“We can’t think like Africans, in Africa, generally,” Zuma would probably tell his football guests. “We are in Johannesburg, this is Orlando Pirates. It’s not some Mickey Mouse football team in Malawi or Zimbabwe.” I’M not sure if President Jacob Zuma is a football fan, what I know, though, is that Nelson Mandela was a raw amateur boxer who later fell in love with the beauty of the sheer brutality of rugby or, to put it rather correctly, the political goodwill that came with embracing the Springboks. This week, President Zuma said something, as he addressed the sensitive subject of the resistance that has greeted electronic tolling for Johannesburg highways, which sent shockwaves throughout the continent. “We can’t think like Africans, in Africa, generally,” Zuma told his guests. “We are in Johannesburg, this is Johannesburg. It’s not some national road in Malawi.” Now this has, as expected, torched an uproar, on the diplomatic and social fronts, with a number of Africans understandably outraged by what they consider to be offensive remarks by the head of state of the continent’s economic powerhouse. But I was just imagining the other day, what if Zuma was talking about football, not highways in Johannesburg and why the motorists should pay more for their maintenance, and this subject was about Orlando Pirates after their heroics in the African Champions League this week? “We can’t think like Africans, in Africa, generally,” Zuma would probably tell his football guests. “We are in Johannesburg, this is Orlando Pirates. It’s not some Mickey Mouse football team in Malawi or Zimbabwe.” Incredibly, judging from the emails, whatsApp and text messages that I have received from scores of Zimbabweans this week, in the wake of Orlando Pirates’ stunning defiance of the odds as they proudly marched to take their place in the Champions League final, Zuma’s imaginary comments, if delivered exactly that way, would have been embraced by quite a good number of people. That’s the impression I got, as I was bombarded with a flood of messages, from scores of Zimbabwean football fans who suddenly found it appropriate, if not romantic, to tell me that Pirates’ success story provided a timely reminder that the South African Premiership was a far better and stronger league than the domestic Premiership. In other words, they repeatedly told me, this was “Orlando Pirates, not some Mickey Mouse football team in Malawi or Zimbabwe like Dynamos who, when they faced the same Esperance team that the Buccaneers ousted in the semi-finals at the weekend, were humiliated 1-7 on aggregate in the same competition last year.” Suddenly, some of us took full ownership of Pirates, as if its triumph represented greatness for us as a people, as if its success story provided value addition to our football, as if its glory represented a giant leap of faith for our national game and as if its accomplishment would usher a ray of light to illuminate our football scene. Surprisingly, there was a triumphant sound attached to their messages, a tone pregnant with both delight and satisfaction as if to say “Thank God for what Pirates have just done to provide us with supporting material to our argument that Dynamos, in particular, and Zimbabwean top- flight clubs , in general, were just a sorry bunch of hopelessly weak football franchises.” Of course, it’s normal for people to take a bow when a team does well and Pirates have done exceedingly well to reach this far and it’s expected that, being good neighbours, we should celebrate their success story, especially against the background that one of us, Takesure Chinyama, played his small part in this and, up to this day, remains the team’s leading goal- scorer in the Champions League. But to suddenly develop blinkers, as some of us appear to have done, and use this as proof that our domestic football and its clubs are nothing but utter rubbish, that the Battle of Zimbabwe is nothing but just a sickening show for ping-pong disguised as football and that the 30 000 people who will be at Barbourfields tomorrow need their heads examined, for their patronage of this game, is not only unfortunate but certainly ridiculous. Yes, Pirates deserve all the credit that is coming their way and, yes, Super Diski right now looks stronger than our domestic Premiership but that we even have to plunge into this debate, given the vast differences in terms of resources available to them (the-have-it-all) and us (the-have-it-not), is an eternal credit to the special nature of our local top-flight league. That the last three direct meetings between Zimbabwe and South African Premiership clubs, in the Caf inter-club competitions in the past four years, have produced two victories for us (CAPS United ousting Moroka Swallows and Monomotapa defeating Ajax Cape Town) and one win for them (Black Leopards, thanks of course to Sunday Chidzambwa, edging Motor Action) is an enduring credit to the special nature of our domestic top-flight league. Pirates’ Success Should Be Put Into Its Proper Context The Buccaneers’ success on the continent this year has bowled out some of us to such an extent that we can’t see anything positive, anything good, about our domestic Premiership and its local teams and we derive a lot of joy in using Pirates’ appearance in the final as a measure of the greatness of Super Diski and, by comparison, as a measure of the pathetic state of our local league. A strong league, with all due respect to the converted disciples of Super Diski, is not measured by an isolated success story, as happens to be the case with Pirates in Africa this season, but comes from a sustained and consistent challenge, where teams from such a league regularly make a big impression in the big tournaments on the continent. Maybe it’s important for some sober reflections. Let’s rewind to last season’s Champions League and Pirates, once again, represented the Rainbow Nation but they never made it beyond the first hurdle, the preliminary round, as they were beaten 2-4 by Recreativo do Libolo, a team with a stadium that can only accommodate 10 000 people, and which, until this year, had only played twice in this tournament and, on both occasions, failed to get past the first round. We didn’t blow our trumpets, did we, that for all our poverty, considerable lack of sponsorship, the continuous leakage of our best talent across the Limpopo to join Super Diski, our representative in the Champions League last year, the same teams that some of us are now calling rubbish now that they have jumped onto the Pirates’ bandwagon, reached the second round while the Bucs fell at the preliminary stage? The previous year, in 2011, SuperSport represented South Africa in the Champions League and, for all their financial muscle, they struggled to beat Matlama of Lesotho 3-2, losing the return leg 1-2, in the preliminary round before bowing out in the first round. In 2010, Pirates were in the Champions League and were beaten, in the preliminary round, by Gaborone United of Botswana, the same team that met Dynamos in the second round, and were well and truly beaten 4-1 at the National Sports Stadium and knocked out 4-2 on aggregate as the Glamour Boys made the group stages. SuperSport United, the other representatives from Super Diski in the Champions League in 2010, also stumbled long before the action reached the group stages and, in the previous year, they lost in the first round, beaten by Kampala City Council, while Monomotapa, went all the way to the group stages of the competition, beating former champions ASEC Mimosas, along the way. Until Pirates marched into the final of the Champions League this year, Super Diski had FAILED to produce a team good enough to make the GROUP STAGES of this tournament between 2007 and 2012, while in sharp contrast, our poor teams, the ones that some people now see as a bunch of useless clubs simply because they have been blinded by an isolated success story, had made the GROUP STAGES three times and reached the SEMI-FINALS once. In 2006 Pirates reached the semi- finals of the Champions League, Chiefs lost in the second round in 2005, Ajax were beaten in the first round the same year, the Bucs lost in the second round to, of course, Bakili Bullets of Malawi in 2004, Santos lost in the first round to Simba of Tanzania in 2003 and Pirates were beaten in the second round in 2002. So, in the past 10 years between 2002 and 2012, a host of teams from Africa’s richest Premiership had competed in the Champions League and, just once, in 2006, did one of them, Orlando Pirates, make the semi-finals of the tournament, and only on one other occasion, in 2004, did one of them, SuperSport United, make the group stages of the tournament where they finished last. Compare that with our very poor league and you will, in the same period, see that we matched them for a semi-final place in the Champions League, when Dynamos reached that stage in 2008, and our teams reached the group stages on three occasions and even Monomotapa, playing in the tournament for the first, if not the last time, made the last eight. Yes, Super Diski has produced an African champion, when Pirates won the trophy in 1995, but a return of one champion, when you are the richest league on the continent, is not an impressive scorecard and that, for all our lack of resources, we have produced a finalist and a semi- finalist, within that same period, is indeed an impressive scorecard. The fact that Super Diski takes everyone who looks like a decent footballer, from our league every year, but we somehow keep finding some other gems who emerge from our endless production line who ensured that in the 10 years, between 2002 and 2012, we have a better scorecard in the Champions League than them, is a magical story that needs to be celebrated loudly. When Chinyama showed some spark, Pirates took him away from Dynamos, and he is still their leading scorer in the Champions League, twice they took Simba Sithole, twice they have sent him back home, they took Tafadzwa Rusike, sent him back home, asked him to come back again, they took away Denver Mukamba, even though they don’t seem to know what to do with him, and you can fill a train with the players who have crossed the Limpopo. But still, even against that background, we still compete on the continent and, for me, that’s what is special and what should be celebrated because, I just imagine, if this player movement was the other way round, with the better players there coming here and our best talent remaining home, I’m not so sure Super Diski teams would be a league worth mentioning in Africa. Thirty Thousand People Can’t Be Wrong A sellout crowd of about 30 000 fans is expected at Barbourfields tomorrow for the biggest game that the City of Kings has hosted in the past seven years and all those people, seriously, can’t be wrong and their decision to go to the stadium, hoping that something good will be delivered, can’t be flawed. And I believe it’s a credit to our Premiership that it continues to draw such crowds, and its contests continue to fascinate us, even against a background of surrendering its best talent to the teams across the Limpopo year in and year out. Highlanders have failed to beat Dynamos in a league match in the past seven years but they came very close at Rufaro in April and, as FC Platinum showed at Mandava recently, every jinx comes to an end at some point and one feels the Bosso are in prime position to strike this time around. They have played the better football, since they found a way to win games again and silenced some militants who foolishly saw Willard Mashinkila- Khumalo as an enemy, and they have, man-for-man, the better players, their confidence is oozing and you feel that if they can strike early, settle the nerves and get the crowd behind them, they could run away with this one. Masimba Mambare has had a quieter season, by his high standards, but it’s not a coincidence that Bosso’s revival has come at a time when he has found his form, and his goals, and is part of a very strong midfield that could have a huge bearing in the destiny of this match if they can impose themselves. But no one in this Bosso team has played a game like this one, in their backyard and questions, inevitably, have to be asked if they can handle the pressure, which is likely to increase with each minute that passes and there is no sign that they are imposing themselves, and this could be a key factor. DeMbare have everything to lose — a loss means they are effectively out of the running for the title, a draw means they will have to wait for others to do a job for them, and they are stalked by a poor run, outside the capital, where they have been at best, average, and at worst, pathetic. But if there is a team that can be counted on to stand toe-to-toe with Bosso at Barbourfields, a team that can perfect the art of springing a surprise when they are least expected to do so and a team that can just negotiate just the right result they want, then Dynamos is that football club on the domestic scene. Just two years ago, they had failed to win, outside the capital until the penultimate game of the season, where nothing but a victory would do, right in the backyard of the team that was top of the table and in a stadium where FC Platinum had been unbeaten, since moving to Mandava from Maglas after the completion of renovations. But we all know the story, don’t we — that stage that had been nicely set for the coronation of a new champion at Mandava, all those local chiefs who had been invited to attend the big ceremony and see a Midlands team win a league title for the first time, that supplement in one Sunday newspaper that ran pages of stories and pictures hailing FC Platinum as champions as if that game was just a formality. Then, all those spirits that have made the Glamour Boys such a special football franchise, came fighting back and Daniel Veremu scored an own goal, Benjamin Marere missed an open goal and FC Platinum lost and, as they say, everything is history. “Sharuko mustn’t think we are FC Platinum, we are in Zvishavane, generally,” I can probably hear a Bosso fan, in typical Zuma fashion, responding to me this morning. “We are in the City of Kings, this is Highlanders. It’s not some Mickey Mouse football team in this Premiership.” Thanks, for not saying Malawi, because that would have been wrong and devoid of diplomacy. To God Be The Glory!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 08:11:31 +0000
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