Sharuko on Saturday

FORTY years ago, a huge and colourful army of 50 000 people poured into Rufaro, not to watch a classic football showdown, but to celebrate the high-profile wedding of singer Zexie Manatsa and his wife Stella. The event was such a huge box office hit among the residents of the capital.

It even dwarfed a rally which the then Prime Minister of the short-lived Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, Abel Muzorewa, had intended to address that day.

Left with egg on their faces, the organisers were forced to cancel that rally.

Manatsa — the raspy voice behind hits like “Chipo Chiroorwa,’’ “Tea Hobvu,’’ and “Chechule Anavhala Bottom,’’ — had already taken his place among the finest musicians to emerge from this country.

Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi, certainly the greatest Zimbabwean musicians of all-time, headlined the cast of the stars who performed that afternoon.

What everyone didn’t know that day was that two of the three principal musical figures of that festival — Manatsa and Mapfumo — would, 40 years down the line, be united by grief sparked by the demise of the third member of that group, Mtukudzi.

Manatsa’s marriage to Stella brought Tuku to sing at Rufaro that day in 1979.

And, as fate would have it, a strong bond, cemented by marriage, would see him wave goodbye to Mtukudzi in Madziwa last Sunday.

Not just as a special friend, but as a relative given his son, Tendai, had — along the way — married Mukudzi’s daughter Selmor.

There are some things that we, the mere mortals who live here on Mother Earth, can certainly never explain.

Like the striking coincidence that American singer Joan Osborne somehow chose a special year in the history of the romance between football and music to rock the world with her outrageous, if not highly offensive song called “One Of Us?”

Back in 1995, football was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of the greatest song associated with this game, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

A song fittingly released in the year the madness of World War II ended in 1945 and that has come to represent love and defiance, and our collective refusal as humans to be defeated by the challenges that confront us.

And, somehow, on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of that iconic song, Osborne released a song from hell, probably, the closest thing to blasphemy ever packaged into a song where she even dared to ask if God had a name, what it would be?

Things like if our Lord had a face, what would it look like and whether we would want to see it, and she even imagines God on a bus, just like you and me, trying to make his way home.

Somehow, having the reckless courage to sing about God travelling “back up to Heaven all alone, nobody calling on the phone, except for the Pope, maybe, in Rome.’’

But, then, it’s hard for football to disown the likes of Osborne and project itself as an oasis of both faith and spirituality, especially when we have seen the same game somehow celebrate weird images like that young Manchester United fan with a face painted with the words “God Is Back,’’ after Eric Cantona returned from a nine-month ban at Old Trafford on October 1, 1995.

MUKANYA IS A DEMBARE FAN, MAJAIVANA IS A BOSSO SUPPORTER

Thomas Mapfumo is a DeMbare fan, Lovemore Majaivana is a Highlanders supporter, Manatsa played it down the middle by singing songs for all the Big Three, while I don’t know the local team Tuku supported.

Supporting a football club is quite an adventure, a test of faith, and a sense of belonging.

When a Bosnian fan Aldin Karabeg was looking for an English team to support, he took the extraordinary step of emailing all the 92 clubs, asking each of them why they deserved his support.

Only 10 clubs, including Manchester United, replied.

The best response came from Everton, who told him they were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888, founder members of the FA Premier League in 1992, first club to club to stage an FA Cup final 1894 between Notts County and Bolton Wanderers.

First football club to go on an overseas trip, first club to construct a purpose-built football stadium, first club to have a four-sided stadium with two tier stands, first club to have a stadium with a three-tier stand, first club to have a player, William Ralph Dean, scoring 60 league goals.

The first club to wear numbered shirts from 1-11 in the 1893 FA Cup final, first club to install dugouts, first club to install under-soil heating, first club to win a penalty shootout in the European Cup when they beat German side Borussia Monchengladbach in 1970 and first club to amass 5000 league points.

The first club to stage a World Cup semi-final in Britain in 1966, first club to have the youngest Premiership goal-scorer in two consecutive seasons with two different players, first club to break the £100 000 transfer threshold when Alan Ball moved from Blackpool in 1966, first club to be featured in a television game in August 1936 against Arsenal. And, of course, they told him they were also the first club to have a church attached to their stadium.

That Everton could go to such an extent to try and win just the heart of one fan shows the importance which professional clubs attach to the value of fans.

I am a Manchester United fan, as loyal as they come, and have been a proud one for more than 40 years.

That they are nicknamed the Red Devils, which certainly appears to be rather an obscure celebration of evil, given my strong attachment to the values of divinity, the purity of angels and the greatness of God, has always been an irony.

While there has been an acceptance, and in a lot of cases even a celebration of my patronage of Man United, the subject of which domestic club I support, save for my hometown team Falcon Gold, has been quite a sensitive one in this country.

For years it has provoked debate amid conflicting accusations as if I have been committing a crime that I am a Dynamos fan, while others say I actually support CAPS United.

Some have even used my heritage as a proud Nguni boy whose family tree was rooted in the Zulu clan, where I grew up in a house where Ndebele was the dominant spoken local language, as a sign that I support Highlanders.

How I wish all those people claimed I support Yadah Stars, not because I have managed to gain the trust of the prophet who owns the club, but because it’s a football team that strives to uphold the values of Christianity.

LUCKY THEM, MIKE MADODA AND BARRY MANANDI

What I have found fascinating from this fierce debate is that it appears as if it’s even an abomination for me to be seen to be a fan of one of our Premiership clubs because, as those who judge have argued, it will compromise my work.

Interestingly, they have found no problem with Mike Madoda, a good friend of mine, declaring his allegiance to Highlanders. Or Barry Manandi, another good pal of mine, coming out in the open he is a Dynamos fan, yet they find serious issues in my perceived support for a local Premiership team.

They say neutrality breeds professionalism for someone in my position of influence, that the more I am non-aligned, the better my arguments will be shaped and even warmly received by the readers.

It’s a crazy world that I live in, where I have been stripped of the rights of belonging because it could be seen to be compromising my work, where impartiality should not only be delivered, but also has to be seen to have been delivered.

As much as some might not believe this, there are actually times I wish I just had remained that an anonymous guy in Chakari, far away from the madness of this brutal scrutiny and every other Sunday I would pay my dollar into our stadium to support my beloved Falcon Gold.

A beautiful and laid-back world far away from the Mako Golds of this profession, the relentless pursuit of gold medals that embodies the spirit of the athletes I write about, my town where the mining of gold still remains the one activity that keeps our home sweet home ticking.

What I, however, find strange is that while it’s virtually a crime for me to be linked to any top football club in this country, in England it’s very acceptable that guys in my position can have their favourite clubs they support.

At the Daily Telegraph, Chris Bascombe supports Liverpool; Luke Edwards (Newcastle); Roddy Forsyth (Rangers); Thom Gibbs (QPR); Alan Hansen (Liverpool); John Ley (Arsenal); Jonathan Liew (Spurs); Mark Ogden (Manchester United); Matt Scott (Arsenal); Alan Smith (Arsenal); Alan Tyers (Hibernian) and Jeremy Wilson (Arsenal).

At The Times, Henry Winter supports Chelsea, Patrick Barclay (Dundee); Oliver Kay (Liverpool); Gabriele Marcotti (Chelsea); George Caulkin (Newcastle); Tony Evans (Liverpool); Matt Hughes (Arsenal); Peter Lansley (Wolves) and Rory Smith (Liverpool).

At The Independent James Lawton supports Arsenal, Sam Wallace is a Gunner, Ian Herbert supports Wrexham and Simon Rice is an Arsenal fan.

At The Guardian, Paul Doyle is also a Gunner, Dominic Fifield: (Crystal Palace); David Lacey (Arsenal); Amy Lawrence (Arsenal); Kevin McCarra (Celtic); Jacob Steinberg (West Ham); Daniel Taylor (Nottingham Forest); Louise Taylor (Sunderland) and John Ashdown supports Sheffield United.

The Sun’s Shaun Custis is a Newcastle fan while Simon Barnes is an Arsenal supporter, Martin Samuels of the Daily Mail supports West Ham while his colleagues, Matt Lawton and Matt Fortune are Gunners, Neil Moxley is an Everton fan and Oliver Holt supports Stockport County. At The Mirror Martin Lipton is a Spurs fan, Darren Lewis supports Liverpool, Simon Bird (Newcastle); James Nursey (Norwich); John Cross (Arsenal) and Matt Law supports Aston Villa.

How I wish Everton could adopt my beloved Falcon Gold and transform it into a powerhouse no-one will ever accuse me of borrowed or fake patronage.

And the Toffees’ model of a football club built on the foundation of a respect for God, they even attached a church adjacent their stadium, and a city (Liverpool) shaped by the music of The Beatles, would be perfect for me.

We could even renovate our home ground and turn it into a 50 000-seater, attach a church and, who knows, maybe Zexie Manatsa will one day come and sing on the wedding of one of our future stars before a full-house.

To God Be The Glory!
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooooo!
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