Alliance Capital Stars poach Tigresses, Thunder stars
Daring Rainbow Paints Netball League outfit Alliance Capital Stars have poached Tigresses star Laureen Ngwira and Thunder Queens duo Thandi Galeta and Sherat Kaiche in a bid to strengthen their squad ahead of the 2016 season that throws off tomorrow.
However, the club will have to wait a bit longer to sign the players since their clubs are yet to clear them.
Alliance Capital Limited chief executive officer Christian Majavina yesterday said his company has offered employment opportunities for the Malawi Queens trio.
“However, Tigresses and Thunder Queens do not seem to understand this by deliberately delaying or refusing to put price tags on the three players,” he said.
But Tigresses team manager Hellene Mpinganjira-Tasosa said they cannot let go of Ngwira because she is contracted to them until 2020 and that Alliance Capital’s decision to take her on board came outside the player transfer window.
She said: “Laureen [Ngwira] signed a four-year contract with us in January and she cannot play for any other team until 2020. Moreover, Netball Association of Malawi [NAM] constitution states that the transfer window is between January 1 and March 31.
“If they [Alliance Capital] wanted to sign the player, why did they have to wait until the transfer window closed? Nevertheless, we are grateful that they have offered her a job.”
In spite of that, Thunder Queens general secretary Christina Mkwanda-Nsinji said they have no problem clearing Galeta and Kaiche only that a quorum was not reached when the club wanted to discuss the matter recently.
“We cannot stand in the way of our players when they get opportunities like that. Once a quorum is reached, we will discuss the matter and we will soon put price tags on our players,” she said.
Ngwira, who has already started working at Alliance Capital, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
NAM general secretary Carol Bapu said she could not say anything as they are yet to be approached.
Recently, Ngwira announced that she was taking a breather at Tigresses amid reports of a rift between the technical panel and some players.
