RETURNING Zifa Central Region Division One side Gwanda Ramblers have been expelled from the league over $3 000 affiliation fees arrears and failure to pay match officials for their duties.
Sports Correspondent
Ramblers have been shown the door, hardly a year since their revival. Acting Zifa Central Region chairman Patrick Hill yesterday confirmed the expulsion.
“Gwanda Ramblers have been expelled for failing to pay affiliation fees as they owe Zifa over $3 000 and have failed to pay referees for three consecutive games,” Hill said.
Efforts to get a comment from the club secretary Bekezela Fuzwayo Maduma were fruitless yesterday. Another club Vumbachikwe has also been given until the end of the month to pay their outstanding fees or face the same fate.
Affectionately known as Siwelele SamaJahunda back in the 1990s, Gwanda Ramblers became defunct in 1999 due to financial constraints.
It was revived this year with hopes of making it into the Premier Soccer League but that end seems not in sight. There has always been indications from the onset that Ramblers would experience financial problems as it failed to attract crowds.
At one time the team offered free entry into matches in an endeavour to market the club. The expulsion of Ramblers from the league means there won’t be top-flight football in the mining town and football fans have urged the business community to intervene and save the situation.
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