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For those of us, who have refused to let memories of that fateful day die, the game tomorrow is a very, very special one.TOMORROW’S Battle of Limpopo, coming exactly 15 years to the month that disaster struck at the National Sports Stadium, brings back a flood of memories of our football’s darkest day when 13 fans lost their lives for the cause of their nation.

And those whose lives were changed, dramatically and forever, by serious physical and psychological scars inflicted by that human wave.

The stakes might not be as high as that game back in 2000, this isn’t a World Cup showdown and neither is it a game between the Warriors and Bafana Bafana, but it’s still a very high-profile contest and its timing makes it even a gigantic battle.

The football gods have somehow ensured that, exactly 15 years and 10 days after tragedy struck at the giant stadium, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet again in a huge game, this time with a ticket to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the line.

For those of us, who have refused to let memories of that fateful day die, forever paying tribute to the men and women who perished for the cause of their motherland, and those injured in the process, the game tomorrow is a very, very special one.

Any game for the Warriors or Young Warriors is special but this one is very, very special because it comes just in the month when, 15 years ago, a duel against our neighbours from across the Limpopo ended in that tragedy that shattered many lives and left scars —psychological and physical — which will last a lifetime.

Tomorrow, when we converge at Rufaro, we will remember the ones we lost, more than a dozen men, women and children who left their homes that morning, to cheer their national football team, but didn’t return to tell the story of what transpired on that fateful afternoon.

Instead, their bodies lay in the mortuary, their lives consumed by the madness of the events of that afternoon, leaving behind shattered families wondering why it had to end this way, in such cruel fashion, at a game that should be about beauty, in a sporting contest that should be about Fair Play and in an environment where their safety was supposed to be guaranteed.

That we lost that World Cup game, abandoned with about 13 minutes, including time added on, left to play, under that cloud of teargas and turmoil in the stands, became irrelevant, the match itself, and its outcome, pushed into the shadows by something more important, the loss of lives that will never be replaced, pain that would never fade.

A game of football can be lost, and you always get another chance to make up for that defeat, but once a life is lost that’s it, and losing just one life, at a football game is never part of the script, as tragic an event as they come, while losing more than a dozen, on one afternoon, is a disaster of major proportions.

Tomorrow, we could have gone back in time, and for this match alone, decided to use the very kit that our boys wore that day at the giant stadium when all hell broke loose, as a way of remembering that fateful afternoon, when we lost our dear brothers and sisters, and paying respect to them for their love of their motherland.

Or what about releasing 13 white doves, each representing every special person that was taken away from us in that madness, at Rufaro tomorrow, just to send the message to their families that, although 15 years have sailed past, we have not forgotten them and, another 15 years from now, we will always remember them?

I don’t know whether ZIFA have printed special warm-up T-shirts for our boys, with the number 13 on the back, but that’s exactly what I would have done, if I was in those positions of leadership in this game, with many other T-shirts being distributed, or even sold, to the fans to wear in the stadium as a way of showing our respect to those who perished.

As fate might have it, 13 also happens to be the shirt number of our fallen hero, Adam Ndlovu, whenever he wore that national team jersey and scored lots of goals for us, including one at the Nations Cup finals in Tunisia in 2004, before he also met his death in tragic circumstances on December 16, 2012.

After 13 years of Independence, our Dream Team came within 90 minutes of booking a place at the World Cup finals and were around 13 minutes, including time added on, of hanging on to a goal by Henry McKop, to win their first ticket to the Nations Cup finals, when Kalusha Bwalya struck in that qualifier in ’93.

Thirteen years later, after having been cruelly denied by Kalusha and his men, themselves a team that rose from the ashes of the biggest tragedy to hit their sport, the Gabon air disaster that came 13 years after our Independence, the Warriors found themselves playing at their second successive Nations Cup finals in Egypt in 2006.

On Monday I spoke to one of the people who miraculously survived that disaster at the National Sports Stadium, Simbarashe Makambwa, who has developed in the last 15 years from being the sickly six-year-old that we first saw when his image was published in this newspaper just two days after that tragedy, being pushed in a wheelchair, after being discharged from hospital, to become a young man who is now studying actuarial science at Cape Town University.

It was quite a captivating interview, one of the most touching that I have done in more than two decades in this job, speaking to someone who now realises it could have been a lot worse that day, understanding the psychological trauma that he still suffers, up to this day, feeling his relief that God was there for him in that hour of need, and sharing his pride that he is now on his way to fulfil his dreams.

Simba was one lucky fellow and that he still loves his Warriors, for all the psychological and physical demons they inflicted on him as a small boy, is a reminder of the enduring bond that exists between the people of this country and their national football and, because of that, it’s important that the game’s leadership pay respect to those who perished on that afternoon 15 years ago.

Especially in this month, of all months, and in a game against South Africa, of all teams, because it was against our neighbours, back then, when it all happened.

THE UNTOLD BEAUTIFUL SIDE

OF ZIM FOOTBALL

The Dream Team turned themselves into a side that we were all proud to call our national team, men who represented us with honour in the jungles of African football and, when they went into a battle, we were pretty sure that they were unlikely to lose, no matter the strength of the opposition that they were facing.

But very few people remember that they were a creation from the team that represented us in the ’92 Olympic Games qualifiers who, in one incredible game at Barbourfields, overhauled a 1-3 first leg deficit to blast Tunisia apart with one of the finest attacking displays by a representative national football team we will ever see.

Peter Ndlovu, then just a teenager who was on his way to be crowned the best player in Zimbabwe football, was the one who provided the inspiration, leading from the front with a vintage performance that was a mockery of his tender age, as the Young Warriors hammered Tunisia 5-2 that afternoon for a 6-5 aggregate victory.

Peter and his troops, however, could not leap the final hurdle, to get a place in the football tournament of the ’92 Olympic Games, in Barcelona, after falling 1-4, on aggregate, to Egypt.

In the battles for a place at the ’96 Olympic Games, the Young Warriors went all the way to the final qualifying round and then ran into a hurdle erected by a powerful Nigerian side, which won both legs 1-0, before writing their piece of history as the first African side to win gold at the Olympics in Atlanta, United States.

Then, in the battles for a place at the 2000 Olympic Games, the Young Warriors, now under Clemens Westerhof, impressed and beat Nigeria 2-1 here, with Benjani Mwarurawi scoring both goals, hammered Uganda 3-0 in Kampala beat Angola before, in a winner-take-all game against the Nigerians, slumped to a 0-4 defeat in West Africa.

We have always produced competitive teams, when it comes to the battles for the Olympic Games, and throughout the ‘90s, we were only one step away from making it to the Olympics and, for the Atlanta Games in ’96, we needed the best team in the world to stop us and that was in a very close battle that ended 2-0 in favour of the Nigerians.

It is, therefore, important that we support the Class of 2015, because, just like those that came at the turn of the ‘90s, they could provide a base on which we could build a senior national side, probably not as good as the Dream Team, but one that can be very competitive in the near future.

WILL LANGA’s WORDS COME BACK TO HAUNT HIM?

Remember, just recently, when our Sports Minister, Andrew Langa, was telling all of us that we shouldn’t lose sleep because, no matter what happens, our Warriors will be part of the 2018 World Cup bandwagon?

Well, the draw will be held in Russia next Saturday and, unless something dramatic happens in the next six days, we are out of that World Cup — the first time, as an independent nation, we would have missed the qualifiers.

I have just been going back to some of the quotes that Langa gave us, in the past few months, and I realised that they didn’t only make some interesting reading, given his confidence, but they could come back to haunt him if we miss the bandwagon.

“Certainly we will participate as a country, ZIFA haven’t paid yet but they are seized with the matter. Of course, they have taken time and on Friday we spoke about it. But I HAVE TO ASSURE THE NATION THAT CERTAINLY WE WILL PARTICIPATE. The delay is a concern but ZIFA are working hard to sort it.

“I AM AWARE OF THE 31 MAY DEADLINE BUT WHAT I CAN ASSURE YOU IS THAT THE COUNTRY WILL DEFINITELY PARTICIPATE.

“ZIFA have not tabled a debt extinguishing strategy but as a Ministry we will definitely engage Treasury about that.

“If we had known about Valinhos we would have made some attempts to assist here and there. But, unfortunately, my office and the Sports Commission, only learnt about Valinhos on Thursday when Zimbabwe was expelled.

“I WOULD LIKE TO ASSURE ZIMBABWEANS THAT WE WILL CERTAINLY PAY THIS DEBT AND ZIMBABWE WOULD BE REINSTATED.

“THIS VALINHOS MATTER IS NOW A ZIMBABWEAN MATTER AND NOT ZIFA ALONE. There has been belief that Langa is lenient with ZIFA, which is wrong. All I want to see are processes and procedures being followed. You don’t make any arrests before an investigation.”

Well, in the next six days, just six, we will find out, and what a tragedy it would be if, as it now appears, we are out of this World Cup.

THE FACEBOOK CHAT I CAME ACROSS THIS WEEK

Andrew Kunambura (Journalist): You read things written by Ignatius Mabasa and Robson Sharuko, turn around to check if there is anyone around who ever heard you claim to be a writer. Finding, none, you get relief!

Nelly Makanhiwa: Waal, Incompetence, I guess

Cde CZ: Kikikiki, Talking for self, naturally!

Andrew Kunambura: Nothing to do with incompetence Nelly, it’s acknowledging better writers

Alex Mawire: Nathaniel Manheru

Well, it’s never easy to satisfy everyone and, when you live in the public spotlight, like some of us, you learn to take a lot of criticism and the odd praise, as and when it comes along.

It’s part of the job and I think you learn more from those who criticise you and that is the way I have always wanted it but, to get a fellow journalist going publicly to say that you are doing just fine, as was the case with Andrew, was very satisfying.

Yes, Andrew, Ignatius Mabasa, with his column, is setting the bar a little high.

To God Be The Glory!

Come On Young Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manabhunuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

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