Yanga and Simba SC need to be given a run for their money 

Indeed, the two celebrated clubs have claimed more trophies than any other club in the interesting lore of local football.

Over the years, many top-flight football outfits simply could not hold a candle to Yanga and Simba SC in domestic football championships as the two clubs were utterly head and shoulders above the rest.

Having said that though, in this 21st century, a few clubs have taken a stab at toppling Simba SC and Yanga from the summit of local football.

For example, in the early 2000s, Mtibwa Sugar regularly challenged Yanga and Simba in an intense battle for top honors although without much success.

Interestingly, when a new club Azam FC was founded several years ago, many pundits believed that the ‘ice cream makers’ were going to be the football side that would halt the outright dominance of Simba SC and Yanga in local football.

However, despite their immense exertions, Azam FC has sadly failed to snap the long winning streak of Yanga and Simba SC, as the past six seasons so clearly illuminate.

Indeed, Yanga clinched the league title for the second time on the trot last season, while Simba SC commandingly held sway over local football in the four seasons before that by claiming the league trophy four successive times.

It can thus be seen that Yanga’s and Simba SC’s amazingly glorious spell of success during the last six seasons distinctly demonstrates that the two age-old foes are ruling the roost in local football.

At this important juncture, I would like to go to great pains to underscore the fact that despite Yanga’s and Simba SC’s unchallenged hegemony over domestic football, our football standard as a country has significantly risen as was evidenced by the sterling displays of our two football juggernauts in CAF’s inter-club competitions last season.

The point, however, that I’m striving to make is that local football would receive a much-needed shot in the arm if there were one or two clubs who could become a real thorn in the side of Yanga and Simba SC on the home front.

Such a scenario would immediately up the standard of local football as greater competition also makes for a stronger national football team.

Let us now zero in on the enchanting sport of women’s netball as excitement is beginning to mount ahead of the women’s Netball World Cup, which is expected to begin unfolding on July 28 this year in the picturesque city of Cape Town.

From an African standpoint, the continent will be represented by four teams which are to wit South Africa, Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Out of this quartet of four netball teams, South Africa and Malawi will be the cynosure of all eyes on the continent as these two countries frequently hold their own impressively against the world’s most impeccable sides.

Nevertheless, it is a certainty that to have a shout at securing the trophy, South Africa and Malawi will have to overcome the sport’s elite teams which are Australia, New Zealand, and England.

Axiomatically, then, it seems that we are set for a veritable battle royal for women’s netball’s most cherished piece of silverware at the world cup this year.