By Darlington Gatsi
PREMIER Netball League (PNL) side Greenfuel Queens is burning with mass exodus of players, who form the core of its squad, in protest over the club’s administration and handling of their welfare.
This comes as the Chisumbanje-based side is preparing for a bruising weekend as it faces Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) and in-form Ngezi Platinum in the PNL matches this weekend.
Greenfuel has been left in a conundrum emanating from the en masse resignation of the players.
The Club triggered a wave of these resignations after instituting disciplinary action against its senior players which resulted in their dismissal.
This has not settled down with other players who in protests have thrown in their towels.
Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Merit Rumema confirmed the exodus of its players.
“It is indeed true that players resigned from the Netball team at Greenfuel. There was a disciplinary hearing concerning two players for a number of reasons that we felt we could not disclose as contracts are private and confidential.
“So when two players were let go a number of them protested why they were being let go and they decided to also leave the Netball team. We accepted their resignations. We do not force people to stay in a place they do not want to be in,” said Rumema.
Greenfuel are perched in third position having played 25 games and are 10 points behind Platinum Queens.
Weekend’s games are vital for the Ethanol girls to close the gap between them and leaders and the resignations are a blow for Bonginkosi Dube.
Rumema played down the impact of player exodus in the team’s aspirations of challenging for the PNL title.
“In terms of the big games that are coming, we had 22 players in camp and the squad that has been left behind is good enough. We are confident that we will not suffer a huge blow in the coming games.
“We have a lot of applicants who also want to join the team. The transfer windows have been closed by the PNL but we wrote to them asking if we could get in new players. If that fails we have sufficient numbers in camp to play,” said Rumema.
