Dendairy, Hardrock withdraw from CRSL

Kwekwe(New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) Central Region Soccer League has been dealt a major blow following the withdrawal of two Kwekwe teams from the league, hardly a few weeks before the start of the 2020 season.

CRSL chairperson Stanley Chapeta confirmed the withdrawal of Dendairy FC and former Zifa Midlands Division 2B side Hardrock FC.

“Dendairy wrote to us this week informing us that they have withdrawn from the league. They did not say much about their withdrawal but we gather that the company (Dendairy) is no longer in a position to finance football activities due to the prevailing economic hardships in the country.”

Chapeta said the withdrawal of Dendairy has left the league with 17 teams.

He said Hardrock, which had paid a deposit to get a franchise in the league, also withdrew from the league before the deal was concluded.

“We had booked Hardrock as the 18th team in the league after they had indicated that they wanted a slot in the CRSL.
“Unfortunately, they wrote to us in January this year before our annual general meeting telling us that they won’t be playing in the CRSL.”
Hardrock finished as runners up behind Division 2B champions Hurricanes. Hurricanes won the league with 50 points and Hardrock were one point behind.

“We will no longer be playing in the Central Region after the sponsor withdrew due to some undisclosed reasons. We were ready to fight for top honours in the Central Region but with this new development, we won’t be part of the league,” said a member of the club.

“For the record, we have disbanded and we can only regroup if the sponsor makes a u-turn on his decision to withdraw from the CSRL.”

Repeated efforts to get a comment from Hardrock FC organizing secretary Itai Munyanyi were fruitless.

Last year, Hardrock, which was under the tutelage of former Lancashire Steel player Kenneth Chembe, was given a three year lease by Kwekwe City Council to upgrade and use Amaveni Stadium.

Hardrock had so far erected a perimeter fence around the pitch and had plans to renovate the ground stands, dressing rooms and durawall, among other work to be done for the stadium to meet the required Zifa standards.
Zifa Midlands province has three Division Two leagues which feed into the CRSL.

In the just ended season, Zvishavane based Loss Control FC qualified from 2A league, Hurricanes FC made the grade from 2B and Paramount FC from Gokwe joined the top league from 2C. They will be joined by Talen Vision of Filabusi.

Paramount FC of Gokwe will be making their debut in CRSL next season.
All new clubs are expected to pay an affiliation of over ZWL$50 000 while the old clubs will pay over ZWL$40 000.

Chapeta said if everything goes according to plan, the league games will start at the end of March.

New Ziana