Lord Brighton College Hosts BMT Rugby Festival in Mashonaland West, Finals Set for Saturday
By Desire Tshuma
Nyabira , Mashonaland West — Lord Brighton College today kicked off the BMT Rugby Festival, a week-long tournament drawing 30 confirmed schools from across Zimbabwe, with organisers positioning sport as a shield against drugs and a springboard for scholarships and national team selection.
Run by BMT Holdings and hosted at Lord Brighton College, the festival had 50 schools initially register, with 30 confirming attendance for the event.
“My name is Douglas Mashiri. I’m the CEO of Lord Brighton College, a school that has been in existence for only one year. This is our second year,” Mashiri said on Sunday. “We’ve invited schools to come to Lord Brighton College because we’ve taken the mantra that if we keep the youth occupied they are not going to do drugs, they are going to gain confidence and also build their self-esteem.”
The BMT Rugby Festival runs until Saturday, when the finals will be played between Old Hararians and Sports Club at Harare Sports Club. Domboramwari College from Harare was the first school to arrive yesterday for the week-long competition in Nyabira, Mashonaland West.
Both boys and girls are competing, with matches pitched at the highest level. For Mashiri, rugby reflects the school’s broader philosophy. “We are saying we want to involve everyone in this wonderful sport of rugby, which is played by people on their feet and moving forward. There are a lot of similarities of rugby in real life. In life you move forward and you must be on your feet.”
He said the festival shifts the spotlight beyond the capital. “We used to have some sponsored tournaments in Harare. We are now saying all the other schools should not be left behind in the country. When you come here tomorrow, there’ll be 30 schools in Zimbabwe coming to participate, interact, share ideas and give hope to the youth that there’s something that they can live for, for rugby.”
Mashiri said the opportunities reach beyond the pitch. “Not only can they play rugby internationally, they can also be given scholarships for rugby. There’s a lot of talent out there. We as Lord Brighton College, we want to tap that talent so that we can do our bit in bringing up the youth of Zimbabwe who are confident, who can be positive and no drugs, no other vices that they do. So that at the end of the day, we are proud of the product that we produce as a community.”
Corporate sponsors have provided playing kit for all teams. “All the kit that they’re going to play in has been sponsored by the corporate world and we’re very grateful for that,” he said.
While rugby anchors the week, Mashiri stressed the school’s goal of building “a holistic child.” Facilities include a swimming pool designed specifically for students to learn to swim as part of survival skills. “Every child that comes to LBC must be able to swim,” he said. The campus also offers soccer, hockey, tennis, basketball, and a planned astroturf hockey field, alongside clubs and a music and arts centre where students can record. “In life, if a child can sing when they’re sad, they can also sing when they are happy. That child is less likely to commit suicide. So we are responsible for producing a holistic child, who is not only academically challenged, a child who can do well in sports and well in clubs.”
The curriculum push is equally ambitious. Lord Brighton is making Shona and Ndebele compulsory for all learners, along with Mandarin and French. “We may be the only school in Zimbabwe that is going to make Mandarin compulsory,” Mashiri said. “Ndebele and Shona are also going to be compulsory. We can teach languages. French, Mandarin, so a child coming out of LBC must be able to speak five languages and that gives them an international advantage. Not only in Zimbabwe, but we can also attract other students from our regional areas like Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa.”
The school’s international outlook is already showing. Last year, Lord Brighton College took 12 students on an interactive trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 12 December to 23 December. A Grade Four pupil, Zimbabwe’s national taekwondo champion, is now headed to South Korea.
Saturday’s finals at Harare Sports Club will cap the festival and give young players exposure to top-flight clubs. “It’s an exposure to young people from Nyabira who have never gone to a Harare Sports Club. So they get to be seen. They also get to see some of the players they play for our national team. It’s a good thing that our national team is going to the World Cup and they still can find talent that can fuel those teams moving forward,” Mashiri said.
For the young college in Nyabira, this week is a statement: that sport, language, and global exposure can combine to raise confident Zimbabweans ready to compete at home and abroad.
