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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
AMID the animated celebrations at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, one man took time to reflect on what a CAPS United success story, in this Premiership race, could mean for the Green Machine —exactly 15 years after the club’s darkest hour.

For Andy Hodges, the tragic events of March 14, 2004, when three CAPS United stars — Blessing Makunike, Shingi Arlon and Gary Mashoko perished in a fireball after the car they were travelling in crashed — have remained a burden on his conscience.

The three players opted to travel back home, from a league assignment in Bulawayo where CAPS United had beaten Njube Sundowns 2-1, in a car owned by one of the club’s fans, rather than in the team bus.

Two supporters also died in that accident.

CAPS United, riding on an emotional wave triggered by that tragedy, went on to win the league championship that season, the club’s first title in eight years, in record-breaking fashion.

The Green Machine lost only one game, a 3-4 home defeat to Highlanders, were unbeaten in 15 matches on the road, raked the highest points tally in a 30-game season (79), scored 71 goals and won six more games than their nearest challengers, Bosso, who finished second.

“It was of the darkest days of my life,’’ Hodges, who was the club chairman then, told The Herald yesterday.

“I think, in some way, the disaster helped the CAPS United family to come together and was one of the reasons why we ended up winning the championship that year.

“It would be fantastic if we win the championship again this season, especially given that this year marks 15 years after we lost those boys, and we have to be seen to be honouring their memory in the right way.

“This means winning trophies, because that’s what they wanted to do when they were playing for us.

“They might not be here with us now but we should never forget them because they died fighting for the cause of this club and they will always remain a part of our family.

“There are things one just can’t forget, seeing your teammates, your players burning to death, trapped in a car and you can’t do anything about it to help them and it’s something I have always carried with me since that day.

“Of course, I’m not happy with how we treat those who would have died, after serving our institutions, especially in sport, and I always feel we should have done more for people like Shacky Tauro, for Friday Phiri, because these are our heroes.’’

Hodges, a banker who now works for the Zimpapers Television Network, says the CAPS United players and coaches should always be made to remember that the club is where it is today because some people like Makunike, Mashoko and Arlon paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“Those boys who died had a passion to ensure CAPS United succeed, they loved this club and did everything in their power to try and make sure the team would succeed,’’ said Hodges.

“They set an example for those who are now wearing the CAPS United shirt and it would be tremendous, in the year that we mark 15 years after that tragedy, that we win the league championship again to honour their spirit.

“We should borrow a leaf from how they do it in Europe, where the people of Liverpool will never forget those who died in the Hillsborough disaster and the people at Manchester United will never forget those who died in that plane crash.’’

On April 15, this year, a minute of silence was held at 3:06pm United Kingdom time, to mark the moment, exactly 30 years ago, when police rushed onto the pitch at Hillsborough to halt the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

It had become apparent, a disaster, which would claim 96 fans of the Reds, was unfolding.

During Liverpool’s Premiership match against Chelsea, players wore black armbands, and marked a minute of silence at Anfield, while the fans formed mosaics reading “96” and “30 years.”

St George’s Hall, in Liverpool, was illuminated in the red colours of the team and a banner, featuring the faces of all 96 victims, alongside the message “Never Forgotten,” was unveiled.

In June this year, during Liverpool’s victory parade, which attracted more than 750 000 people to celebrate the Reds’ sixth Champions League victory, midfielder James Milner asked the bus driver to stop outside a house in the city.

A 53-year-old man in a wheelchair, Andrew Devine, was watching the street celebrations and Milner walked over to him and helped him get a feel of the silverware.

Exactly 30 years after suffering the injuries which confined him to that wheelchair, in the Hillsborough disaster, Devine, at last, had a chance to celebrate a monumental success story with a player from his favourite football club. He was 22, working for the Post Office in Liverpool, when he travelled to Sheffield for his team’s ill-fated FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, where he got caught up in the chaos at Hillsborough.

After his chest was crushed in the stampede, depriving his brain of oxygen, Devine was put on a life support machine with many medical experts convinced he would not survive.

But, 30 years on, he is still alive — a symbol of defiance in the hour of tragedy — and still lives in his beloved Liverpool where he gets 24-hour professional care from his parents Stanley and Hilary.

Ninety four of his fellow Liverpool fans, aged between 10 and 67, died that day, and four days later, the death toll climbed to 95 when 14-year-old Lee Nicol died after his life support machine was switched off.

In March 1993, four years after the disaster, the artificial feeding and hydration were withdrawn from Tony Bland, then just 22, and the death toll reached 96.

Ten-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley was the youngest of those who died and his death inspired his cousin, Steven Gerrard, to pursue his dreams of one day becoming the Liverpool captain. There has been a reference to a 97th victim of the Hillsborough tragedy, Stephen Whittle, who sold his ticket to a friend because of work commitments only for his pal to die in that disaster.

Burdened by the tragic twist of events, and always blaming himself for the death of his friend, Whittle committed suicide eight years ago. Many, who witnessed the tragedy unfold, saw their marriages break down.

Although the Reds won the league title in 1990, their 10th in 15 years between 1976 and 1990, they have never won it since in the past 29 years. The Hillsborough disaster has often been mentioned as part of the reason they have struggled to dominate the English game the way they used to.