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Sharuko On Saturday FOR years, they have been feeding us the fantasy that football is the most beautiful game in the world. And, to ensure that we swallow this narrative, they attribute this phrase to Pele — the game’s first global superstar. The man who, at the tender age of 17, won the World Cup. […]
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Sharuko on Saturday FOR the first time, in more than 30 years in these trenches, I was called a DOG. A barking dog, for that matter. I grew up with dogs, my old man was fascinated with these pets and, at one time, we had six. My favourite was the one we called Sakonzeka, the […]
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Sharuko on Saturday I HAVE always told myself that one of the things I would really love to do, before I call it quits, is to write a book about Moses Chunga. He has the perfect ingredients for a bestseller – the combination of genius and controversy, the mixture of star quality and considerable quantity. […]
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Sharuko on Saturday THEY are both icons of the south and share a history built on a foundation of royalty. From the Ndebele Kingdom, King Lobengula and his grandsons, to the Kingdom of Naples, King Ferdinand IV and his royal family. Highlanders and Napoli! Along the way, they have both transformed themselves beyond being mere […]
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Sharuko On Saturday WE called ourselves the ‘Fab Five,’ — Basildon Peta, Amos Nyoni, Douglas Rinomhota, Abel Basuthu and yours truly. It was 1990. And, in our small world, we were the Beatles of our journalism school class because we had secured a badge of honour everyone craved for. Zimbabwe Newspapers, publishers of this grand […]
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Sharuko on Saturday THERE is a reason why 1983 is considered a watershed year in the history of league football. It’s hard to imagine, in today’s world, that there was a time, when league football wasn’t broadcast live on television, on as regular a basis, as is the case today. English football first arrived on […]
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Sharuko On Saturday IN more ways than one, it was the season when the Blue Moon rose and cast its giant shadow on the entire football world. From the ecstasy of Doha to the landmark triumph of Messi, from the historic success story of Pep to the routine championship defence in Paris, the Blue Moon […]
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Sharuko on Saturday TINO KADEWERE! The lanky fellow Moses Chunga told us was on the highway to heaven, some kind of football paradise, where the great ones, like Bambo himself, appear to reside. They had met during Tino’s formative years and, when Bambo talks about young talented footballers, we tend to listen. After all, this […]
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Sharuko On Saturday SEVEN months ago we said GOODBYE, kissed each other on the cheek and walked away into the sunset, followed by lengthy shadows and eventually darkness. It was over! It’s still over, the romance which the SOS blog gave us, the bond which it created, the love which it provided and the fun […]
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Sharuko On Saturday FOR our resident sangoma, there was only one way for us to win, probably the biggest game in the history of our football club. We had to play the game on our pitch. The problem was that we had been drawn away from home. The ZIFA Cup had thrown us the battle […]
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Sharuko On Saturday I WASN’T supposed to be at Sanyati Baptist High School in 1988. I had chosen Cranborne High School, for my A-Level studies, simply because my uncle, who was a commando, always talked about this school, and suburb, whenever he came back home. But, after all my hometown colleagues — Solomon Banda and […]
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Sharuko On Saturday THREE years ago, I revealed that had I not become a journalist, it’s very likely I would have ended up being either a Baptist preacher, or a songwriter. One with a bias towards gangsters’ rap music. Of course, I would never have become a rapper because the gift of a voice, which […]
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Sharuko On Saturday I EXPECTED there would be a reaction, predictably an explosion of emotions, possibly a wave of dejection and probably a sense of deflation. Of course, I didn’t expect a standing ovation. What I was absolutely sure about was that there would certainly be a whole lot of questions. I knew it would […]
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Sharuko On Saturday ON Thursday, the Queen died – bringing the curtain down on the second Elizabethan era, in which she ruled, longer than any other monarch, in British history. Her final duty, of her seven decades of public service, was to pass the British Premiership baton to Liz Truss, on Tuesday, just two days […]
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Sharuko On Saturday EXCEPT for the minor sideshow brought about by a controversial conversation over the colour of the tracksuits donated to CAPS United by a Good Samaritan, it was generally quiet on the domestic football front this week. Of course, I understand the frustration, among true fans of the Green Machine, on the occasions […]