Zimpapers Logo

Sharuko on Saturday

I didn’t know Thembelenkosi but I felt his loss, cursed the tragic events that led to his death, felt for his family that lost a young man in the prime of his life, felt for his club who lost a devoted fan, at a time when domestic football is battling to keeps the fans on its side.

I REMEMBER very well a lot of things I saw in ’94 — the World Cup invading virgin territory in the United States and the Super Eagles winning their second Nations Cup title in Tunisia as the entire globe rooted for Zambia.

South Africa held its first multi-racial general elections and Nelson Mandela became the first democratically elected President of the new Rainbow Nation that, finally, could turn its back on the horror of apartheid. The genocide in Rwanda, a senseless slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people simply because they belonged to the other ethnic group which represents one of our lowest points as Africans, came to an end.

And the world watched as American football legend OJ Simpson fled from police, in a low-speed chase broadcast live on cable television, in Los Angeles before finally surrendering himself to the authorities.

I didn’t know it, neither did the world know it, but on March 1, ’94, at St Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario, a Canadian woman, Patricia Malette, gave birth to a boy who would grow to become the sensational global singing sensation called Justin Bieber.

But for us, the Red Devils, ’94 was the year the music died as the great Matt Busby, the Scottish legendary manager who walked away from a plane crash in Munich in ’58 and, in just 10 years,  rebuilt a side good enough to be crowned champions of Europe, passed away.

I was 24 back then and, a month after the year drew to a close, God blessed me with a daughter. Twenty years down the line I have the privilege, thanks be to the Lord, of looking back to that time in my life, as a 24-year-old, just two years into my journey as a journalist, and it’s incredible that I’m still here working in the same office, Collin Matiza is still around, we lost Sam Marisa and Phillip Magwaza along the way and Jahoor Omar, the big boss, left.

Sadly, Thembelenkosini Hloli, a Highlanders fan who loved his team and loved football, will never get a chance to rewind, and remember everything that happened in his life when he was 24, because — in tragic circumstances in the mayhem that gripped the City of Kings on Sunday — his life was cut short.

Thembelenkosini didn’t die at Barbourfields but his death, in the area close to the Renkini long-distance bus terminus in Bulawayo, was linked to the disturbances that erupted at the stadium after the flagship fixture between Highlanders and Dynamos, for the umpteenth time, ended amid chaotic scenes.

He was born in the year Bosso won their first league title, the generation that came with all the luck and helped this proud football giant end its lengthy wait for the big one, was nine when his beloved team began their four-year ruthless domination of the domestic football scene, winning four straight titles, and was 16, when they won their last league title.

I didn’t know Thembelenkosi but I felt his loss, cursed the tragic events that led to his death, felt for his family that lost a young man in the prime of his life, felt for his club who lost a devoted fan, at a time when domestic football is battling to keeps the fans on its side.

Football might be our passion as a nation, Highlanders and Dynamos might represent the dreams of millions of people in this country, their clashes might represent the ultimate test, in terms of football battles in our nation, but not even a combination of all that is worth dying for, is worth killing for, is worth fighting for.

We all are culpable in this mayhem because we have allowed the culture of violence to be acceptable we even feel betrayed when a Bosso/DeMbare game passes without incident at Barbourfields, we have allowed the culture of violence to be fashionable, we have failed to provide the leadership needed to outlaw such madness and, in our collective stupidity, we have concentrated on the symptoms and not the cause of those symptoms.

Even after the legend, Oliver Mtukudzi, kept telling us, in his lyrics, we chose to ignore his powerful words:
Wongorora chikonzero chaita musoro uteme,
Ugogadzirisa chikonzero chaita musana ubande,
Kusimbirira mhopo, mhopo pamusana,
Mhopo iri pamusana iwe une ziso rine mbonje
Because our football is devoid of leadership, because our leaders believe that they are better off hiding in the trenches fighting imaginary laws instead of providing guidance of how things should be done, we have turned our national game into a lawless jungle and people now find it fashionable to turn the biggest fixture in the Premiership into a war zone and reduce the City of Kings into something that resembles the Gaza Strip.

How do we explain that the last three matches at Barbourfields, featuring Bosso and DeMbare, have all been blighted by violent disturbances and, on the only occasion the authorities decided to respond, all they could do was slap the two clubs with US$8 000 fines, giving the impression that all that they were concerned about was the money that could be generated from the fines?

What did the authorities do, to try and identify the issues that seemingly turn some decent men into thugs, once they are intoxicated by the anger that apparently explodes in their nerves, whenever this fixture comes along in the City of Kings, and what did they do to try and address those issues so that this madness wouldn’t be repeated?

Of course, nothing was done, because doing so will make some of our football leaders lose their support in crucial constituencies, because no one cares anymore, because we have all folded our arms and let our beautiful game turn into this ugly beast that is now devouring its children, because in our crazy world anything that doesn’t end with the word “gate” is not worth the attention of our leadership.

Too bad, isn’t it, we are now beginning to see lives being lost and, even against that depressing background, it took three days for the PSL leadership to issue a statement condemning the wild events in Bulawayo and it also took a full three days for zifa to say something and, even when it came, it wasn’t from the men who were elected to lead our national game, but a junior spokesman of the association.

THE TOUGH QUESTIONS WE MUST CONFRONT
Against the background of the bereavement in the Bosso family, this is, indeed, a sensitive time to confront the cancer of hooliganism, which is slowly eating into the soul of our national game, and for which a hardcore section of the Highlanders fans have been a common denominator.

But, for us to move forward, it is important that we put issues of sentiment aside and deal with the challenges that we face even though, along the way, we are going to touch some raw nerves, we are going to make some people unhappy, we are going to be called names and our mothers, including those who are lying in their graves, will be insulted. For us to find a way out of this madness, our leaders, especially zifa, have to take the lead in dealing with this hooliganism, even if it means they are going to ask some tough questions, to people who were part of their leadership not so long ago, and the PSL have to know that they have a responsibility, not only to find sponsors, but to protect the integrity of those sponsors as well.

One of the big questions we have to ask ourselves is why the violence in our Premiership, in recent years, has been concentrated at Barbourfields and why it is now exclusive to the match between Highlanders and Dynamos?

Clearly DeMbare’s dominance over Bosso, in the past seven years in which the Glamour Boys have not lost one of their 16 league matches, including eight at Barbourfields, has been a huge factor in whipping emotions but CAPS United haven’t beaten Dynamos in four years but we never see the Harare Derby being blighted by such madness. Maybe we can find an explanation, to all this madness, in the tribal songs, a lot of them laced with messages that mock and insult the others, and when everything explodes, as things did on Saturday at Barbourfields, it ceases to be a football issue but a confrontation of tribes using football as an excuse for their meaningless fights with roots in the Stone Age.

But why all this nonsense, where we reduce Bosso to a volcano from which our tribal madness can be vomited, when the same team can appoint, and have faith, in someone like Innocent Mapuranga to be their captain and leader of the troops on the field? Why all this nonsense, where we reduce DeMbare to a volcano from which our tribal madness can be vomited, when the same team’s best player, in their battle against Bosso, is someone called Themba Ndlovu?

Surely, if we ever needed a reminder that all this tribal nonsense doesn’t make sense, that it only exists in the deranged heads of a few crazy individuals who, unfortunately, are so vicious they overshadow everything else, then the fact that a team like Bosso can put their faith in someone like Mapuranga, as their skipper, should provide that.

The two outstanding players for Dynamos at Barbourfields on Sunday did not have names, at the back of their shirts, that had a Shona rhyme — Sithole, who was unplayable once he got into the groove and created the goal with a body twist that sent Mapuranga onto the floor, and Ndlovu, the rock in their defence who was inspirational at the back.

They didn’t play, with their hearts, for a Shona cause but for the DeMbare cause, simply because this is the club that pays their wages, simply because to them tribal issues don’t mean a thing, simply because when they play for the national team, there are no tribes there but everyone is united by their shared identity as Zimbabweans.

If our players are doing the right thing, bringing down the tribal barriers that some fools want to enforce at any given opportunity, including going to the extent of destroying vehicles and injuring anyone they feel belongs to the other group, why then are we failing, as supporters, to do that and live in peace and harmony?
If we look around the world today we will find out that we are probably one of the few remaining people who still find romance in violence at football matches, something that the Europeans outlawed in the ‘80s, something that has disappeared from South Africa and something that one never sees, these days, across the continent?

Why is it that 90 000 fans can go into Soccer City, for the Soweto Derby, split in patronage along the lines of either Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates but, after the game, no matter what happens, no matter the result, they can shake hands and go home or go to a bar and have a drink?

If 90 000 people can have the decency to be that orderly, why are we failing, when we have only 25 000 people at Barbourfields, to find reason to behave like true football fans who only come there for the game, to cheer their teams, support their players and, win or lose, accept the result and move on without destroying property?

I have forgotten the last time we covered violence at a football match in Harare, of course, it never used to be like that because, in the ‘90s, when the rivalry between Dynamos and CAPS United had been spiced by the Green Machine’s graduation into a team, in the post-independence era, which could also win the league title, we used to see mayhem at Rufaro.

But the capital has moved on, no one torches the ZUPCO buses, in the event that one of the giants loses the Harare Derby, as was always the case back in the ‘90s, no one destroys property because people have come to accept that this is just but a game and, even if they destroy half the central business district of Harare, it will certainly not change the result.

It’s about time that the City of Kings also move on, where people begin to appreciate that beyond the contest between Bosso and DeMbare, there are more important things to our lives, we don’t need to kill each other for the sake of these clubs, our lives are more important than these two clubs combined.

The media, too, can play its part, in a huge way, by ensuring that we don’t whip up the emotions, we don’t treat Bosso as a team from Mars, we don’t treat De- Mbare as a team from Jupiter, yes there is a rivalry, and long may it continue because it’s something that our football needs, but it shouldn’t be used as an excuse for us to display our stupidity.

HOW EUROPE TAMED ITS BEAST
When the Heysel disaster struck on May 29, ’85, in Brussels, ending the lives of 39 fans, mostly supporters of Juventus, the blame was laid squarely on the Liverpool fans at a time when hooliganism was very fashionable in English football.

Liverpool were the glamour club of Europe, if not the world, and were the defending European champions, having won the trophy four times within a short space of time, and needed just a win against Juventus to win it for the fifth time in seven years. But uefa were not concerned about Liverpool’s glamour status and they banned the Reds from European competitions for eight years, which was then reduced to six, while the other English clubs also suffered collateral damage, for the sins of their counterparts, as they were also banned from Europe for five years.

The English clubs were the dominant force in Europe back then, winning six of the seven European Cups between ’78 and ’84, with Liverpool winning four times, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest winning once, and in ’85, with the Reds in the final, they were about to make it seven wins in eight successive European Cup tournaments. But that all counted for little, when the uefa authorities decided it was time to crack the whip, and Liverpool’s huge profile, and the English clubs’ success in Europe, were not considered, for mitigation purposes, when they were all slapped with a five-year ban from Europe.

Away from the world of the innocence, stuck in isolation on their island of madness, the English clubs took a hard look at themselves in the mirror and the images that they were seeing were not the beautiful ones and, in the soul searching exercise that followed, many saw the value of order.

It’s not like that they have outlawed hooliganism in English football but you hardly see trouble at their stadiums in the Premiership and the bad guys have been banned from the stadiums.

Two years ago, the Home Office in England announced the number of arrests at football matches, involving teams from England and Wales, has dropped by nearly a quarter. Arrests at domestic and international fixtures in 2011-12 fell by 24 percent to 2,363 — 726 fewer than in the previous year.

“Where hooliganism was once described as ‘the English disease’, we now set an example for others to follow,” Damian Green, the then Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice, said.

Incredibly, no English supporters were arrested for football-related offences at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 and, at home, more than half of all matches had no police presence in 2011.

That’s what is called taming the beast.

THE COLOMBIAN LAWYER WHO IS SUING FIFA
A Colombian lawyer says he is suing world football’s governing body fifa for £800m (1bn euros) over “moral damages” caused by refereeing at the 2014 World Cup.
Aurelio Jimenez (74) says Brazil’s quarter-final win over Colombia caused particular “distress” and he was taken to hospital with cardiac problems. Match referee Carlos Velasco Carballo came under fire after the tie, which saw the most fouls in the tournament. He said this included “testimonies of football stars Pele, Diego Armando Maradona, David Ospina, James Rodriguez and international referees who examined the videos of the game between Brazil and Colombia”. “I felt very bad, I was heartbroken, my cardiac rhythm was altered and my relatives took me to the emergency room at the hospital. I was surrounded by my grandchildren who were crying a lot.”

He also highlighted other decisions, including the disallowing of a goal by Colombia’s Mario Yepes.
“I decided to sue Fifa in the Colombian judiciary system because in the past world soccer championship in Brazil, there were many wrongdoings related to referees who damaged many countries and their selections, among them the Colombia team,” Jimenez said.

YOU CAN’ T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN
It’s good to see that after two years, in which his profile took a battering, in which he was accused of things that he denies, in which he was chained to a zifa contract which did not pay him a cent, Norman Mapeza is back in the trenches of football.

They tried to destroy him, it’s clear for everyone to see, but he kept praying and now his prayers have been answered.
It’s up to him to make a success of his new adventure but, even if it doesn’t work out, it’s just a triumph to be there, back in the only game that he knows, the game that took him around Europe as a player, a game that made him play against Barcelona in the Champions League. You can’t just wake up and destroy all this just like that because you have been thrust into a position of power.

To God Be The Glory!

Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicharitoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Text Feedback — 0772545199
WhatsApp Messenger – 0772545199
Email — [email protected]
Skype — sharuko58
Like my new Facebook page, ROBSON SHARUKO JOURNALIST, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber and on ZBC’s weekly television football magazine programme, GamePlan on Monday nights, or read my material in The Southern Times.