A tale of two religions

entire 90 minutes laced with mock commentary and a clanking cowbell with an unmatched wattage, is certainly a more sinister trajectory of soccer fanaticism.
At first sight, you would think an eccentric man has entered Zimbabwe’s ceremonial home of football, Rufaro Stadium, but on a torpedo of truth here is a church man, enjoying after service entertainment, away from the vagaries of foul-mouthed supporters and hooligans sitting in the stadium.
One would expect the antics to be the exact opposite of a devout Catholic catechist who makes it mandatory to attend church service every morning, where he livens the parish with live preaching, song and dance, before his afternoon football supporting antics.
This is, unbelievably, the life of Dynamos soccer “fan Number One”, Michael Chindowa affectionately known in the football family as Chuchu.
“I am very Christian. I cannot be seen sitting with people singing obscenities because that is an insult to my Catholicism. This is why I run around alone in the stadium until the game is over.
“I am not mad and I am not a hooligan. I was born hyperactive and I am still very active. I don’t just run, I run and ring the bell with the rhythm of the game. No one plays love music at a funeral! The players love my antics, my wife loves them, coaches love them too! That bell sets the tempo of the ball’s movement when my team is attacking.
“One day my bell was stolen at Jazz 105 but a few weeks later Luke Masomere, who was not even coaching Dynamos, bought me another one and this is the one I am using.”
His is a tale of two religions, which he has managed to balance delicately for decades.
“God is life. God is real. He is the way. Soccer is entertainment, it is real and it is life itself too. I love both and apply myself fully on both. I cannot miss either. The two make my life. Every Sunday I go to church and pray hard. I even pray for Dynamos to win. After that, I go back home to change out of my church uniform into my Dynamos robes. The stadium is different from the church but my vigour is the same,” Chuchu said in an interview at his modest house in Seke Street, Mbare.
Soccer supporters the world over watch matches and do not run around the stadium and spend more energy than the players themselves. But Chuchu is a rarity.
His Catholic life stems from fate and his soccer life from determinism.
His mother died while giving birth to him in Enkledoorn, now Chivhu, in 1955.
His passion for soccer developed from listening to soccer commentaries on radio in the church community he grew up in and when the church eventually weaned him off, Chuchu came to Harare in 1973 and that is when he watched his first match.
“God is real. My mother died while giving birth to me. Catholics took over immediately. I have been in numerous Catholic church choirs in Highfield and Mbare ever since I came to Harare in 1973. I am a catechist teaching the tempted so I cannot be seen sitting with foul-mouthed people in a stadium. I cannot be seen sitting with people singing obscenities because that is an insult to my Catholicism. This is why I run around alone in the stadium until the game is over.
“If I sit with such kind of people what will the people I congregate with say? What will the people I try to convert say? What will happen to my morals as a family man, a father of two grown up children?” asks Chuchu.
All soccer lovers certainly remember this bespectacled man, clad in blue robes, holding a flag in one hand, a cowbell in another, sweating profusely but still running the entire game, without burning out.
“I don’t sit down. If you notice, I am my own man. I am a Dynamos fan and I will die a Dynamos fan,” he charged.
But how did he earn the sobriquet Chuchu?
“Well, Elvis “Chuchu” Chiweshe had joined Dynamaos from Eagles Football Club and proved to be a serious deadball specialist so I did a placard inscribed “Hokoyo NaChuchu” which I ran around with in the stadium each time Dynamos was playing.
“It is from there that people gave me the nickname Chuchu. Many people don’t even know my real name. They will probably hear it for the first time in your story.”
Employed by Blue Line Dry Cleaners along Highfield Road, Chuchu is a family man who goes home straight and routinely gets home at 5.30pm, 30 minutes of walking after finishing work at 5pm.
“He arrives here around 5.30 pm every working day and he does not go out drinking during the week. By his admission, he enjoys my meals. He drinks beer weekends only, actually mainly Saturdays. Sundays are strictly church and soccer,” says his loving wife Pertua.
“I love soccer myself and used to go with him to the stadiums and cheer him up as well. These days, I have family commitments and spend time at home but I watch his movements and enjoy them on live soccer broadcasts. He is a very good and caring husband and we have two children together.”
Asked why his wife looks younger than him, Chuchu – ever the football man – quipped: “I gave my first wife a red card!”
Many pundits read a deeper meaning into his antics, lionising him as the only man with Dynamos at heart. Some make money from Dynamos; others come and go, but he remains loyal, without any financial benefit.
His antics conjure feelings that he could even threaten to strike the sun if it insulted his beloved Dynamos.
He serves it with condour, with no boundaries.
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