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YESTERDAY, I turned 48 and to God be the glory, moved within just two more years of reaching half-a-century, which some call a Golden Jubilee, of this adventure in this beautiful and colourful garden of the living. In cricket, it’s called half-a-ton, and it’s a landmark score which is traditionally celebrated with the batsman raising his bat to acknowledge a combination of reaching this milestone and the cheers which usually accompany such a feat.

With 26 of those 48 years having been spent here, working in the corridors of this company, it means this newspaper organisation has been a bigger part of my journey, to date, than the time I spent outside its family of employees from the time I was born to the day I arrived here.

Forty-eight is the number of years the FIFA World Cup, whose 21st tournament will be held in Russia in June, has been broadcast in the splendour of colour television, our arrival on the scene coinciding with the innovative changes which consigned the black-and-white coverage of this showcase into the archives.

There are 48 Jewish prophets, from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, to Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi to Mordecai, Bilshan and Hanani and, in Judaism, wisdom is acquired in 48 ways.
In a week dominated by major political developments either side of the Limpopo, former South African President Jacob Zuma was handed a 48-hour deadline by the African National Congress Executive Committee to resign, or be forced out, leading him to announce his resignation live on television on Wednesday night.

And, in this country, tragedy struck as former Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, died at a Johannesburg hospital that same day after finally losing his battle with cancer, bringing to a close a chapter in this nation’s politics whose main arena he entered six months into his 48th year when he assumed the position as leader of the Movement of Democratic Change on September 11, 1999.

Matthew 26 verses 47 and 48 tell us of that landmark incident when Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with verse 47 telling us, “while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, with him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.’’

And verse 48 tells us, “now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘the one I kiss is the man; arrest Him.’’’
Somehow it had to happen that the number of states that make the United States of America mainland had to be 48, with the island of Hawaii in the Pacific and Alaska in northern Canada, making up the 49th and 50th states, while 48 is also the former US President Gerald Ford’s American football number which was retired by the University of Michigan.
Of course, there are 48 minutes in a National Basketball Association game.

It was this month, exactly 55 years ago, that Dynamos introduced themselves to the domestic Premiership as the new kids on the block without any hint whatsoever, that, by the end of that very year they would be the new champions of local football and, with the passage of time, these Glamour Boys would transform themselves into the biggest and most successful football club this country has ever known.

It was this month, exactly 45 years ago, when CAPS Rovers, who would later dump their surname to embrace the more traditional United, came into existence with their founding fathers in Harare’s Manchester Road, which probably explains their subsequent decision to adopt the United tag, certainly unaware they were laying the foundation for what would become one of the country’s three biggest football clubs.

It was this month, exactly 25 years ago, when the first round of matches in the new-look domestic Premiership, which had dumped its old identity of Super League after the top-flight clubs divorced themselves from the day-to-day supervision of ZIFA as a football revolution which had been started in England finally rolled into our shores, in a season where Highlanders would eventually be crowned champions while ShuShine and Ziscosteel suffered the embarrassment of being the first to be relegated from this new set-up.

And, it’s in this month of love, exactly 48 years ago, when I became the latest addition to the global community as I began an adventure that would take me from my beloved hometown Chakari to all over the world, make as many friends as enemies, experience as much heartbreak as ecstasy, get confronted by as many demons as blessings and, after all had been said and done —like that symbol on the Johnnie Walker whisky brands — keep walking.

KING PETER, THE MONTH OF LOVE AND BATTLE OF CAIRO
Somehow, whether by coincidence or whatever, it had to be this month that the Lord also blessed the world with some of its finest football talents, Cristiano Ronaldo (February 5, ’85); Neymar (February 5, ’92); Gerard Pique (February 2, ’87); Edinson Cavani (February 14, ’87); Emmanuel Adebayor (February 26, ’84); Carlos Tevez (February 5, ’84); Radamel Falcao (February 10, ’86); Angel di Maria (February 14, ’88) and Christian Erikssen (February 14, ’92).

Fernando Llorente (February 26, ’85); Claude Makelele (February 18, ’73); Gary Neville (February 18, ’75); Steve McManaman (February 11, ’72); Juninho (February 22, ’73); Socrates (February 19, ’54); Georghe Hagi (February 5, ’65); Denilson (February 16, ’88); Gareth Barry, February 23, ’81); Segio Romero (February 22, ’87); Brian Laudrup (February 22, ’69) and Ivan Perisic (February 2, ’89).

And some of the world’s greatest football minds, German’s World Cup-winning gaffer Joachim Low (February 3, ’60); England’s World Cup semi-final architect Bobby Robson (February 18, ’33); Cesare Maldini (February 5, ’32), who was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame and Sven Goran Eriksson (February 5, ’48), the Swede who became the first foreign coach to take charge of the England national team in January 2001.

Of course, by the way, it was this month, it had to be — 45 years ago on February 25 1973 — when the good Lord finally blessed us with a football genius, Peter Ndlovu, who would grow up to become the greatest Warrior our country has ever had, the King himself, so good in his prime he made all of us believe an elephant could fly.

And it was this month, exactly 25 years ago, on February 28, ’93, when a bunch of fearless Warriors, known as “The Dream Team”, stormed the Cairo International Stadium to be met by more than 120 000 Pharaohs baying for their blood, in a defining ’94 World Cup qualifier, which sparked so much controversy the events of that night spilled into the corridors of the FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Their reputation, no longer mere giant-killers, but a group of gritty individuals who had transformed themselves into the real deal, as good as any team on the continent back then, preceded their Cairo invasion.
And the statistics made some good reading, if you are Zimbabwean — FOUR wins and a draw in their FIVE World cup qualifiers, including a double over Togo and a 2-1 home win over these Egyptians while a 4-1 AFCON demolition of Bafana Bafana provided the back-up evidence, in case any was needed, of the fact that these Warriors had come of age.

An indomitable group which had developed an allergy to defeat, who in King Peter, his brother Adam and Agent Sawu had an attack that could deliver when it mattered most, who had never fell behind in those qualifiers and whose confidence was exploding in their search for the golden ticket of a place at the World Cup finals.

Something had to give and the Pharaohs, aware of the pedigree of this invading army of Warriors in a game which the Egyptians needed nothing, but victory to overtake our heroes, in that last match of the group qualifiers where the group winners would join eight other countries for the final battles for the three tickets to the World Cup finals, decided to use a lot of foul tactics to try and achieve their goal.

They won that game on February 28, ’93, 2-1, but with images of our coach Reinhard Fabisch with a blood-soaked shirt after being struck on the head by a missile and Bruce Grobbelaar’s head heavily bandaged after suffering a vicious cut from another missile in that war, flying all over the world, FIFA were forced to act and nullified that result while ordering a replay on neutral ground in Lyon, France.

The scene at the Cairo International Stadium that night was, for the Pharaohs, like a page borrowed from Shakespeare’s MacBeth, “so foul and fair a day I have not seen,’’ with so much damage inflicted on the opponents overshadowing the glory of the victory which the Egyptians were celebrating.

“It didn’t start just with us being struck by objects. There’s a thing about being fair, and then there’s a thing about being not nice and fair,’’ Grobbelaar told the African football podcast, The Mesfouf and Koshary Show, in September, two years ago.
“They were not nice, but they weren’t fair. We go to Egypt and they put us in a hotel on the edge of the desert with no air conditioning. It’s a difficult situation, you get into the Olympic Stadium and you have 120 000 people in the stadium and you go one up, what do you think they’re going to do?

“They start breaking the stadium to throw rocks at you. The rocks are coming, there’s a track around, but the rocks are still coming. I get smacked because the ball boys are too scared to go across the track right near the people to get the ball, so I’m running to get the ball.

“I get (hit) on the head. There’s a bit of blood, I wipe the blood away so there’s blood on my glove and it’s picked up on camera. Our coach comes out of the dugout, he gets struck, gets a big cut and is on the ground.
“We go back to the hotel and we’re getting chased by everybody else, and we couldn’t even come out of the hotel to have a drink. So we made a submission that it was unfair and FIFA (agreed).”

Two weeks later, FIFA nullified the result of the match and ordered the replay in France, the only African World Cup qualifier played in Europe, with a French referee Joel Quiniou, in charge and the gallant Warriors held out to a goalless draw to qualify for the final nine-team phase of the qualifiers.

POOR BRUCE, OUR JUNGLEMAN, AND ALL THOSE MONEY TAUNTS
Somehow, a few months later, Grobbelaar, because of either foolishness or a reckless show of bravado, decides to take his family to Egypt for vacation despite everything which had happened related to that match.
“I go on holiday to Egypt to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx with my family. Coming into Egypt, I give them my passport they say ‘no, no, no, you’re not coming in. GET OUT! They didn’t want me there.”
Football, what a beautiful and bloody game.

Maybe, Bruce should have known better, especially after an Egyptian sports magazine, Al Ahlawiya, exploded in rage in protest over the FIFA decision to nullify that result and order a replay in a scathing commentary headlined — Dirty Plot and Black Slave.

“The African referees are still living in the days of racial discrimination. They show their hatred on everything that is white. They haven’t forgotten that they are slaves and, naturally, there is a great difference between the masters and their slaves,” thundered Al Ahlawiya.

“They look at everything that is white with a sore eye because their hearts are filled with hatred. Definitely, we have been afflicted to great pain with those blacks in our last match against Zimbabwe on February 28 that ended 2-1 in favour of Egypt.
“The match was handled by the wild bear called (Jean-Fidel) Diramba from Gabon. Spite and hate against Egypt and its people was clear. There was conspiracy from the Zimbabwean team, the referee, linesmen and commissioner who connived against Egypt.

“IT WAS CLEAR THE REFEREE WAS SYMPATHISING WITH HIS BLACK TRIBESMEN. THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION OR IS IT THE FIRST TIME THAT AFRICANS HAVE TREATED US LIKE THIS AND HAVE PASSION FOR THEIR BLACK RACE. THEY HATE ARAB TEAMS AND THEY ARE FOND OF GETTING BRIBES.”
Wow, that’s one clearly below the belt.

This month marks 25 years after that Battle of Cairo and King Peter, who turns 45 next Sunday, and was the destroyer-in-chief of those Pharaohs in that campaign after scoring in the first match, a 2-1 win for us in Harare, and then providing the assist for Agent Sawu for our goal in that Cairo cauldron, still lives to tell the stories about a time when our Warriors represented greatness.

And so does Sawu, who scored in Harare and Cairo, and so does Grobbelaar, the last line of that team’s defence who, with Fabisch, became the face of that Battle of Cairo as they carried their physical wounds.
But it’s a pity Benjamin Nkonjera, the outstanding player of that iconic Battle of Cairo, isn’t around anymore and lies buried at Bulawayo’s Lady Stanley Cemetery alongside other stars of that Dream Team — Mercedes “Rambo’’ Sibanda, Melusi Nkiwane and Makheyi Nyathi.

And Fabisch, the mastermind of that adventure, is another one we lost along the way and cannot celebrate the Silver Jubilee of that Invasion of Cairo but, on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of that iconic battle, it’s important for them to know their gallant efforts will never be forgotten and these lyrics of the song, ‘Living Years,’ from Mike & The Mechanics probably provides a fitting farewell.

“We know that we’re prisoners
To all which our departed Warriors held so dear
We know that we’re hostages
To all their hopes and fears
We just wish we could have told them in the living years.’’

To God Be The Glory
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhooooooooooooooooo!
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Chat with me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber or read my material in The Southern Times or on www.sportszone.co.zw. You can also interact with me on the informative ZBC weekly television football magazine programme, Game Plan, where I join the legendary Charles “CNN” Mabika and producer Craig “Master Craig’’ Katsande every Monday night at 21.15pm.