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Sharuko On Saturday

IT’S a very controversial subject – which was the Greatest Dynamos Team of-all-time?

There are many who believe that the Glamour Boys Class of ’98 was the greatest, and for a very good reason too.

After all, this was a group of Glamour Boys who blazed a trail and became the first Zimbabwean club to reach the final of the CAF Champions League.

That it’s something, which no other local club has done since then, in a period spanning a quarter-of-a-century reinforces the point that what those Glamour Boys did was magical.

That it’s something, which had not been done by a local club in the 16 years, which they had taken part in the competition, also highlighted the significance of what that Dynamos side did in ’88.

That reaching the final was something, which only one other Southern African side, Orlando Pirates, had done in 1995, on their way to shaking hands with paradise, also emphasised the importance of what that DeMbare side did.

While Pirates completed their adventure in style, by beating ASEC Mimosas in Abidjan to be crowned champions of Africa, Dynamos limped at the final hurdle.

The records will show that the Glamour Boys were well beaten in that decisive match, losing 2-4 to the Cote d’Ivoire giants, they won’t record the dark arts which made a mockery of every word, which the phrase “Spirit Of Fair Play,” is supposed to represent.

I think this will be the ONLY final of a major continental inter-club tournament where the captain of one of the teams will be savagely attacked by his opponents, sent to hospital to save his life while his troops will be battling for honours without their leader.

For me, as a journalist, it was an honour to watch those Glamour Boys battle against everything thrown at them, including a corrupt CAF leadership which was fighting for the cause of ASEC Mimosas.

It’s a credit to them that they eventually limited the damage to just four goals, and scored twice themselves, in a fight where the other team had a nuclear bomb and the other side only had a bow and arrow.

You watch such a game and you spend your whole life getting a true appreciation of how special it was for little David to bring down giant Goliath in one of the defining battles in the history of humanity.

There are some who argue that the DeMbare Class of ’76 is the GOAT when it comes to the history of the Glamour Boys.

They say this was a collection of immortals and they rightly argue that it’s not fair to judge them, using stuff from the Champions League, when politics, beyond their control, kept them out of that tournament in ’76.

Algerian side MC Alger won that tournament, which was their first African championship title.

Thirty-five years later, in March 2011, Dynamos produce one of their greatest performances in the Champions League by thrashing the Algerians 4-1 at Rufaro after Denver Mukamba had run the show with a vintage individual performance.

I was only six when the DeMbare Class of ’76 powered their way to greatness, and I have to admit that I was neither a witness nor an analyst to the events surrounding their quest for immortality that year.

THE SPECIAL DEMBARE CLASS OF ’96

But, I can understand the argument from those who say the Class of ’76 was the GOAT because their spellbinding statistics paint a truly beautiful picture of greatness.

They won the League and Cup double, including thrashing fierce rivals Chibuku 8-0 in the Nyore Nyore Shield final at Rufaro with the immortal Daniel “Dhidhidhi” Ncube scoring five of those eight goals.

They won five of the six knockout tournaments, including the BAT Rosebowl, with their only failure, for a clean sweep, coming in the Chibuku Cup, where they lost to Saints in the quarter-finals.

They thrashed Orlando Pirates 4-1 at Rufaro, to come from a 3-5 first leg deficit, to be crowned the champions of Southern Africa after having accounted for Moroka Swallows in the semi-finals.

Those Glamour Boys scored 67 goals in 19 knockout matches and over a century of goals in league and cup matches.

David George, a man so good at sweeping past opponents they even nicknamed him “Broom Boy,” said this was the GOAT when it comes to Dynamos teams.

“If one looks at our star-studded side in 1976, he or she could easily see why I rate it as the best Dynamos line-up ever,” said George.

“We had arguably the best midfielder in the country in Shaya, whom I rate as the finest ever player produced in this country, a terrific talisman who was an intelligent game reader and who could win a game single-handedly.”

This was a great football machine and the quality of the players said it all — Matthew Mwale, Shadreck Ngwenya, Shepherd Murape, Isaac Nhema, Simon Sachiti, Shaw Handriade, Kuda Muchemeyi, Ernest Kamba, Oliver Kateya, to name but a few.

Most of these DeMbare heroes are now late and will not be there when, in three years’ time, the Glamour Boys celebrate the 50th anniversary of their grand achievements in ’76.

George Shaya will not be there and the other George, with the first name of the little boy who felled Goliath before growing up to be the King, will also not be there.

The man we called ‘Bla Dee’ died on this day last week.

In the decades he spent in the trenches of our football, as a player and a coach, he transformed himself into probably the finest gentleman in the game, the guy no one would ever wish any harm to befall him.

He was so nice one would end up getting this feeling that, if he had been created as a bird, he would definitely have been a dove.

He didn’t speak a lot, which was his strength, which meant he never quoted controversy from his words being misinterpreted, and on the occasions he spoke, there was a lot of sense in every word he uttered.

Bla Dee is the latest DeMbare legend to fall and he was 71 when he died.

If there was a graveyard exclusively reserved for Dynamos legends, this team’s supermen, the best of the best, then Bla Dee would have deservedly taken his place there.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that being an introvert meant he probably didn’t get the publicity which he deserved for a footballer as talented as he was and for a man as humble as he was.

What isn’t in dispute was that Bla Dee was sheer class.

And, in an era where we have wingers getting onto the Soccer Stars of the Year calendar simply because they completed six dribbles all season, his greatness as a footballer is clearly illustrated.

BLA DEE, THE LEGEND, THE HISTORY

But one gets that there appears to be a wicked and smelly attempt, on the Dynamos side, to try and rewrite history.

As some people battle to try and portray themselves as the bona fide leaders of DeMbare, it’s very sad that they are using every trick in the book to try and rewrite this club’s history.

They are trying to give an impression that people like David George were not true heroes of DeMbare simply because they dared to speak up against a faulty system which has converted the people’s team into the pet project of a single individual.

They are trying to paint a picture which suggests that someone like, the other David whose surname was Mandigora, was not as great as we claim simply because he dared speak against the authoritarianism which has turned the Glamour Boys into a one-man band.

When those who really deserved a huge stake in the running, and ownership of the club, like Mandigora and Bla Dee are frozen out of the system, brave men should fight this.

Bernard Marriot, the Dear Leader at Dynamos, didn’t even care to attend the burial of Mandigora, the first Soccer Star of the Year in Independent Zimbabwe, at Glen Forest.

Mandigora’s special status isn’t about just being the first Soccer Star of the Year in a country called Zimbabwe, but was the coach when this club reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2008.

Bla Dee’s special status at Dynamos wasn’t because of the historic events, and success, of 1976 but because he was also the assistant coach when the Glamour Boys reached the fringes of the Promised Land in ’98.

He was also the assistant coach when Dynamos reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2008.

He was the DeMbare coach, at some point and, along the way, he became a reference point for success, at this club, and humility, on the minefield of the politics which dominate and define these giants.

The stupidity of the politics at Dynamos should not be allowed to fool later day fans into believing that the likes of Bla Dee were not the legends at this club.

And, Bla Dee’s legendary status will not be defined by boycotting his funeral because he worked for it and no one can ever take that away from him.

To God Be The Glory!

 Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.

 Come on Chegutu Pirates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zaireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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Email – robsharuko@gmail,com

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