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quest to dominate the domestic Premiership. What Murape did was just putting into the public domain, what a lot of people, especially in Harare, have been saying privately in the bars, restaurants, football stadiums, kombis, churches and parks.
Paul Hardcastle is a British singer who, in 1985, released a protest song that mocked the Vietnam War and which proved so popular it topped the charts in the UK for five weeks and made it to number one in 13 other countries.
Those old enough to fall in love with music then can remember the sing-a-long lyrics, especially its powerful opening message, which proved an immediate hit with music fans around the world.
Hardcastle told us, in his song, that in 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war, but it wasn’t, and it was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting.
Using sound bits plucked from an ABC television documentary about the war in South East Asia, Hardcastle said in World War II, the average age of the combat soldier was 26 but, in the Vietnam War, the average age was 19.
It’s entirely a sad song, which mourns the deaths of teenage American soldiers, with an average of age of 19, who left home to fight for their motherland but never made it out of the Vietnam jungles.
The song has its critics, including those who question the authenticity of Hardcastle’s claims that the average age of the American combat soldiers who died in the Vietnam War was 19, but all this did not stop it returning to the UK charts and making the Top 40 in May this year as Manchester United fans adopted it as their theme song.
As United won a record 19th Premiership title, the Red Devils’ fans adopted the Paul Hardcastle soundtrack to celebrate their team’s historic achievement and a campaign was waged for the team’s supporters to buy it online from iTunes, for 79 pence, with 30 000 sales enough to take it to number one.
The irony of it all is that Paul Hardcastle is a Chelsea fan and, as the United fans campaigned to buy his classic song to celebrate a landmark achievement in their club’s battle for greatness, they were certain he was also feeling the pain of what 19 suddenly represented, in the new millennium.
Incredibly, back then in 1985, the song 19 was finally been knocked off the number one spot, on the UK charts after a five-week stay, by a cover version done by The Crowd of the ‘63 number one hit song, ‘You Will Never Walk Alone,’ as a charity project to raise funds for the 56 people who perished in the Bradford City Stadium fire on May 11, ‘85.
So the push for the song 19, to go back to number one, became a religious mission for the United fans in May this year who found sub-plots everywhere, from hitting back at ‘You Will Never Walk Alone’ and everything that it represents in Merseyside, the confirmation of greatness achieved after knocking Liverpool off their perch to rubbing salt into the wounds of Paul Hardcastle and his Chelsea.
In the Qur’an, the number of angels guarding Hell (Hellfire), is 19 and the number of Verse and Sura in Islam’s Holy Book, which announces the birth of Jesus, son of Maryam (Mary), is 19.
The Baha’i calendar is structured in such a way that a year contains 19 months of 19 days each and The Bab and his disciples formed a group of 19 Apostoles of Baha’u’llah.
American author and film director Stephen King, in his epic Dark Tower series, portrays 19 as a mysterious and important number and, maybe it has to be, given it’s the final year a person is a teenager and they won’t sell you tobacco products in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey, Utah and New York unless you are 19 and above.
Well, so much about 19, I guess, and on Tuesday I passed that magical number when I marked my 19th year on this newspaper, which means that all the guys born on November 1, 1992, who have now entered the last of their teenage years, have the same number of years, spent on this Earth, as I have working for this company.

So what do I do?
Celebrate deliriously like the United fans when they finally knocked Liverpool off their perch with their 19th title? Write a song like Paul Hardcastle to chronicle a journey that has been both exciting and challenging? Convert into the Baha’i faith? Read a lot of Stephen King and the Dark Tower series or, like the guys who will wave goodbye to their teenage years on October 31 next year, also wave goodbye to journalism?
When you come to think of it, this year is the 19th season since Chris Sibanda and Morrison Sifelani, with a little helping hand from Wieslaw Grabowski, launched their first season of the domestic Premiership, having rebelled from authoritarian Zifa control, and Highlanders were the maiden champions in 1993.
Time flies, doesn’t it, good old Chris, to me the finest local football administrator I have ever come across, lives in England today, having cut ties with the domestic game in acrimonious circumstances at the turn of the millennium, while Morrison lies in eternal peace with his forefathers after having left our world of the living exactly a year ago.
I remain in the trenches of the game and I find it refreshing that Agent Sawu, who was Soccer Star of the Year in ’93 when the first championship of the modern era of the Premiership was played, is now back home after years spent in foreign lands and trying to also play a part in developing this game that bound us together then, and still binds us together now.

Nineteen Years Of Readership – Letter From South Africa

Dear Rob,
I read widely about soccer and I consider myself a walking encyclopedia, but I must admit that you have walked the walk and talked the talk and you are still going strong. May the good Lord bless you!
I am your age and have followed Zimbabwean football with passion over the years. I recall vividly watching Joel Shambo at White City in the mid-80’s, his arrogance and precision in passes was a marvel to watch.
I also watched a friendly match between Zambia and Zimbabwe in which Kalusha Bwalya tore apart James Takavada at Luveve in 1982, the same year James was crowned Soccer Star of the Year. I also recall the late Benjamin Nkonjera – he was brilliant as well, reducing Cyril Makanaky of Cameroon to a mere spectator.
We used to have a pool of good centre halves in the past – Mutano, the Chidzambwas, Maseko, Chawanda, Lungu, Shonhai, Chikwature and lately we seem to struggle to produce quality centre halves who really stand out. What could be the reason?
Way back, Darryn T/State House Tornadoes used to have the Matambanadzo brothers, Kuni and Tongai, and I remember watching one of them at Barbourfields in 1984 against Ethiopia and he was brilliant. That Young Warriors team had Rambo, Mahwihwi, John Sibanda and it was packed with talent. I miss those days and, once in a while, I have read some of your columns where you have taken us down memory lane.
Anyway, the purpose of this note is to congratulate you on a job well done over the years, covering local and international football. I don’t know you personal and we will probably never meet, but I salute you for being the best that you have been over the years.
You are a good at what you do and you keep raising the bar all the time. The problem with human nature is such that we celebrate and honour our heroes and achievers only after they are gone, instead of doing so when they are still alive. I salute you and keep up the good work.
Regards,
Mfundisi Ncube
Regional Trade Compliance Manager – Sub Sahara Africa
Weatherford UK, SA Branch

Letter From A Concerned Football Fan

Hie,
I have been following this tragic-comedy, whose main characters are Murape Murape and FC Platinum secretary-general Phillimon Muvengwa.
I have been left with many questions which maybe you, the readers or the PSL/Zifa could answer.
Do we have anything resembling an organ/committee dealing with ethics and discipline in our football? If yes, what is the duty of such an organ and what is the scope of their job?
Murape alleged that FC Platinum are being helped by match officials to win matches. Since making those allegations no one has asked Murape to substantiate them. There is deafening silence from our football authorities. Maybe there is substance to what Murape said and, if so, why not investigate?
I really wonder how our current and prospective football sponsors will take this: “My wish is for one of their defenders to create a foul in the box and we will beat them through a penalty,” says Muvengwa. “We will win 1-0 through that penalty which I am pretty sure, Menard (Mupera), will score.”
The above statement, coming from a secretary-general of the team leading the Premiership race, and the richest club in the league, is really shocking. How will Muvengwa and company then deny charges of match-fixing if they get a penalty at Barbourfields and Mupera scores from the spot for the only goal?
Muvengwa is only making the referees’ job difficult. It’s now going to be difficult for the referees handling Dynamos versus Platinum games to give a penalty to the platinum miners.
For the good of football, these two individuals, Murape and Muvengwa, should be taken to task. This is bringing the game of football into disrepute and it will certainly scare away sponsors. The likes of Supersport will not be happy to be associated with a league full of prophetic club secretary-genarals who can ‘accurately predict results of matches.’
Regards,
Luka Chapeyama

FC Platinum Under The Spotlight
Murape Murape torched a storm this week when he charged that FC Platinum were being aided by match officials in their quest to dominate the domestic Premiership.
What Murape did was just putting into the public domain, what a lot of people, especially in Harare, have been saying privately in the bars, restaurants, football stadiums, kombis, churches and parks of the capital.
There is a belief in the capital, and it is certainly entrenched among the Dynamos fans – and this city is their stronghold – that FC Platinum have been getting a helping hand from referees sympathetic to their cause and the social network sites, Facebook and Twitter, have been pregnant with such conspiracy theories.
Obviously FC Platinum have attracted the limelight into their corner because a team that makes such a massive investment in players, and brings in a professional touch to the way the game should be run by giving their playing and coaching personnel salaries and incentives to enable them to earn a decent living, should understand that the spotlight will follow.
Until now, the media spotlight on the team has either been the positive stuff – the revolutionary way they have changed the way players and coaches should be catered for in the league – or the sympathetic stuff – all the tears shed by the stories published in the various newspapers as we all mourned the tragic death of their youthful coach, Benjamin Moyo.
But the same way that FC Platinum embraced the positive coverage, or the sympathetic coverage that came in the time of tragedy, is also the same way they should embrace the negative coverage when questions start to be asked about certain things related to their quest to be the kings of domestic football.
I have not accused FC Platinum of getting favours from referees or being involved in a shadowy scheme to influence the outcome of either their matches or the matches being played by their rivals, primarily Dynamos, because I have no evidence to that effect.
I have used this forum before to say that when I spent about two hours with FC Platinum president Nathan Shoko, at a function in Harare a few weeks ago, he certainly didn’t come out to me as a person who can play dirty games to try and win the league championship for his club.
At a club like FC Platinum where the money that finances the team comes from a proper company, it’s not easy to play around with figures that will be audited and for Shoko to take away US$5 000, he has to justify it and I’m not so sure that the auditors of Mimosa Mines will be foolish enough to accept a year-end financial review that says money was taken out to pay referees.
In a community like the one at Mimosa, it’s given that there are some top executives who are not happy with this football project, who probably feel that it’s a waste of resources that could have been put into better use and, in such an environment, it’s not easy for those who are running the football side to try and cheat because there are many whistleblowers around.
Until someone provides me with concrete evidence that FC Platinum paid this and that referee, or this and that referees’ leader to ensure that this and that referee were appointed for this and that assignment, I will have to keep giving them the benefit of doubt.
But what we can’t silence, and this message should go to their secretary-general Muvengwa, are the voices, who feel FC Platinum are playing some shadowy games, because – even if that makes him lose the control mechanism of his emotions – they have a right to be heard.
For Muvengwa to draw us into the dispute, saying that we were drawing graphics illustrating how Dynamos were catching up with them when they were going through a lean spell, is very childish and appears to suggest that he has been rattled so much, by what has been said, he indirectly gives a bit of substance to some of the accusations.
To me, Murape went overboard, but even if I might not agree with what he said, he had a right to be heard – that’s democracy, isn’t it?
To me, FC Platinum are not winning their games using dirty tricks and, even if I might not agree with those who are saying that, they have a right to be heard – that’s democracy, isn’t it?
Only if Muvengwa was like Shoko!
Well Done Zifa Board
One can only commend the Zifa board for their strong stance to create a level playing field, in an environment that has been poisoned by the allegations and counter-allegations, by bring in foreign referees to handle the FC Platinum/Dynamos match at Barbourfields tomorrow.
Zifa have to be seen to be acting, just to preserve the integrity of the game, and in an environment where the controversy is growing with each passing week, this is a very good start by Cuthbert Dube, Ndumiso Gumede and their men on the board.
I have always wondered how a referee like Ruzive Ruzive, who had to leave Rufaro last November under police escort after ordering a retake of a penalty in a match between Dynamos and Motor Action, with the Mighty Bulls charging that he was pro-DeMbare, would be assigned to cover the FC Platinum/Shabanie Derby.
Given all the allegations that have stalked him, related to his pro-DeMbare stance, was it proper to let him handle the Zvishavane Derby where, one can argue, to prove wrong those who have, rightly or wrongly linked him to the Glamour Boys, he had to give FC Platinum that disputed penalty?
You can’t fault FC Platinum in that.
You have to fault those who made the appointments because they knew that Ruzive carried the baggage of being pro-Dynamos and they wanted him to prove a point that he was not.
And, probably, he did.

Even The Chinese Are Doing It
BEIJING – China ‘s Super League plans to recruit foreign referees as part of a new campaign to raise standards and stamp out corruption in the competition, according to its general secretary Lang Xiaonong.
After another miserable season plagued by violence, match-fixing, debt and dour play ended last month, Lang vowed to bring “honour and respect” back to domestic football.
“We will seek to draft in referees from Asian countries like Japan and South Korea to stamp out match-fixing among domestic referees, and help lift the standards of policing on the pitch,” Lang said – www.bigsoccer.com

Glory, Glory, Gunners
I’m not an Arsenal fan but I have to say that I was one of the millions who rose to salute their super show at Stamford Bridge because, if you are a true football supporter, you can’t resist falling in love with such magic and such magicians as on display that day.
RVP was excellent, a hattrick for a good day at the office, John Terry was left to feel his proper age, down on his knees, as Robin raced clear to hit home another one.
Just in case you might have got it wrong, when Arsenal collapsed at Old Trafford and when United collapsed in the same ground against City, one result doesn’t make a season, no matter how poor it is. I said that last week and will say it again and again.
Twenty five years in charge for Fergie at United tomorrow. Nineteen titles in the bag. Nineteen years on this newspaper.
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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