dyton mupawaenda
Sharuko on Saturday
I THOUGHT I had seen everything in football in the three decades that I have covered this game both as a journalist and followed it as a loyal fan.
Then, last Friday, I arrived at Rufaro to find the old stadium exploding with life and housing an alliance I never imagined would be possible in my lifetime.
Dynamos and CAPS United fans in one corner, backing a single cause, supporting a single team, rooting for a club from outside Harare.
And, opposing a club from their home in the capital.
All of them supporting Triangle, opposing Scottland?
I have been trying to find a name for that alliance but I have been struggling.
Do we call them DeKepe, MakeDeMba, CAPDEM, DEMCAPS?
It’s like the Israeli military forming an alliance with Hamas or the Americans and Mexicans agreeing on the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Some things are just not meant to be.
Or so I thought.
That is until I arrived at Rufaro last Friday to find DeMbare and Makepekepe fans parading a shameless marriage of convenience.
I say it’s shameless because Dynamos and CAPS United are bitter rivals and once that rivalry is dumped it’s a wrong signal for football in the capital, in particular, and in this country, in general, which has always fed off the intensity of this rivalry.
It’s like sungura music.
It was at its peak in the days when Tongai Moyo was keeping the king of the genre, Alick Macheso, at his toes, forcing him to push the boundaries to keep himself at the top of the tree.
When Dhewa died, it appears the music died too and we lost the intensity of that rivalry and, now, every year we live wondering if Macheso will ever give us another gem like Shedia.
There was a time when just crossing the Great Divide, which used to divide Dynamos and CAPS United, was considered taboo.
Now, things have changed.
We even have both sets of fans singing in the same corner, supporting the same cause as if they share similar interests.
The reality is that while CAPS United were initially formed as a football club to serve the interests of a pharmaceutical company, and its workers, it transformed itself, over the years, into a real major rival of the Glamour Boys.
Like Alex Ferguson and Liverpool, the CAPS United mission became simple and clear – to “knock Dynamos off their f****** perch.”
Of course, Makepekepe didn’t knock DeMbare off their perch but no one can accuse them of not trying their best.
AN ENDURING RIVALRY MADE IN HEAVEN
Because doing so will be an insult to the memory of the immortal Joel Shambo, Jubilee, Mwalimu, The Headmaster, mazita kuita kupferena, as Choga Tichatonga Gavhure would say in his commentary.
The memory of the great Shackman Tauro, Mr Goals, Chinyaride, Bere, ma nickname kuita kupfekerana.
The memory of Friday Phiri, Joe Mugabe, Sinyo, the first CAPS United player to win the Soccer Star of the Year in Independent Zimbabwe, the memory of Yogo Yogo, of Steve Kwashi and Shepherd Bwanya.
Even though they don’t have as many league titles as Dynamos, CAPS United fans can brag that, at least, they are the last of the Harare clubs to be crowned champions and the last of the Big Three to do that.
And, more importantly, they can say that since DeMbare completed its transformation into a club now owned by an individual, Bernard Marriot, CAPS United have won as many league titles as the Glamour Boys (ONE) in the last 11 years.
They can say that while the old DeMbare, the people’s team, was indeed such a formidable force when it came to winning league titles, this one we have today is a poor imitation of the real deal and it’s one they can take on.
After all, they can argue, they beat Dynamos in the last game the two teams played.
They can also brag that they are the last of the Big Three to reach the group stages of the CAF Champions League.
Last year, Makepekepe marked the 40th anniversary of their worst ever day on a football field when they were hammered 2-6 by Dynamos in a Chibuku Trophy semi-final match at Rufaro.
The Chunga brothers – Moses and Kembo – scored three times in that game, with Bambo, still only 19, grabbing a brace, while Max Makanza, before he was called Lunga, also scored twice.
Edward Katsvere, who dazzled on the wing with a type of football which had an attachment of poetry to it, added the other goal to complete the humiliation.
Of course, CAPS United lost 2-6 to Manica Diamond three years ago at Sakubva but that does not hurt like the massacre at the hands of the old enemy.
In two years’ time, it will be CAPS United’s chance to celebrate a milestone – the 40th anniversary of the night when they thrashed the old enemy 7-0 in an Africa Day Cup semi-final match at Rufaro.
Tauro led the rout with a four-goal salvo while Never Chiku, Anthony Kambani and Gift M’pariwa added the other goals.
All these men, who scored for CAPS United on that glorious night for the Green Machine, are now late.
And, isn’t it a betrayal to their memory that a group of the Green Machine fans can form an alliance with their DeMbare counterparts to find common ground for a domestic league football match?
Ordinarily I would expect that to happen if one of them is chasing glory on the continent but I know that, in their heart of hearts, they will not be singing the same song.
Or when tragedy strikes as was the case when DeMbare fans joined their CAPS United counterparts to mourn the death of Yogo Yogo, Arlon and Mashoko after that car crash.
But, for them to unite against a football club from the capital, playing just its first game in the league, was something I didn’t expect.
WILL THERE BE AN ALLIANCE TOMORROW?
So, tomorrow, Scottland are back at Rufaro for a battle against CAPS United in a league match.
What will happen to the alliance?
Will we have a situation where the Dynamos fans in Vietnam will be backing the Green Machine?
Or will we have a situation of the City Bay, which is the home of the CAPS United fans at Rufaro, bustling with thousands of DeMbare fans who would have joined their Green Machine rivals to support the same cause?
So, we could have a situation where, given a choice between Lloyd Chitembwe or Tonderai Ndiraya tomorrow, the DeMbare fans will choose to support Lodza?
Rather than pour their frustration of years without the league championship at the newboys, the CAPS and Dynamos fans should actually be happy that a football club has come along which is showing their leaders how professional teams should be financed, and run, in this era.
It should be the norm at both CAPS and Dynamos that every year they conduct their pre-season outside the country, far away from the competing interests that having such exercises at home brings.
That is why most of the professional clubs in the world conduct their pre-season tours outside their countries.
It should be the norm that both Dynamos and CAPS refresh their squads at the end of every season by bringing in new players who add real value to their teams.
That Scottland have done that, including getting some players from CAPS United, should not be a cause for them to be hated but something that should inspire the fans of these giants to demand more from their leaders.
Scottland had the biggest attendance in all the matches on the opening weekend of the Premiership and, given that their match was on a Friday, that is something big.
They created that interest for themselves by their big spending during the off-season, signing a player like Khama Billiat who attracts fans, including many neutrals, who just want to come and see a real footballer in action.
Imagine if all this was done by Dynamos, just assuming that DeMbare, just like Mamelodi Sundowns, was owned by a billionaire with a real love for football?
Just imagine what it would have done for the Premiership brand? Just imagine what it would have done for interest in our top-flight league. Just imagine what it would have done for attendance figures at Rufaro for the Glamour Boys games?
From a very selfish point, imagine what it would have done for the number of newspapers we would have sold as The Herald on Monday with Khama, Lynoth, Walter and Tymon all on target for DeMbare against ZPC Kariba?
The reality is that even if Scottland had not come along I don’t see any player in their squad who would have signed for Dynamos given all the financial challenges that are there.
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 Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldhinoooooooooooooooooo!
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