Robson Sharuko on Saturday: B for Barbourfields, B for Bramall Lane, B for Bosso, B for the Blades, it’s all just romantic

THERE’S something romantic about Bramall Lane — just like Anfield, it has its own stand called the Kop, where the most passionate fans of Sheffield United are found.

You feel the raw outpouring of love between the fans and their team.

On August 15, 1992, Brian Deane scored the first goal, in the era of the English Premiership, in front of the Kop at Bramall Lane, putting Sheffield United in front after just five minutes, against Manchester United.

Latter-day Liverpool fans might erroneously believe the Kop is an exclusive part of Anfield, but the reality is that it’s a stand found at a number of stadiums — Leeds’ Elland Road, Portsmouth’s Fratton Park, Birmingham City’s St Andrews, Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough and Leicester City’s King Power.

As incredible as it sounds today, the first recorded reference to a Kop stand, at a football stadium, was at Arsenal’s Manor Ground in 1904.

When Peter Ndlovu was excelling at Coventry City, their home ground, Highfield Road, also had the Kop stand until it was demolished in 2006.

Marvelous Nakamba’s home ground, Villa Park, used to have the largest of all Kop ends in football, with a carrying capacity of 30 000 fans, before the all-seater changes came about and it was renamed the Holte End.

At the Parc des Princes, the home of Paris Saint Germain, it’s called the Kop of Boulogne.

Those who brought this concept to English football felt the steep nature of the stands, where the die-hard fans would stand in numbers, and the trademark roof, resembled soldiers standing on a hill outside Ladysmith, in South Africa.

Fighting the Battle of the Spion Kop during the Second Boer War in January 1990.

Given it’s a name that originated from across the Limpopo, I don’t understand why they didn’t make the Soweto stand, where the die-hard Bosso fans are found at Barbourfields, a Kop stand.

Maybe, because Soweto has an original touch, and also resonates with the significance of how that part of Johannesburg has profoundly shaped events in this part of the continent.

Bramall Lane, where Sheffield United beat Arsenal 1-0 on Monday, is also steeped in history.

It hosted the world’s first floodlit football match on October 14, 1878, and having staged the England/Scotland match on October 4, 1883, it is now officially acknowledged as the oldest international football stadium in the world.

In 1867, the first Cup final in football was also staged at Bramall Lane with Hallam FC winning the Youdan Cup.

Some things are just meant to happen, especially when it comes to the special relationship between greatness and the iconic venues where it is paraded and, on April 30, 2004, Bramall Lane also provided the stage for Peter Ndlovu’s farewell match in English football.

The final chapter of an adventure that had started in the old English First Division on September 24, 1991, in a 1-1 draw away at Queens Park Rangers.

A 13-year odyssey which, if we remove that short loan spell at Huddersfield Town, will reveal he played all his football in England for three clubs — Coventry City, Birmingham City and Bramall Lane — whose home grounds had the Kop stand.

And, probably fittingly, his best performance in England came at Anfield, in front of the world-famous Kop, on March 14, 1995 when he fired a hattrick for Coventry City in a 3-2 win over Liverpool.

That he was the first visiting player to score a hattrick at Anfield, since 1962, when Terry Allock scored three times for Norwich in a 4-5 losing cause for Norwich, put the special nature of Peter Ndlovu’s achievement, that unforgettable day, into perspective.

FORTY YEARS AFTER THE JUNGLEMAN FIRST ARRIVED, THE GEMS ARE STILL COMING FROM THE SOUTH
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the year Bruce Grobbelaar first arrived in English football when he joined then fourth-tier side Crewe Alexandra on December 18, 1979, on loan from Canadian team Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Jungleman had initially been invited to join West Bromwich Albion by manager Ron Atkinson but, after running into challenges to secure a permit to join the then top-flight side, he moved to Crewe Alexandra in the lower leagues.

It also was a landmark year, in English football, as Nottingham Forest became the first club to pay a £1million transfer fee to sign Trevor Francis from Birmingham while Peter Shilton became the best-paid player in Britain with a new contract at Forest worth £1 200 a week.

As Grobbelaar settled in England, earning about £200 a week, he never imagined that — exactly 40 years down the line — another footballer from his homeland, Marvelous Nakamba, would arrive in that country’s top-flight league at a starting salary of about £65 000 per week.

It’s likely to be improved if he continues with his flying start to life in the Premiership.

And Highlanders have been watching.

“Congratulations to our juniors’ product, and now national team player Marvelous Nakamba for joining the elite league of Bruce Grobbelaar, Peter Ndlovu and Benjani Mwaruwari as the only Zimbabwean players to ever play in England’s elite league,’’ Bosso tweeted when the Nakamba deal was announced.

But, why is it that all the four Zimbabwean footballers who have featured in the English top-flight league — Grobbelaar, King Peter, Benjani Mwaruwari and Nakamba — all have the same Highlanders connections?

Why is it that, at some point in their careers, either in the senior team as was the case with Grobbelaar and King Peter, or in the junior teams, as was the case with Benjani and Nakamba, all of them featured for Bosso at some point?

Is it a case that Highlanders have the best set-up, in terms of preparing players who can go as far as playing in the English top-flight league, because, if it was just one or two players, one could have said it’s just a coincidence?

But, definitely, three and four players shows this isn’t just happening by chance.

It’s a subject that domestic football has seemingly not been keen to discuss, but one that deserves to be talked about at length.

To help us try and understand why only those who have had a connection with Bosso end up scaling the heights like playing in the English Premiership?

Is it the way that those who go through the junior ranks at Highlanders are trained, which is different from what happens at other clubs in the country, which then enable the excellent ones like King Peter, Benjani and Nakamba to be different from others and enable them to be signed by English Premiership clubs?

SO MANY QUESTIONS WE HAVE TO FACE, VERY FEW ANSWERS THAT HAVE BEEN PROVIDED
Would Benjani have gone all the way to Manchester City, for instance, if he had featured for the Dynamos junior teams, and not the Bosso junior sides?

And, if the answer is yes, why then did someone like Tauya Murewa, as precocious a talent as any that has emerged on the domestic scene, not make in Scotland where he had trials at Hibernian?

Is it fair to suggest The Flying Doctor, who scored 60 times in four seasons for DeMbare while not playing as an out-and-out forward, would have made it into the English Premiership, for instance, if at some stage in his career — especially during his youthful days — he had come through the Bosso ranks?

What about the Digital, Vitalis Takawira, whose dribbling skills made him such a terrier to defenders, can we also argue that, if he had gone through the Bosso juniors, there was a very good chance he would have made it into the English Premiership?

His brother, Claudius, remains one of the most underrated players I have seen, awesome in the air, strong and with the kind of physique they want in most top leagues, but his destiny took him nowhere, even when it’s clear his skills deserved a bigger and better platform.

Would Claudius, in his retirement today, probably look back and say that, if fate had taken him through the Bosso junior ranks, at some point in his career, chances are that he would have ended up playing football even in the English Premiership?

What about Agent Sawu, probably the deadliest gunslinger of his Dream Team generation and had just about everything one needed in a striker — power, aerial strength, great timing and amazing positioning?

The former Zimbabwe Saints man ended up in Switzerland while the late Adam Ndlovu, who was developed in the Bosso system, found himself being invited by Sir Alex Ferguson for trials at Old Trafford in ‘92 before the Scot chose Eric Cantona.

What about Henry “The Bully” McKop, one of the finest all-round local footballers I have seen, what about Ronald Sibanda, a magician with a vision seemingly guided by some laser instruments, what about Joseph Machingura?

All these Saints boys, amazing footballers who were born to play football and did it with both style and substance, could their paths have taken a different turn, and seen them playing in England, if they had stuck to the Bosso system, whatever it is?

What about Norman Mapeza, who almost joined West Ham, Onismor Bhasera, who almost joined Portsmouth and Queens Park rangers, would they possibly have made it had they gone through the Bosso football school?

Some will say we shouldn’t forget the impact Methembe Ndlovu and his Bantu project had on the likes of Nakamba, fair and fine, and quite a good point.

But, then, how do you divorce Methembe from Bosso, how is he not just a youthful extension of the beautiful old beast, how can we say the lessons he picked under Ali “Baba’’ Dube aren’t what he is now using at Bantu?

Today, Teenage Hadebe is making waves in Turkey and, of course, along the way he had his talents developed at Bosso and Bantu, I’m not sure what they do there, to become someone who could make the grade in Europe.

It’s now 15 years since King Peter ended his romance with English football, with the curtain fittingly coming down at the historic Bramall Lane and all its history, closing a chapter in which he featured 135 times for Sheffield United and scored 25 goals.

And, the only two other players to follow in his footsteps — Benjani and Nakamba — are from his old Bosso production line, no one can explain why, but maybe it’s because they say this old beast is different.

After all, they say, while all other local football clubs were “formed,’’ Bosso are the only ones who were “established.’’

Whatever that means, I don’t know, but what I know is that there is something romantic about Barbourfields, just like Bramall Lane.

And, it’s not just because they share the same initial, “B,’’ which also happens to be the initial of the nicknames of the clubs, “Bosso for Highlanders and Blades for Sheffield United,’’ which call these two stadiums home.

It’s something special.
To God Be The Glory!
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton and all the Chakariboys in the struggle.
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole Ole!
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You can also interact with me on Twitter — @Chakariboy, Facebook, Instagram — sharukor and every Wednesday night, at 9.45pm, when I join the legendary Charles “CNN’’ Mabika and producer Craig “Master Craig’’ Katsande on the ZBC television magazine programme, “Game Plan”.

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