MUTARE - There will be no more premiere league action in Manicaland following the relegation of the sole premier league team, Highway, last Sunday.Highway lost 0-3 to Bantu Rovers in its last premiere league match in Bulawayo last Sunday. This resulted in the team waving goodbye to Zimbabwe’s premiership action next year.
Highway finished the season third from bottom with 33 points after playing 30 matches.
The team only managed to win eight matches throughout the whole season, drew nine times and were on the receiving end in 13 matches.
Highway is the third team in Manicaland to be relegated since independence after Tanganda (1994) and Buffaloes (2003). Former premier league team Eastern Lions had its franchise sold to Bantu Rovers last year.
Things started going wrong in the second half of the season when the inseparable trio coaches Lloyd Mutasa, Calisto Pasuwa and Masimba Dinyero dumped the team and found a new haven at Shooting Stars following the non-payment of their salaries and winning bonuses.
To add insult to injury, eight senior players walked out of the Highway dressing room due to non-payment of their salaries.
The financial hard times that were experienced during the course of the matches further complicated its survival as the remaining inexperienced players lost interest in the team.
A senior player interviewed by this paper said: “We saw it (relegation) coming. There was no motivation at all. We were playing for charity and how can one expect to win when you do not even have a cent in your pockets? We were just waiting to fulfil the remaining fixtures.”
When the team was in serious financial doldrums a local businessman and politician, Isau Mupfumi, donated US$2000 to the players. Highway then won three matches in a row, but the damage had already been done.
A Highway supporter, Farai Zimunya, from Sakubva said: “It is unfortunate that we have been relegated and it is back to the drawing board. It was a learning process and I hope that the boys will pick themselves up. We are disappointed with our relegation and we do not know whether we will have another premiere league team in the province.”
Efforts to get a comment from Yard, the Highway FC financier, were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.
Post published in: News