The Mashonaland East Rugby Board (MERB) is a registered affiliate of the Zimbabwe Rugby Union. The MERB registered As an affiliate of the ZRU in 1990. The pioneers of the Board championed the development of rugby in Chitungwiza for over 20 years with relative success given the prevailing economic climate as they needed capital injection to build and maintain facilities suitable for rugby.
Southern City Rugby Club was founded In 1999 by Carlton Majuru for the benefit of the players who reside in the Chitungwiza area .The Southern City club was born out of the Gemsbok club which played in the lower rungs of the Harare development leagues. The aim of the formation of the Southern City club was to help coordinate the development of rugby in Chitungwiza and Mashonaland East by providing expert coaching and technical advise to the players and exposing them to playing in the more competitive leagues in Harare and indeed in Zimbabwe. The MERB has an elected board according to the statutes of the Zimbabwe Rugby Union and the Sports and Recreation Commission. The Board is made up of
Chairperson : Carlton Majuru
Secretary. : Obert Machiridza
Treasurer. : Ulysses Chihota
Women’s Rugby Delegate : Crecia Makina
There is huge potential for growth in the province from places such as Marondera, Macheke, Mutoko, Murewha, Goromonzi and the Chitungwiza and environs. The province boasts of some of the finest rugby playing schools in the country such as Peterhouse, Ruzawi, Springvale, Watershed, Wise Owl, Goromonzi, Mutoko. Goromonzi has one of the best girls teams in the country that has accolades at the Rugby Festivals in Harare and Bulawayo.
The MERB has a huge National age grade teams presence from U14, U17, U19 and U20’s. In the shortest turnaround time we will seek to develop our club rugby Structures so as to contribute players into the senior representative teams , the Sables, Cheetahs (both male and female teams.) the Mashonaland East Rugby Board has four active rugby clubs Marondera Talons,Southern City, Ruwa Griffons and Seke Elephants.
The Mashonaland East Rugby Board logo is the Flame Lily whose scientific name is Gloriosa Superba which means full of glory and superba is superb but it is more commonly known as the flame lily. The province is full of glory and we superb talents and it is our motto Gloriosa Superba to be the best rugby province in the country and bring glory to the province and nation.
The MERB chairperson Carlton Majuru said “Our challenges are immense, as we have limited playing facilities at club level, and the equipment we have needs urgent attention in terms of repair. We need to purchase balls , ruck and tackle shields, cones , scrummaging machine on top of the human capital in terms of coaches, and officials. And administrators. We are looking to partner with the corporate world to help us secure these so we can continue to grow the game of rugby. The corporate world and individuals have been supportive of our efforts to grow the game in our Province thus far. We can only get better.”
We are forever grateful for all the assistance we have received and continue to receive. We urge the corporates and individuals to emulate what some corporates have done and we help grow and develop rugby in our beautiful, well endowed and expansive province.
The Board Plans for 2021 and beyond are to
- to grow the game through Facility development for the clubs and schools in our Province.
- develop a playing facility for Southern City in Chitungwiza
- resuscitate Marondera Sports Club,
- go into partnership the Ruwa local board for the purpose of developing playing facilities for Ruwa Griffons
- develop partnerships between school powerhouses like Peterhouse and Watershed, and Wise owl school and the many non traditional schools in the province who have been playing for decades but without proper structures and playing facilities.
- to play at all levels, from school to club and senior level at provincial level
- To participate in the Inter Provincials.
Board Chairperson
MERB
Carlton Majuru
