eBusiness Weekly
Chipo Sabeta
The ongoing 2019 edition of the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival, whose aim is to strengthen the development of rugby from grassroots level, is also expected to unveil raw talent from urban and rural schools.
Formerly Cottco Rugby Festival, the one week rugby fête is one of the biggest schools rugby festivals in Zimbabwe that kicked off at Prince Edward School on Sunday with 16 primary schools competing.
The teams will battle for the crown and pride of development, growth and high performance of rugby. However, the most important highlight will be the tournament’s potential to produce the next Tendai Mtawawira from the grass roots.
“This is the major highlight on our calendar and gives the community an opportunity to live out our intent to inspire in excellence and make a world of difference. We have maintained the enthusiasm and energy and dynamism over the years,” said Dairibord Zimbabwe director marketing Tracy Mutaviri.
“Outside promoting and improving the health lifestyles and education of schools, we are using this tournament to develop the sport from grassroots levels.
“The objective of the festival is to spread and develop the game of rugby to all corners of the country and African continent.
“While sport is a form of entertainment, it has now become a fast growing global industry, which offers lucrative career opportunities and it is one of our dreams to see a couple of our youngsters undertake and embark on rugby as a sport and in the end being successful in the sport,” she added.
Over the years, the festival has grown to become one of the biggest rugby tournaments in the world, attracting participants from the Southern African region and beyond.
This year’s festival is running under the initiative; “Everyone is a Winner” with 120 participating schools, the festival attracted two foreign teams from Botswana and Zambia.
