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Kelvin Kaindu would probably still have been reminded by Morgan there is no honour in finishing second, even when the team, which the good Zambian coach assembled in 2012, lost just one league game.

Sharuko On Saturday

IT’S the bombshell exclusive interview, which has shaken the British Royal Family, captured the imagination of the world and sent Buckingham Palace into a painful soul-searching exercise.

Spiced with stunning allegations of racism, the interview could not have come at a worse time, in a world still struggling in the post-George Floyd era.

Already, there have been high-profile casualties.

Piers Morgan, the outspoken British journalist, who has netted an estimated £13 million during his career, has already been forced to leave ITV’s “Good Morning Britain.’’

His departure this week followed his strong criticism of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, who told Oprah Winfrey in the interview that she came close to taking her life, as she battled the challenges she faced in the royal family.

I have always been a keen follower, and possibly a student, of the British and American media, the differences in their style and the communities they serve.

It’s something that started around the turn of the millennium when I noted that one of the biggest television shows on British television, “Weakest Link,’’ failed to generate, as much interest when it was taken to the United States.

After making its debut, on NBC prime time, on April 16, 2001, the game show’s rankings plummeted and, just a year later, in July 2002, the network was forced to cancel its screening.

But, for me, it was the reaction, by the show host, Anne Robinson, as she tried to explain why things had not gone, according to plan in the United States, which caught my attention.

 “I saw George Bush (who was the United States President then), at a benefit concert, actually waving at Stevie Wonder,” she told the Daily Mirror tabloid, in 2002.

“Someone had to tell him ‘he (Stevie Wonder) can’t see you.’’’

The difference in media reaction, either side of the Atlantic, to the explosive interview, since Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, gave, has been quite fascinating.

Morgan’s departure, from the ‘’Good Morning Britain’’ show in the wake of the backlash triggered by the way he kept on making a mockery of Meghan’s sensational claims is just the latest chapter of a controversial, yet quite profitable, adventure for him.

On January 31, 1994, he became the youngest editor of a British national newspaper, in more than half-a-century.

He was only 29.

This week, amid the controversy triggered by his attack on Meghan, some have suggested Morgan could be a racist or, to put it more appropriately, someone who tolerates racism.

I’m not certain Morgan can be described as a racist, despite his strong views which, understandably, have upset a lot of people, over the years.

I find it difficult to understand how someone, who can have so much devotion, for a football club, like Arsenal, the way Morgan loves the Gunners, and still find a hidden pocket of space, in his soul, can be a racist.

I think it’s virtually impossible, for someone to love the Gunners, and everything they have represented, especially in the last quarter-of-a-century, and still have a little corner of prejudice, to hide the ugly side of what racism represents to mankind.

No major football club in the world has embraced the promotion of black footballers, and transformed them into global superstars, than the Gunners.

To support them, as much as Morgan has done, in the past quarter-of-a-century, when the Gunners have been led by such black superstars like Thierry Henry, and Patrick Vieira, is also, by extension, an acceptance that all races are equal.

FIFTEEN YEARS FOR MORGAN, FIFTEEN FOR BOSSO FANS, THE WAIT, THE NUMBERS

I don’t know what really attracted Morgan to the Gunners but, given his fierce defence of the British Monarchy this week, it’s possible to speculate it could have been the club’s roots, at Royal Arsenal, on the banks of the Thames, in Woolwich, London.

The workers there, who manufactured armaments and ammunition for the British Armed Forces, created this club in 1886, initially calling it “Dial Square,’’ before changing its identity to Royal Arsenal.

In 1891, they became the first London football club to turn professional.

It’s also been 17 years, since Morgan, and his fellow Gunners’ fans, last celebrated their club’s success, in winning the league championship, in 2004.

Well, it happens, in football, we spent 26 years at Manchester United, waiting for the league title, Liverpool spent 30, our colleagues at Chelsea spent half-a-century, that’s 50 years, before Jose Mourinho and his men ended that in 2005.

For Morgan, though, the frustrations, at his Gunners’ failure to win the championship, transformed him into a vicious critic of Arsene Wenger and, for about a decade, he vigorously campaigned for the Frenchman to be axed.

Even though Wenger was the London club’s most successful manager, Morgan claimed the Frenchman had converted the Emirates into a “half-empty graveyard.’’

Even for a proud, and stubborn man like Wenger, the criticism eventually became unbearable and he was forced to respond.

 “The lack of respect in some stage has been for me a disgrace, and I will never accept that,’’ the Frenchman told Football Focus.

“I believe there is a difference between being criticised, and being treated in a way that human beings don’t deserve to be treated and I will never forget that.’’

 It’s also been 15 years, since Morgan and his fellow Gunners’ fans came close to winning the one trophy they have never won in their club’s history, the European Champions League.

They came close, in the 2006 Champions League final, in Paris, taking the lead against Barcelona, before the Catalan giants hit back, with two late goals, in the last 14 minutes.

For my good friends at Highlanders, too, this year marks 15 years, since they last celebrated winning the league championship, when Methembe Ndlovu, and his royal troops, won it in style, in 2006.

I’m not really sure how Morgan would have hounded the Bosso coaches, who came and went, over the past 15 years, had he been a Highlanders fan.

But, it’s very likely they would have been savaged, for being a collection of failures, who have failed to take the team back to where it should belong, at the top of the domestic football tree.

Even a good man like Kelvin Kaindu would have been told, just like Wenger, that he is a serial flop, a Zambian zombie, a pretender, despite twice, in 2012, and in 2013, guiding his men to end with as many points, as the team which won the championship.

He would probably still have been reminded, by Morgan, there is no honour in finishing second, even when the team, which the good Zambian coach assembled in 2012, lost just one league game. And, that no other team, in the league that season, ended with more points than the 69, which his Bosso accumulated, would not have been enough for him to find protection, against Morgan’s relentless attacks.

That Kaindu remains the only coach, in the history of the domestic Premiership, to have seen his team end with the same number of points, as the champions, in two consecutive seasons but, fail to win the title because of an inferior goal difference, would not have bought him any sympathy.

And, the good Zambian, would probably not have lasted, until October 2014, when he finally threw in the towel, had Morgan been a Bosso fan.

 FORTY TWO, JACKIE ROBINSON, RACISM, TRAGEDY,

Unlike Morgan, though, I am from the other side of the world, which believes, at times, it all just comes down to fate and some things, in life, or in football, are just meant to be.

In my world, very tight campaigns, like the ones which saw Kaindu and Callisto Pasuwa end with the same number of points, in two successive seasons, it’s a bit unfair to suggest the one, who didn’t take the title, was a symbol of failure.

Maybe, it was that penalty, which wasn’t given, in a game which his side ended up drawing, instead of winning, which ultimately made the difference, for someone like Kaindu, between the immortality of being a champion, and finishing second.

Or, it was that controversial penalty, which the opponents got, in another game which ended in a draw, instead of a win for his men, which made the difference between being labeled a failure, for not winning the championship, and the greatness, which comes with doing so.

I have been asking myself, in the past few days, as the tsunami triggered by the interview granted by Prince Harry and Meghan, shook the world, what if Morgan, just like me, simply believed in the power, and mystery, of numbers?

It’s the number, 42, which has been fascinating me, this week.

Given his American adventure, where he worked for CNN, Morgan would be familiar, too, with the significance of the number 42, when it comes to issues related to racism.

After all, “42,’’ is the title of the blockbuster movie, released in 2013, which chronicles the challenges which baseball legend, Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball, faced in a game dominated by whites, and a good number of racists.

Robinson used to wear the number 42, for the Dodgers, and today he is celebrated as a defining symbol of someone who shattered the racial barriers, in a way no one ever imagined, the league even retired his jersey number.

Chadwick Boseman played Robinson in that movie.

He was also 42 when ‘Black Panther,’ in which he played the starring role as T’Challa, the King of the Wakanda tribe, became the first comic book, and superhero film, to be nominated for Best Picture, at the 2019 Academy Awards.

Well, I had already decided to dedicate this weekend’s blog to this iconic domestic football franchise, to celebrate the start of their journey, in March 2006, when they beat Chapungu 2-1 at Ascot, en-route to winning their last league championship.

It’s the team, which won their first 10 league matches and beat their biggest rivals, DeMbare, back-to-back, without conceding a goal, in those two big battles.

By the end of the campaign, that amazing Bosso side had a healthy 11-point advantage, over runners-up Motor Action, and they were 19 points clear of their main rivals, Dynamos.

They won 20, of their 30 games, two-thirds of their matches, drew the other five and lost as many games.

And, now and again, over the course of this year, God willing, I will reserve this blog to celebrate the achievements of that team, if not for the majesty of the way they went about their business, then for the sake of bringing back good memories.

Especially, given that this year doesn’t only mark the 15th year of that anniversary, but Bosso are also celebrating their 90th anniversary.

So, why has the number 42 been on my mind, when it comes to Bosso, and issues related to that royal interview, throughout this week?

Well, it also dawned on me, as I reflected on this number, somehow, Richard Choruma, who died on December 29, last year, was just 42, at the time of his death.

That my good friend, Adam Ndlovu, the one we lost in that horror car crash on December 16, 2002, was at 42, at the time of his death.

That Mercedes Sibanda was 36 when we lost him in 2002 and, that year, Bosso won their sixth title in their history and, if you juggle the two figures, you come up with the number 42.

That Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo was 49, when we lost him, in 2015 and left his beloved Bosso with seven league titles, in their cabinet, and if you juggle those figures, the number 42 emerges again.

That Bosso’s heaviest defeat came in 1970, going down 0-7 to Salisbury Callies, in a home league match at White City Stadium and, 42 years later, in 2012, they ended with the same number of points, for the first time in their history, with their biggest rivals, Dynamos (69).

That Bosso’s biggest victory came when they walloped Plumtree United 16-0, in the South Zone Soccer League, in 1968 and that landmark victory came 42 years, after the club’s establishment in 1926.

If Morgan, just like me, believed in the power of numbers, would he have wondered why Prince Harry, somehow, chose to give his bombshell interview, at the age of 36?

The same age as his mother, Princess Diana, whose spirit he evoked a lot in that no-holds-barred interview, was when she died in that car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.

Would it have mattered for Morgan to consider that the crack unit, for which Prince Harry, as the Duke of Sussex, was the Captain-General, is called the 42nd Royal Marine Commandos.

Would it have mattered for Morgan to consider that Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, was 42, when he died, that the couple had 42 grandchildren and their great-grandson, Edward VIII, abdicated at the age of 42?

Would it have mattered for Morgan to consider that Peter Phillips, the first grandson of the Queen to divorce, was 42, when he announced he would be separating from his Canadian wife, Autumn, last year?

Would it have mattered, for Morgan, to consider that the last known location of Lord Lucany, the British peer who disappeared on November 8, 1974, was outside 42 Norman Road, Newhaven, East Sussex?

Would it have mattered for Morgan to consider that Dodi Fayed, who died in that car crash which took the life of Princess Diana, that night in Paris, was 42?

Would it have mattered for Morgan who, on September 14, 2017, tweeted that, “the Captain of the Titanic heroically refusing to leave his post,’’ in reference to Wenger’s struggles, to know that the Titanic was travelling, at a speed equivalent to 42km/hour, when it slammed into that iceberg?  What about the fact that Elvis Presley was 42, when he died, or that the three best-selling music albums — Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,’’ AC/DC’s ‘’Back in Black’’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘’The Dark Side of the Moon’’ — all last 42 minutes?

Why the music?  Well, Morgan was roped in as a judge, on those who try to use the “America Got Talent’’ television show, for a breakthrough, into mainstream music.

The journalist was 42 that year.

To God Be The Glory!

Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service and all the Chakariboys in the struggle.

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!

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