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Sharuko on Saturday

ON Thursday, I met Bernard Marriot, for the first time in the three weeks in which our relationship has been tested and strained by the reports I have been running in this newspaper, questioning his leadership style.

I guess fate had decided, in its usual strange ways, that we should meet at that minute and under such circumstances.

I knew, before I left home that day, that there was a good chance I was going to meet the wily old fox.

This fellow from Mbare who, in his youthful days, used to love playing the guitar, and also chasing the fantasy that he was cut from the cloth that has provided us with some of our best boxers.

This man from this grand old suburb which, back in the day, had the privilege of having the sole ownership of the name which today represents the identity of the entire capital.

This 76-year-old man who, thanks to a combination of fate, and a little bit of luck, has found himself as the Last Man Standing among the group which founded Dynamos in 1963.

Of course, like everything else connected to Marriot, there are some questions about that.

Given Dynamos are 61 this year, it means Marriot was a mere 15-year-old schoolboy when he joined the men who came up with the idea to have this football club.

That must have been some kind of amazing genius for a mere 15-year-old boy in the townships to have this awareness that he should be part of a group of individuals who can come up with a football club.

And, given the formation of Dynamos was as sporting as it was political, itself a rebellion against the white-dominated clubs of the day, Marriot must be the closest thing that football has had to a young Martin Luther King.

Maybe, his youthfulness back then explains why he is the Last Man Standing even though there have been arguments, in many circles, that Marriot was not there when the Dynamos founding fathers came up with their project.

I wasn’t even born back then so I wouldn’t want to delve into the arguments whether or not Marriot was part of those founding fathers.

Given that we don’t have any of them alive today, the reality is that we won’t get any credible witnesses to argue otherwise.

And, after all, that is not the subject of this blog today.

So, let’s go back to the beginning.

On Thursday morning I drove to the headquarters of Sakunda Holdings, in the Newlands neighbourhood of Harare, where I had been invited to attend the unveiling ceremony of the new kit which Dynamos and Highlanders would be using this season,

I had just arrived and parked, waiting for my turn to be ushered into the headquarters parking lot, when the gate was swung open by the security guys manning the complex.

And, out came Marriot, in his blue suit, his Dynamos scarf around his neck, and he was heading right in my direction.

I greeted him, saying “Mukuru, how are you?”

With a subdued tone, he replied, telling me he was okay and passed by my car to attend to the business he wanted to deal with on that street.

About a minute later, he came back to my car, asked if I could reverse into an open space to enable another car, which I had not seen on my tail, to pass through.

I did exactly that.

For me, this was important, after a dramatic two weeks, in which our relationship had been tested and I had ended up being threatened by some bouncers who were not happy with my criticism of Marriot’s rein as the Dynamos supremo.

 THANK YOU MARRIOT, THAT WAS PROFESSIONAL 

 By engaging in that little conversation with me, Marriot won back a little bit of respect, which he had lost when those overzealous bouncers threatened me for simply doing my job.

Of course, it didn’t change my belief that Marriot has become a symbol of failure at Dynamos.

But, it made me see him in a different light that, probably, despite the heavy tone of the criticism I had dished out on him, he appreciated the fact that it was based on fact. 

For the record, I don’t hate Marriot because the ethics of this job do not allow me to be led by hate, but by facts.

And, I have even said that, one probably needs to give a bit of respect to a man who finds a way to outfox seven million other people to claim sole ownership of a club like Dynamos.

Credit also has to be given to the DeMbare executive members who found themselves in a bit of a complex situation, when I finally joined them in the garden, where the kit unveiling ceremony was being held.

They didn’t know that I had met Marriot earlier outside the complex and I could clearly see that they were jittery about how they would mix and chat with me during the ceremony.

I could understand that because they all serve at the pleasure of Marriot and any suggestion that they were having a warm chat with me could be interpreted wrongly.

They could be accused of being the ones who are leaking information about events at their club to me and that suspicion alone could cost them their jobs within the executive committee.

However, I have to give credit to all of them for the professionalism they showed when they came to interact with me and we could even afford to crack a joke or two.

I am quite sure they all know that I don’t hate this iconic club and I appreciate the fact that they are leading a football franchise which has a very special place in our football.

 And, in any case, there is no point in them holding grudges with me because they know that if Kenny Mubaiwa, with four straight league titles, could be shown the exit door, there is no guarantee they will still be in charge of this club tomorrow.

But, it’s important for me to thank them for the professionalism they showed on Thursday, despite all the risks associated with them coming to chat with me, especially with Big Brother watching.

We have to create an environment where it’s normal that journalists can criticise a sporting institution, and its leadership, and it’s also normal that the institutions, and the leaders, can accept such criticism.

That they can view it as something meant to help cast a spotlight on the challenges they would be facing and they then can use such criticism to address the problems which would be derailing them.

That they can accept that it’s never a witch hunt, or an attempt to get those who are running the club to lose their jobs or the owner of the club to lose his property.

But, it’s an honest and genuine attempt to try and get them to see beyond the blinkers that have been attached to their heads.

 SAKUNDA’s MESSAGE WAS LOUD AND CLEAR

 Let me be very clear to Marriot and his colleagues – I want Dynamos to succeed because I know the huge impact that such a success can have in helping the entire Premiership to thrive.

From a very selfish angle, I want them to also know that Dynamos’ success is very good for the company that I work for because it has a huge effect on the number of newspapers that we can sell out there.

I was glad when Sakunda corporate secretary, Maurice Makoni, told the Dynamos and Highlanders leaders that their investment into the two clubs was not just an exercise of flushing their money down the drain.

He was very clear in his message that the two giants should start punching according to their weight and find a path back to the glory fields which they used to dominate in the past.

He talked about the values of transparency, good administration and professionalism which can make a huge difference in the pursuit of glory in football.

Makoni appeared to be reading from a script that I had written.

Or, in a way, I thought he had been reading all the articles I have written, in recent weeks, about the need for Marriot to let professionalism lead the way at Dynamos.

For me, it was difficult to switch my mind from the reality that, even though this was a very important day for these two giants, a substantial amount of value has been eroded from these two big boys.

How do you try and ignore the fact that by the time they received their new kits on Wednesday, these two giants had spent a combined 28 years without winning the league title?

That’s 18 years for Highlanders, who are waiting for their first league title since 2006, and another 10 years for Dynamos, who are waiting for their first league title since 2014.

Okay, let me try to put this into context.

In the first nine years of the era of the modern Premiership, Highlanders and Dynamos won the league title SEVEN out of the EIGHT championships that were competed for.

Only CAPS United, who won the league title in 1996, ensured that there would be no clean sweep by these two giants.

Bosso won FIVE titles and Dynamos won THREE titles during that period.

Now, some people want us to pretend that everything is in order when the two giants can go for a combined 18 years without winning the league championship.

When I raised this with a Bosso representative on Thursday, he told me that this is unacceptable and said they were trying to end that and the evidence can come from the fact that they are top of the table.

That, at this point last year, they were also leading the championship race and it can’t be a coincidence but it’s a reflection of a lot of work that is being done by the club’s leaders.

I wish the DeMbare leaders could also provide me with a similar answer but they can’t and that’s disappointing.

How can they when they have only won once, courtesy of a penalty, so far this season, against newboys Bikita?

And, they have scored only once, courtesy of a penalty, against newboys Bikita, in their last three games?

If this continues, I have a right to keep them, and Marriot, under the spotlight.

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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