Bosso supporters must play their part

FOR a number of years now, Bosso fans have become well known for criticising non-stop. They just criticise, but you never hear them offering value — just ignorable opinions and noise. While it’s normal that people sometimes succumb to frustration and anger when they passionately disagree with something, Bosso fans need to understand that their criticism must be married with recommendations and free of insults and violence.

They made so much noise in the days leading to the official handover of the 65-seater bus bought in South Africa with the help of the club’s long time benefactor, Tshinga Dube. This discordant chorus was led by none other than self-proclaimed die-hard Bosso fans via online fora and other social media platforms such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

Most accused Dube of using Highlanders’ popularity to prop up his campaign for the Makokoba parliamentary seat by timing the handover of the luxury coach a few days before Wednesday’s by-elections.

The disgruntled fans accused Dube of dragging their beloved club into party politics after inviting Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa to officiate at the official handover.

By the way, Dube has since won the Makokoba seat on the ruling Zanu-PF ticket and whether the Highlanders bus contributed to this outcome or not, it’s neither here nor there.

What is clear is whether the handover date was timed before or after the by-elections, the Highlanders fans’ reaction would have been the same.

It is a well documented fact that Dube contributed $25,000 of the $45,000 cost of acquiring the Bosso bus and paid duty for the Bulawayo giants to finally take ownership of the luxury coach.

Surely Dube had a right to gain as much mileage as possible from the bus taking into account the financial resources he poured into purchasing and shipping the bus to Bulawayo.

Sponsors milk as much mileage as they can from clubs, organisations and events they are involved in and Dube is no exception. He reserved the right to squeeze Bosso of the mileage he wants, as he is second only to the official club sponsors in pouring money into the Bulawayo giants.

It’s amazing that Dube has never been criticised for helping Highlanders in its time of need but was suddenly singled out for unnecessary attacks because he decided to stand for political office.

After all, it’s not like Dube is going to sleep in the bus or that Highlanders have to ask for permission to use it, no! The bus belongs to Highlanders and the club will use it as it pleases for its benefit.

Highlanders badly needed a bus and Dube provided his resources for its purchase at a time the critical fans’ arms were folded. One would have expected the club’s genuine fans to be grateful that the team’s transport woes have been solved. None of the fans made noise or offered help when the team bus was stuck in South Africa for months and yet had they applied the same passion they exhibited in criticising and insulting Dube’s benevolence or timing by investing in helping ship the bus from South Africa, it would have been here a long time ago.

Long time supporters have by now invested significant emotional capital in Bosso and should be moving towards establishing their own relevance and culture alongside the team’s structures.

If they truly want to take Bosso’s destiny into their own hands, it’s high time they threw their financial muscle behind the club, as only practical involvement will increase the prospect of fans holding the balance of power in determining the way the club is run.

An amazing opportunity to get in on the ground floor is for the fans to get involved in the ongoing rehabilitation of the Bosso clubhouse. The borehole is not working and the club needs it to be repaired and water the training grounds that also need revamping.

Highlanders presently use up to $600 per week for hiring training facilities and rehabilitating the clubhouse’s infrastructure would help ease its financial woes. It’s no secret that the club’s low financial bases are the major factors for its unimpressive operations and performances, and if genuine supporters want meaningful change at Bosso, they should use both their mouths and pockets to move the club forward.

Serious fans can also help to renovate and extend the clubhouse in Luveve, popularly known as Hotel California, as well as purchasing beds and other relevant equipment to make it suitable for the club’s camping sessions.

Because the clubhouse is in an inhabitable state, the club has to scrounge around for $70 per person for about 25 people in camping fees before home matches. Fans’ interventions would help save lots of money and also go a long way in reducing the club’s ballooning debt. This will see most of these funds being channelled towards development of the vibrant youth system that made the club the envy of most top flight teams in the 1980s and 1990s.

It is therefore imperative for the Highlanders’ supporters to participate significantly in the club’s rehabilitation instead of just criticising in cyber space.

That way, they would be introducing meaningful fan ownership and repairing the considerable damage caused by years of neglect and financial ruin.

The club, and not the needs of individuals, must be put back to the top of the Bosso’s priority list.