tournament in which players and teams get money is just unbelievable.”
The women’s football leadership took the opportunity to deliberate on some clauses of the new ZIFA constitution which is still in the consultation stage.
The clubs unanimously endorsed the clause that the Vice President of ZIFA should be a woman.
The majority voted against putting in a clause that bars anyone without a minimum of five ordinary-level passes to be barred from running for office.
Another hot issue is a clause to bar from running for office those who have not lived in Zimbabwe for the past two years, the women’s assemblies want the years to be increased to five because they believe that most of those who live outside of Zimbabwe are out of touch with reality on the ground.
