A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER

Sports Reporters

IT has been a year like no other! A year in which no league football was played in the country’s history, and for the first time in 20 years, there were no Soccer Star of the Year awards.

Even social leagues for lawyers, doctors and bankers were upended.T has been a year like no other! A year in which no league football was played in the country’s history, and for the first time in 20 years, there were no Soccer Star of the Year awards.

Veteran administrator and Dynamos chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze believes 2020 will remain etched in the memories of many sportspersons.

“This this is the first time since the Second World War . . . Football was put on hold as the rest of Europe was at war as Hitler was trying to conquer the whole world . . . FIFA World Cup competition was put on hold after the 1938 edition and only resumed in 1950.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is real and the football family must embrace the new normal . . . and comply with Covid-19 protocols as enunciated by WHO, FIFA, CAF and Government.

“Players, technical staff, administrators, fans and the media can ill-afford the luxury of enduring another sabbatical from football come 2021,” Mashingaidze said.

Despite the gloom, there was some silver lining which came from both the Warriors and CAF Champions League participants FC Platinum, who shouldered the responsibility of providing entertainment for action-starved Zimbabweans.

Both the Warriors and FC Platinum did well in their campaigns, albeit before empty stadiums, which was also a first for the nation.

Death

The football fraternity lost some its finest personalities, including Dynamos legend and club assistant coach Biggie Zuze, who died on June 25, and former Mhangura and Black Rhinos midfielder Gift Kamuriwo.

Former PSL chief executive officer Chris Sambo, ex-Dynamos chairperson Philip Mugadza also died this year, while the Zimbabwe Rugby Union mourned the death of former rugby player and administrator Aisha Tsimba.

Boxing lost Jim Mpalale, who was the Zimbabwe Boxing Federation president at the time of his death.

Junior football coach and Tino Kadewere’s brother Prince also died after a short illness.

Highlanders legend and former Bosso and Zimbabwe Young Warriors coach Barry Daka died on March 12 at the age of 71.

The Zimbabwe Handball Federation (ZHF) similarly mourned the untimely death of junior national team coach Clemence Leonard after a freak accident in Banket.

Big changes

Away from the dark cloud brought by Covid-19, the country’s biggest football clubs Dynamos and Highlanders finally awoke from their slumber and realised that they can still survive without gate-takings.

The Premiership giants sealed kit deals with United Kingdom-based sports apparel manufacturer OTB Looks in November as part of their commercialisation drive.

ZIFA also appointed Croatian coach Zdravko “Loga” Logarusic as the nation prepared for the 2020 African Nations Championships (CHAN finals), which were set for Cameroon in April, but the tournament was later postponed.

The Croat was unveiled in February, the same month that Kalisto Pasuwa extended his contract at Malawi football giants Nyasa Big Bullets.

Zimbabwe, however, suffered a huge blow at the end of February when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) banned the country from hosting international matches after local stadiums failed to meet expected standards.

As the Covid-19 pandemic intensified across the globe, the effects were felt locally as a number of sporting events were called off.

Football was not spared, as was the Dairibord schools rugby tournament, the Zim Open golf tourney and Charles Manyuchi’s World Boxing Federation title defence fight.

Dynamos captain Partson Jaure escaped death by a whisker when he was involved in a horror accident in Harare on March 21.

For Herentals Football Club, March came with some good tidings, as the Premiership outfit were cleared of match-fixing charges stemming from their 3-0 league win against Black Rhinos in October 2019.

While sporting activity for much of the year had been stalled by Covid-19, there were some Cindrella stories as 2020 cantered towards its end.

After being appointed to the World Anti-doping Agency Commission in April, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry added another feather to her cap when she was inducted into the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5’s Hall of Fame.

On the same day, the director of sport and recreation in the Ministry, Eugenia Chidhakwa, was appointed chairperson of the technical and development commission for AUSC Region 5, becoming the first woman to hold the post.

It was also in early December that ZRU president, Aaron Jani, was appointed into the Rugby Africa’s Women’s Rugby Advisory Committee, in a move he said would help the sport to grow in this country.

Jani is now part of the seven-member team announced by the continental rugby board.

Zimbabwean-born Springbok legend Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira and David Pocock, who played Australia, were named in the World’s Rugby Team of the Decade on December 7.

Mtawarira’s heroics were at the heart of South Africa’s World Cup success story in Japan in 2019.

Success

Just like he started the year on high when he signed for Olympic Lyon in January, Warriors star Kadewere hit a purple patch, with his highest point so far being the high-profile French Ligue 1 showdown on December 12 when he scored the solitary goal that helped Olympic Lyon to their first win at PSG in 13 years.

On the same night, rising boxer, Brendon “Boika” Denes, became the new World Boxing Organisation Africa welterweight champion after knocking out the highly fancied Mikka Shonena of Namibia in Windhoek.

Along the way in the largely forgettable year, the effects of Covid-19 spread to cricket in May as the Zimbabwe Cricket administration voided the 2019-2020 domestic season until early this month when the Logan Cup resumed.

Warriors’ linkman Marshal Munetsi extended his stay at French Ligue 1 side Reims by another year after an impressive debut season, while Highlanders hot-shot striker Prince Dube penned a two-year contract with Tanzanian side Azam.

Dube joined fellow Zimbabweans Bruce Kangwa and Never Tigere at the ambitious side and went on to make an instant impact at the ice-cream makers.

Warriors’ defender Teenage Hadebe was named in the Turkish Super League Team of the Season, alongside former Liverpool player Martin Skertl.

Hadebe was one of the outstanding performers for his side Yeni Malatyaspor during the 2019/2020 campaign.

Also, Real Betis Academy Zimbabwe announced their arrival on the local scene with the appointment of former Dynamos skipper Murape Murape as head coach of the newly established football school.

The academy is a partnership between La Liga side Real Betis and local sports agency Athletes Sphere Management owned by former rugby star Gerald Sibanda.

September was also a good month for Terrence Dzvukamanja and Last Jesi, who completed big moves.

Manica Diamonds’ Jesi became Zimbabwe’s second player to ply his trade in the Sudanese top-flight league when he joined African football giants Al Hilal of Sudan.

Former Dynamos star Edward Sadomba is a legend at the club.

Likewise, Terrence Dzvukamanja was unveiled by Orlando Pirates on September 23 after signing a three-year deal with the Soweto giants.

Dzvukamanja joined Pirates from the now-defunct Bidvest Wits.

October came with some more good football news as the National Sports Stadium was temporarily cleared by CAF to host the high-profile 2021 AFCON qualifier between Zimbabwe and Algeria, which ended 2-2 on November 16.

CAF had banned all the country’s stadia in February for failing to meet minimum requirements.

Speculation over Marvelous Nakamba’s future at Aston Villa was put to rest on October 12 when the only Southern African player in the English Premier League made it into Villa’s 25-man squad for the 2020/2021 season.

In volleyball, Fredreck Ndlovu was elected Confederation of African Volleyball vice president.

The 50-year-old Ndlovu garnered 77 percent of the votes in a virtual election.

When cricket action resumed with a tour of Pakistan, the Chevrons coasted to a dramatic Super Over victory over Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

The historic win – powered by player-of-the-match Blessing Muzarabani’s superb bowling effort in the Super Over after scores were tied in the third and final ODI – helped Zimbabwe earn their first ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League points.

It was, however, not the case with the national Under-17 football team who were disqualified from the COSAFA Championships in South Africa for age-cheating.

This came after one of the Young Warriors failed the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and Zimbabwe was subsequently banned from the next two editions of the competition.

Although there was no further domestic netball action after Covid-19 struck, it did not stop Felistus Kwangwa from becoming the first local player to sign an international contract when she penned a deal with Surrey Storm of England on November 12.