Zimpapers Logo

Reports that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will send an inspector for a three-day tour of Zimbabwe next week has opened a window of hope for local football fans.

It should also come as a relief to all the people, including the Government, who have plunged into a round-the-clock exercise to try and spruce up the National Sports Stadium and Barbourfields in the past few days.

The immediate target is to ensure the two stadiums are in a shape where, at the bare minimum, they can pass the test to be allowed to host international football matches again.

While all the narratives have been dominated by the Warriors’ 2021 AFCON qualifier against the Desert Foxes of Algeria, at the end of this month, very little consideration has been given to our other international football commitments.

The Young Mighty Warriors have an upcoming home World Cup qualifier and it is set to be played just a few days before the Warriors take on the defending African champions.

They, too, just like our flagship national football team, require a home to play that fixture, preferably in their backyard, so that they can enjoy everything that comes with home advantage.

The fact that CAF have now agreed that an inspector be dispatched to Zimbabwe to look at work being done at both NSS and Barbourfields to give them an indication if any, or both, stadiums can host international football again, is a big victory for us in our bid to keep national teams’ matches within our borders — which is important on a number of fronts.

The local football economy benefits because of activities that happen in the lead up to, and on match day, with fans spending money which remains circulating within our system rather than a situation where local supporters have to go and spend money which benefits other countries.

Our hotels, where both the Warriors and the Algerians will stay, benefit from hosting the two teams.

Local transporters, who will be given the business of shuttling the two teams from one point to the other, also benefit from having the match played here while, in the event it’s played elsewhere, they won’t get that business.

The move has countless benefits for people downstream.

Vendors naturally take advantage of such huge gatherings to sell food and other products.

ZIFA, who have had their fair share of financial challenges, won’t also be burdened by having to fly our teams to foreign lands for their home matches and paying huge amounts, to their countries, in terms of the security of both our teams and their opponents.

There is also the issue of national pride, which is priceless, and this overshadows everything we have listed here because we have to be seen to be a people who aren’t mocked by our detractors that we don’t even have one stadium to play our football matches.

This is what has provoked this aggressive national initiative, led by the Government, to ensure that preliminary work be done at our two stadiums and they are in a shape where, by next week, they can pass the CAF test.

Experts who have been hired for the exercise have all said it’s a battle we can win but the challenge is on us to show that we are really committed to the exercise.

We are a country which has defiantly stood, where many would have fallen, because of our strong sense of patriotism and our refusal to be defeated by the forces of darkness.

We have withstood the damage that has been inflicted by about two decades of crippling sanctions imposed by some Western nations who are not happy with our thrust to distribute our land to the majority of the population.

If we could do that, surely we should find a way to deal with the latest crisis to hit our stadiums and find a magical formula to ensure that we keep our national football teams at home.

Even if we pass the next CAF test, of which we are confident we will do, we should not stop the exercise of revamping our facilities to ensure they are good enough to host international matches.

We won’t be doing it for CAF but, as Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry said this week, we will be doing it for ourselves.

We will be doing it for our athletes, who deserve the best possible conditions for them to really play as well as they can, and reports that our footballers were suffering injuries because of the uneven surface at the NSS used to make some sad reading.

These are our ambassadors, they risk a lot to just come and represent their country, and when they win they make us feel proud and happy because they will be fighting our cause.

That is why it’s important that we should give them the best possible conditions for them to do as well as possible and good stadiums can help them express their talents as best as they could.

The ball is now firmly back in our courts.