By ADRIAN MWANZA –
ROAN Rugby Club has beefed up the squad by recruiting 14 players in readiness for the Zambia Rugby Union (ZRU) 2016 National Rugby League (NRL) season which begins in March.
Head coach Buuka Ntembe said the team had already started training with the new players ahead of the season despite continuing to face hardships even after making frantic efforts to lure sponsors to help the team back to its glory days.
Ntembe said in an interview that the stadium terraces were vandalised and there was no roofing as it was stolen three years ago.
He wondered why the football team was being funded by the corporate world while the rugby team was neglected.
“Can you imagine that the stadium has no roofing in the terraces because they were vandalised three years ago!” he said.
Ntembe said the team was hoping new players would help it get good results in the B League starting with the opening fixture against ‘Killer Bees’ Ndola Wanderers on February 26 which will be the Bruce Anderson traditional game played annually.
“We have continued to face hardships and hope some companies and individuals can come to our aid. It is unfortunate that our talented players are poached by bigger clubs who lure them with lucrative offers which they fail to reject,” Ntembe said.
He said Roan was more like a nursery where many talented players in the country hailed from before joining big teams in the league.
