By Onny Gangata
FOR most teams, pre-season is about identifying transfer targets, conditioning of players and working on combinations among other things, but for FC Wangu Mazodze City, there is more to pre-season than just working on the players.
The newly assembled Kwekwe side who will be making their debut in the Ruvimbo funeral Central Region Soccer League understands the importance of the 12th man.
Zhalala Zhululu, as the team is affectionately known, has been working round the clock to build a solid fan base to rally behind their boys when the season kicks off in April.
FC Wangu Mazodze are new to the mining town and have chosen to use Baghdad stadium as their home ground.The ground used to be home to former Premier Soccer League (PSL) side, Lancashire Steel.
The club’s spokesperson Blessing Kwesha says they have been on a massive campaign to connect with the local community.
“We have been going around distributing T-shirts, calendars and paraphernalia to all our stakeholders and supporters in the city,” Kwesha told The Echo Sports.
“We have already created a fan base that is thriving and we are loving what we are seeing,our numbers are growing on a daily basis on the social media platforms, which is encouraging.”
Kwekwe has not witnessed top flight football since the relegation of Lancashire Steel in 2008 despite the abundance of talent in the city.
Several teams from the town including Ivan Hoe mine, ZPC Munyati, Kwekwe United, and army side, Tongogara have played second fiddle to teams from neighbouring Gweru and Zvishavane in the race for promotion in the past seasons.
But FC Wangu Mazodze City have been astute in the appointment of the head coach as they settled for former Chimbi Chimbi boys midfielder Isaac Nyabvure.
The hope is that Nyabvure will use his knowledge of the central region terrain to guide the team to success.
“We believe he knows the players in the city and he will give them a chance. So we feel that we have a competitive side and believe this is the side to bring back PSL football to Kwekwe. Our ambition is to decorate football and win promotion into the PSL,” added Kwesha.
He however, refused to reveal the new players the club has brought on board but insisted they have a formidable outfit.
“We held trials under the guidance of our coach Isaac Nyabvure and we have some exciting local youngsters and others from the premiership,” he said.
