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All good things must come to an end at some point and we have to say goodbye to a year in which our domestic Premiership found its soul once again and, in its lively rhythm, we explored our fantasies.
A journey that started on New Year’s Day this year with Twine Phiri and his colleagues at the Premier Soccer League considering the possibility of another bleak year for the top-flight league, ends today with everything looking bright and fresh for our flagship league.

Phiri is a devoted Muslim and every Friday he goes to church and he should use those sessions to thank God for the way the Almighty has guided him, and his management team, in a landmark season for a Premiership that has always been rich in talent and patronage but strikingly poor in funding.
It’s a easy to forget, when things are now moving swiftly, a past that was so tough this Premiership was at best, a social league obscenely hyped up by The Herald, and, a worst, a joke of a top-flight league. It’s easy to be drowned in all the good times, rolling now and rocking the Premiership, and forget that yesterday was so horrible Motor Action were not even paid a penny for winning the league championship last year.

It’s easy to be confused, by all the potential of greatness we are seeing in this league, and forget things we so tough just a year ago, someone even told me that Charles Sibanda has not yet received his monetary prize for winning the Soccer Star of the Year for 2010.
In the year that the World Cup finally came to Africa for the first time in 80 years and made millions for Fifa and South Africa, just across the Limpopo, our Premiership was an unbranded league and its champion team didn’t have even a penny to show for their heroism.

It’s easy, in the bling that has followed a red-letter year for the Premiership, to forget where we have come from, what took us to that darkness in the first place, and run the risk of making those mistakes which made us such a pathetic brand for sponsors to partner with.
We have all seen the light and enjoyed the spotlight that it brings and, as we wave goodbye to a great season for the domestic Premiership, it’s important to reflect on everything so that we continue to grow as a brand and 2012 will be an even better year for our league, in particular, and our football in general.

It’s important for all the men and women who have worked so hard, from Phiri as the face of this league’s leadership, to Kenny Ndebele who has been simply excellent as chief executive, to the good lady who is the secretary at the PSL offices, to double their efforts.
Managing a morass of mediocrity, as their colleagues at Zifa will confirm, is a bit easier because you can’t get any worse than the rot that you would have either inherited or inflicted with your policies.
Managing success is a lot harder and once you have set standards, as Phiri and his colleagues have done at a PSL bursting with vibrancy, you have to either maintain that benchmark or do even better and, as everyone honest enough to say the truth in a season where too much drink takes away a good chunk of our reasoning power, it’s not an easy thing to do.

The good thing, though, is that Phiri and his colleagues have started a good journey, have made their clubs believe again, have made the players believe again, have made the coaching staff believe once again, have made the fans believe again and, crucially, have made the sponsors trust them again.
At the beginning of the year, we only had BancABC, may the Good Lord bless Doug Munatsi and all the men and women at his bank for their investment in our game, who for two years were the only sponsor standing.

I like BancABC a lot because they have been all-weather sponsors of our game and when the going got tough, they stuck around when everyone was telling them at Harare’s golf clubs, where the decision makers of our society meet, to get out of this stinking game.
They resisted the temptation and gave football, for all its trials and tribulations, a good chance and, even when they were dragged to the High Court last year after a semi-final between Dynamos and

Highlanders went badly wrong, they didn’t find a convenient excuse to leave.
The more that BancABC stuck around, the more the other sponsors realised that it was possible to get into bed with our local game and the big one, Delta Beverages, came back, and NetOne also came back and Mbada Diamonds capped it all in style.

Stan Kasukuwere organised a Bob ‘87 Cup, within a short space of time, and he received so much support from sponsors that the inaugural match at Rufaro was a huge success as corporates showed their appetite to come back into our game.
We didn’t know it then but that game set the tone for the season, both in terms of the changing sponsorship landscape, and also the spirit of success demonstrated that afternoon by a Glamour Boys team that would go on to dominate the season.

Fine, 2011 is gone and there are a number of ways to remember it.
The Warriors once again failed to qualify for the Nations Cup finals and they had the good company of their neighbours Bafana Bafana, themselves a sickening symbol of failure, in that walk of shame.
Our Champions League challenge uncharacteristically, ended in the first round in a nightmarish campaign for a Dynamos team that, until now, had – at worst – made the group stages while Motor

Action, in their first season in the company of the big boys, crashed out a home after failing to negotiate the penalty shoot out.
Asiagate dominated much of the year and the controversy will spill into the New Year with Fifa expected to make their report, which will contain a chapter on Zimbabwe, and Zifa expecting to conclude the process through their Independent Disciplinary Committee.

Fifa have covered a lot of ground, you get a feeling whatever Zifa are planning will possibly be left behind by events, with reports indicating that the world football governing body’s investigators have interviewed Kenny Marange, Methembe Ndlovu and Solomon Mugavazi.
The Central Region scandals were as much a horror show, for those interested in seeing our game moving forward, as were some of the nagging administrative shortcomings that seemingly can’t go away and have had a negative effect on the game’s growth.

But for all the negativity in the game this year, it’s a fair assessment to conclude that the positive things outweighed the negative stuff and, as we bid farewell to 2011, maybe it’s time for us to toast to all the good things that we saw in the year.
How will you remember 2011?

The Return Of Sponsors
For me that was the highlight of 2011, if you are looking at it from a football angle, because the sponsors didn’t only come back but they did so with a bang.
A number of critics with short memories have gone to lengths to talk about

Delta’s sponsorship package, claiming that it was not enough to cover for a league championship.
But I believe that, given the background we were coming from, Delta should be commended for deciding to come back on board.
Sometimes, in this game, it’s not about the figures but about the confidence that a marriage with a particular sponsor brings.
Yes, Dynamos made as much, in prize money, in winning the league championship as they did for winning the Mbada Diamonds Cup, but I have a feeling Mbada would not have come into football if

Delta had not made the move.
Delta made the move when just about everyone, except BancABC, doubted that it was a risk worth taking and, in doing so, they opened the ways for others to also come on board.
Because of the size of Delta, a colossus in terms of companies, whatever they do has a tendency of inspiring others to do so and, to many companies, if Delta could go to bed with the PSL, then it was worth trying.

For Delta, the first year was a success and I’m pretty sure whey will review a lot of things related to their sponsorship when they sit down and plan for next year and they could be more money for the winners.

But only a fool will criticise Delta for giving the winners of the league US$75 000 because only a fool, with short memories, will not remember that Motor Action did not get a cent for their efforts.
For a starting point, I think Delta gave our game a good start and we have to commend them, rather than criticise them, for their decision to come on board and be part of us.
A good name, which the Premiership now has thanks to its links to Delta, cannot be bought by millions of dollars.
It can only be earned and, once it’s earned, then everything comes into shape and the big money starts rolling into their coffers.

The return of the sponsors made my year as a disciple of the Premiership and I believe I’m writing on behalf of the voiceless majority of players, coaches, medics, team doctors, physiotherapists, n’angas, fans and club owners, when I say the sponsors made our year.
So raise your glass, wherever you might be on this holiday weekend on a day the Good Lord has blessed my boy Kalusha with his 12th year, and make a toast to all the sponsors who made it such a great year for our football this season.

Delta Beverages, BancABC, Mbada Diamonds, NetOne, you name them, they deserve a special Thank You for being there for us when we needed you badly.
Thank you, on behalf of everyone who loves Zimbabwe football.

Wishing For Econet’s Return
Everyone has a New Year’s wish and mine would be to see Econet coming back into our game, either as sponsors of something in the Premiership or, better still, as the brand sponsors of the Warriors.

A lot of people quickly rush to say that it’s unfair to coerce Econet back into football when the company was badly wounded, in terms of its good image, the last time it tried a partnership with the league.
It’s a good argument and we all know that they were given a raw deal the last time out and that Twine Phiri, who as leader of CAPS United entered into a deal with NetOne that infuriated Econet, is now the boss of the PSL, complicates issues.
But football, by its nature, is very controversial and if sponsors dropped out of the game, at the slightest hint of controversy, then Fifa would be having no sponsor by now.

For all that the English media have written about Sepp Blattter being a corrupt and morally bankrupt leader who leads what they believe to be the most corrupt organisation in the world, the sponsors have stuck with Fifa.
And these are big sponsors, Emirates, Visa, you name them, and they stick around with Fifa because the game is more important than the individuals who are leading it now or who will possibly lead it in the future.

That is why l believe Econet, given their association with the majority of the people in this country who value their service and have supported this company for a long time, should reconsider their hardline stance and come back to football.
Econet should show us that they have a heart, the same heart that millions of Zimbabweans showed in supporting this company, and it’s time that they return to a game that belongs to the people.

Zimbabweans spend millions on Econet products every day and the company has become a way of our lives and it is only fair that this company also invests in the game that means so much for these people.

Why should a guy like Denver Mukamba, for example, pay for the sins of people who made decisions that irked Econet some five or six years ago, when he was just a 13-year-old Grade Seven boy when that was happening?
Why should a guy like Qadr Amini, who needs a company like Econet to invest in the game so that he can develop into the big player we all believe he will become, suffer for the sins of people who

were making decisions when he was in Form One?
Why should a guy like Rahman Kutsanzira, who has all this immense potential and whose game can develop immensely if Econet comes on board, suffer because of decisions done half-a-dozen years ago when he was in Grade Seven?

These are the people I represent when I make my public presentations to Econet, to Douglas Mboweni and his team to have a heart, to change their minds and convince the bossman, Strive Masiyiwa, that in his Christian beliefs, there is a lot of emphasis placed on forgiveness.

Do it, guys and make my New Year a success.
This, I tell you, is coming from deep down in my heart.

Let’s Make It Happen In 2012
Highlanders’ fans deserve something far better than the mediocrity that has been coming out of their team’s ranks in the past couple of years and the sooner the club’s elders realise that, then the better.

Bosso is a huge brand and this club needs to be competitive for our league to be exciting and I hope whoever leads Highlanders in the New Year will make it happen for the fans in 2012.
There should be acknowledgement, on those who have been leading the club, that this team has been let down terribly by its leadership and the time has come for a new direction.
Obviously, this will hurt those who are in charge but someone has to say it on behalf of the voiceless millions of Bosso fans, including my good friend Mduduzi Mathuthu of NewZimbabwe.com, who are crying out for a new chapter for their team.
Let’s make it happen for them.

CAPS United fans deserve better and it’s great their leaders have sorted out their differences and you get a feeling that Lloyd Chitembwe will make them competitive once again.
They finished the season strongly, after starting brilliantly before losing their way, and if the Green Machine can hit its stride early on, with all the good players they have brought into the team, then it could happen.

Dynamos have to sort their house for good because the off-season mess at the Glamour Boys was so distressing we were left wondering whether this Callisto Pasuwa project was, just like Kidznet before it, doomed.
DeMbare have to grow, as an institution, and Kenny Mubaiwa and his management team should be looking at asset investment, instead of worrying about looking for a coach they already have, because his team deserves better.

FC Platinum will be competitive once again but you get a feeling they will spend a long time trying to know each other, in another transition season for them, and it will all depend on whether they hit the deck running.

Whichever team will triumph next year, I just hope the championship will be competitive and while getting one like the classic we had this year will be wishful thinking, we can only hope for something good.

Let’s make it happen in 2012.

Oh, Yes, The Warriors Have To Qualify
We can’t fail this time around, can we, and we just need four games, two teams to beat, to make it.
We messed it up the last time but we can make amends and we just have next month to prepare before everything gets going.
n the year that Knowledge Musona justified all the great expectations we see in him by moving to Germany, yes, we can’t keep saying our boys aren’t good enough.

Let’s make it happen for them in 2012. It has been a good year for the Premiership, the Mighty Warriors, Dynamos but a bad one for all the men’s national teams and the sickening sight of our Under-20 team in that horrible kit in Botswana, brought a fitting close to a horrible year for them.
Even Owen Chandamale left the Warriors in Tanzania when he was head of delegation.Goodbye 2011.

Thanks for everything, the highs, the lows, the Mighty Warriors, Delta, Mbada Diamonds, you name it.
Your trusted columnist wishes you a great New Year and thanks for the company all year round.
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitooooooooooooooooooooooo!

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