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As difficult as it is to accept, we now have more football fans interested in social football than those who still really care about competitive football in this country. They are a people who feel let down by a game, which they love with all their heart, but because of the chaos in competitive football in this country, they have been forced to switch their love to boozers’ football.

Sharuko On Saturday

SO, at long last, our 800-day nightmare, in which we became a symbol of mediocrity and flirted on the edges of obscurity, finally comes to an end tomorrow.

A two-year period, in which we were staggering in the darkness, trapped by our insecurity, burdened by our inferiority and haunted by our immaturity.

It has been a severe test, even to our national game’s popularity, two Harare Derbies came and went this year without even igniting a flicker of interest within their constituency.

What used to be a special bond between fans and football, a beautiful romance dripping with purity, now lies in tatters, with the real severity of the damage only beginning to emerge.

Guys who used to eat, sleep and drink football, for whom a showdown like the Harare Derby represented a journey into wonderland, have suddenly taken a back seat.

Disillusioned by the mess which now dominates our football, they chose to switch their interests elsewhere, rather than watch from close range as life continues to be squeezed from their beautiful game.

The numbers we have lost, and continue to lose, in terms of ordinary fans fleeing the chaos of what used to be their beloved sport  are just staggering.

Many are now finding refuge in the comfort of English Premiership clubs where, even from a distance, they can now explore their football fantasies.

There was no winner in the two Harare Derby matches, which were played as part of the Chibuku Super Cup this season, with both matches ending in draws.

On both occasions, the Glamour Boys conceded an own goal from the same player and those remain the only two goals DeMbare have let in this season.

But, despite having so much to talk about from those two games in which CAPS United found a way to refuse to be bullied by their biggest rivals, it hasn’t generated the kind of discussion, among the fans, which used to be associated with such battles.

Just imagine, just 10 years ago, the impact which the feel-good story of a teenage Prince Edward Schoolboy, not only playing but scoring in the Harare Derby for Dynamos, would have made?

Imagine the impact, which his subsequent promotion into the Warriors, in his first debut season in the top-flight league, would have made?

Just imagine the impact, his mere appearance in a World Cup qualifier, would have generated, in terms of provoking and dominating debate among fans?

Imagine how Bill Antonio would have been catapulted into celebrity status simply because of the promise, which comes with his talent?

After all, he plays for the same team which transformed Evans Gwekwerere into cult status after appearing for them for just four months.

The only difference is that Gwekwerere emerged at a time, when domestic football was still breathing in this country, with its patronage secure and interest in the product guaranteed.

A full house came to Rufaro to watch him play his first game for Dynamos in which he scored a last-minute goal against Shooting Stars in a sensational act on which his heroism was built.

That was just 15 years ago.

Even though Dynamos hadn’t won a league championship in nine years, interest in the Glamour Boys, in particular, and local football, in general, was still quite high.

And, even though DeMbare had been rocked by a mass exodus of personnel, frustrated by the club’s failure to take care of their welfare, with about 18 players jumping ship, it didn’t dilute the interest in them.

That they had even fought relegation the previous season, needing a victory on the final day to secure their Premiership status, didn’t matter to the fans.

And, in just one-and-half hours, Gwekwereremania was born, after the forward scored the priceless goal and, in the process, tapped into a constituency where football still had an enduring appeal.

 

WE HAVE DESTROYED OUR GAME AND NO ONE CARES

 

Gwekwerere wasn’t a new boy on the domestic football scene, he had already made his name in Division One, as a trusted forward, for Douglas Warriors.

The same cannot be said about Bill Antonio, who is a rookie at all levels of local football.

And, that he is just an 18-year-old schoolboy, part of the generation expected to be the future of the Warriors, should have triggered a wave of interest in his game.

On Thursday night, he made his World Cup debut for his country at the FNB Stadium, in the 0-1 loss to Bafana Bafana.

In just a few months’ time, Antonio has catapulted himself from playing on the Prince Edward High School fields, to playing in the iconic stadium where Lionel Messi paraded his skills, for Argentina, during the 2010 World Cup finals.

But, for all the strides Antonio has taken in his game, including winning the trust of Norman Mapeza, his name doesn’t generate the buzz in local football circles the way it should be.

Why is that so?

Because interest in the game, especially local football, is waning at a very alarming rate and people who used to consider themselves to be disciples are shifting their fantasies elsewhere.

It’s a crisis that our national game finds itself in and I was thinking about it this week, wondering how many fans would come to the National Sports Stadium to watch the Harare Derby, this year, even for free?

Let’s say the authorities relaxed the regulations to allow crowds of about 50 000 to watch local football games, how many fans do you think will be attracted, to come and watch the Harare Derby for free?

Maybe 5000, certainly not 10 000.

And when one imagines this is a product which not so long ago, was attracting a capacity crowd at the same stadium, tears stream down the cheeks.

Why have things changed so much?

One of the biggest reasons is that we have destroyed the appeal of football in this country and, mainly through our mismanagement of the game which we all love, we have been dragging it into its graveyard.

There are serious consequences, in terms of deflating the appeal of a national sporting discipline like football, when your national team loses to a Mickey Mouse team like Somalia in a World Cup qualifier.

There are huge consequences, in terms of diluting interest in a national sporting discipline like football, when your national team loses to a lightweight team like Somalia in the quest for an appearance at the globe’s biggest tournament.

There are massive consequences, in terms of erasing interest in a national sporting discipline like football, when your flagship team loses to a team which had last won a game 10 years earlier.

A country, which had last played at home 33 years earlier and, ahead of your showdown with them, they were ranked Africa’s weakest football nation.

A country like Somalia which had only scored once in 17 matches, since the turn of the millennium, until they made it two goals, with the one goal which sunk your flagship national team.

A team, like the Somalis, whose hero, in that victory over us, was an instructor who spends the majority of his time teaching driving lessons in Manchester, England.

There are consequences in destroying the appeal of a national game like football when the Warriors win just once,against Botswana, in 17 matches, as has been our case since, in our wisdom, or lack of it, we fired Joey Antipas, after his victory in Zambia.

There are serious consequences to the brand called football when the Warriors go for two years without winning a game at home, as has been the case in this forgettable cycle.

If that win in two years had to come against Lesotho, in a 3-1 victory in a CHAN qualifier in 2019, it provokes disappointment, despondency and resignation, among the fans and they just withdraw their patronage.

When the very Lesotho, which provided us with our only victory in the last two years, are now found at number 145, on the FIFA World Cup rankings, it sends the message among the fans that their favourite game is dead.

And, many of them simply choose to exercise their democratic right, despite all the pain which comes with that, by switching their attention from the game and exploring their fantasies elsewhere.

As difficult as it is to accept, we now have more football fans interested in social football, than those who still really care about competitive football in this country.

They are a people who feel let down by a game, which they love with all their heart, but because of the chaos in competitive football in this country, they have been forced to switch their love to social football.

 

THE CLOSEST THING TO WITCHCRAFT AND SATANIC EXPERIMENTS

 

For many of them, the Warriors are everything, the team of their dreams, all that they have ever desired when it comes to a romantic flirtation with football.

It’s a romance which started when they were born, before they even knew what football is all about, and it’s a beautiful love affair which has continued throughout their lives.

You can’t tell them that we are not a good football playing nation because they will point to the Dream Team, those gallant men assembled by Reinhard Fabisch, who served their country with distinction and took it on a Cinderella journey.

They will tell you they know the joy that comes with standing on the threshold of qualifying for the World Cup, where only 90 minutes stand between their team and a place at the Promised Land, as was the case with the Dream Team in 1993.

They will tell you about Agent Sawu, who scored six goals in those qualifiers, ending as one of the best gunslingers on the continent, second only to Nigerian legend, Rashidi Yekini.

They will tell you about Peter Ndlovu, the elephant who could fly and, when everything appeared lost, he would always provide the X-Factor which the Warriors needed,to win big matches.

They will tell you about losing with dignity, as was the case when the Warriors scored three times against the Indomitable Lions at their maiden AFCON finals appearance in a group game that produced a remarkable eight goals.

They will tell you about Benjani Mwaruwari and Cephas Chimedza scoring against a World Cup-bound Ghana at the 2006 AFCON finals, to help them celebrate a 2-1 victory over the Black Stars in Egypt.

So, rather than endure the excruciating pain, which comes with watching them becoming the whipping boys, who are being destroyed by their leaders, they have decided to take a step backwards for now, because they cannot endure the pain.

The pain that came with watching their Warriors spending their 2019 AFCON finals adventure fighting with their leaders to try and get their outstanding dues, which deflected their focus and eroded their confidence, resulting in a mess which saw them finish last in their group.

A four-goal mauling at the hands of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a team they had beaten in Kinshasa in the qualifiers, when their camp was stable, provided a fitting end to a charade disguised as an AFCON finals campaign, in which the Warriors were let down by their leadership.

They pick up The Sunday Mail, two years after that horror show in Egypt, and they read the latest interview, in which their inspirational captain, Knowledge Musona, still feels the pain of what happened in the Land of the Pharaohs, and they realise nothing has changed.

 

“I think the main issue in Egypt was about money, so I think if everything that has to do with money and all is fixed, we will go far in this tournament (AFCON 2021),’’ Musona says.

“If you look at all the meetings we were having, every now and then in Egypt, it was about money. Is our money paid? Where is our money? Is our money going to be paid?

“Everyone was talking about money, money, money and not focusing on football and that’s why we got distracted. So, I think if this issue (player welfare) is fixed, we will go far in this tournament…if that is fixed, I think, we will be good to go and compete against the best.’’

 

They read the statistics and they endure the pain.

Ten matches for their team, at the finals of the last three major tournaments in the last two years – no match won, three draws, seven defeats, five goals for their men and 17 against, and it plunges a dagger into their hearts.

That’s just three points from a possible 15, in other words a failure rate of just 10 percent at the AFCON finals, COSAFA Cup and the CHAN finals, in the last two years.

They read that their Warriors have not scored a goal in open play in five qualifiers in the 2022 World Cup campaign, with their only goal coming from a penalty spot, and they can tell things are really gloomy.

They also read that their team hasn’t won a home match in two years, with the last victory coming in September 2019, against Lesotho, in a CHAN qualifier, and they can tell that this is as horrible as it can ever come.

They remember their leaders once hired Zdravko Logarusic, in probably the closest thing football has witnessed to bosses of a federation going all out on a crusade to bewitch their national team, and they can see the root of the madness.

That’s the closest thing football has seen to federation leaders practicing witchcraft, and satanic experiments, on the very national team they swore to serve and advance its cause.

So, amid all this gloom, given they are powerless to change anything, the fans simply switch focus and decide to explore their fantasies elsewhere.

They are forced to abandon the game they love, to take a break from supporting the only team, which means so much to them.

That’s where we are ladies and gentlemen and the sorry story of our Warriors is just a sign of the rot which has crept into our national game and paralysed it.

At least, tomorrow, our 800-day World Cup nightmare will come to an end.

I’m not so sure about who still wants to watch this charade.

 

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 in the struggle.

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

Khamaldinoooooooooooooooooo!

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