Online Reporter
Sharuko On Saturday
TAKESURE Chiragwi has crafted a very good profile for himself — the nice guy who quietly transformed himself into one of the elite football coaches in this country.
Two years ago, he reached the Promised Land when he won his first league championship after guiding Ngezi Platinum to an historic success story.
The Mhondoro side became the first club from Mashonaland West to be crowned champions — succeeding where the likes of Mhangura and Rio Tinto had failed in their quest for the Holy Grail.
Somehow, the football gods ensured that Ngezi’s finest hour would come on the 40th anniversary of the year Rio Tinto came closest to delivering the first league title to Mashonaland West.
That was in 1983 and a Rio side, inspired by the legendary Joseph Zulu, went toe-to-toe with a great Glamour Boys side and by the end of the championship race the two teams were both tied on 36 points.
DeMbare won the championship, their fourth in a row, because they had the better goal difference but the statement from Rio was that the opposition had caught up with the Glamour Boys.
The next season, for the first time since Independence, the champions were not Dynamos but, instead, the honour went to Black Rhinos.
I’m from Mash West, that’s where Chakari is located, and we prefer to call ourselves the guys from Mash Best.
It’s normal that I have a certain bias, when it comes to my romantic flirtations with local football clubs, towards clubs from my home province and that explains my love affair with Chegutu Pirates and Ngezi.
I’ve a very good relationship with Chiragwi, the young man we call Deco, and it has been built over the years — from his time as a player to his adventure into coaching.
It’s a relationship which has been built out of respect for each other, out of respect for the indomitable spirit he has shown to clear the hurdles he faced and the storms he battled as he fought his way to become an elite coach.
I like Deco because in him and a few others, including Tonderai Ndiraya and Kaitano Tembo, I see the future of our coaching — the elite squad, which has the potential to one day coach the Warriors.
I have always viewed Chiragwi as a competitive coach.
A man who is driven by a fiery ambition to be the best coach that he can ever be and when he was promoted to become the Warriors’ assistant coach I was happy for him because it told me that his mission was on course.
But, in the last few weeks, I started to get concerned that the fiery character, which has pushed him to success in his career so far, was probably driving him into a terrain that was unacceptable in his chosen field as a football coach.
I felt the ugly way he remonstrated against the fourth official, as Ngezi struggled to break down a resilient Herentals at Baobab, was out of order.
He appeared to tell the referee that the match official was an effigy of shame, an embarrassment to the game and an agent of confusion who had to be humiliated by the raging coach.
Yes, I have seen coaches berate referees in this game but there was a wild way in which Chiragwi did it during that game which was very, very wrong and, given that he is someone who built his profile on a foundation of decency, the signal that came from this incident was very worrying.
On Saturday, at Rufaro, things came to a head when Chiragwi slapped his player McDonald Makuwe simply because the footballer was trying to cool down his coach in his moment of weakness amid the controversy and commotion which followed his expulsion from the field of play.
There are lines that can’t be crossed in football and this is one of them.
DECO SHOULD CARRY HIS CROSS, BUT . . .
In the aftermath of that physical attack on his player, a crime which should have seen him being arrested and charged with assaulting Makuwe, Chiragwi has since withdrawn from his Warriors duties.
He should also have withdrawn from his Ngezi duties because his mere presence on that bench will complicate life for the game given that there is no guarantee that he will not attack another player — either from his team or from the opponents.
Eric Cantona, for all the good things he did for Manchester United, was not given the option to play the next game when he launched his Kung-Fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan, who was abusing him at Selhurst Park, on January 25, 1995.
In the end, the Frenchman was suspended from the game for nine months by the FA, with FIFA extending the ban around the world, and was sentenced to two weeks in prison after admitting an assault charge in court.
However, the two-week jail term was replaced by 120 hours of community service on appeal.
There are many who will probably argue that Chiragwi, as a coach, carries a bigger moral responsibility than Cantona.
And, they will also probably say that there is a difference between attacking an abusive fan and slapping your own player who is trying to cool you down.
Chiragwi has to carry his cross and pay his price for his shameful act on Saturday which, in just an instant, soiled his reputation as a good man and good coach, which he has worked very hard to build.
This isn’t the time for funny stuff like that letter which is said to have been written by Makuwe to try and save his coach in which he claimed that the blow he received from his coach, the kind of ugly stuff we should only see on the UFC circuit and not on a football pitch, was just an accident.
There is no need to try and lessen the gravity of the offence by coercing a victim, a man who impressed me by retaining his cool in the wake of the surprise attack from his coach, to try and sell a lie.
The coach made a BIG mistake, it’s as simple as that and deserves the punishment he will get. But, that punishment should not be a career-ending sanction and I believe that a suspension until the end of the season, with Chiragwi being ordered to get expert guidance on how to deal with his anger issues, will be a fair sanction.
Chiragwi deserves a second chance and this means that the punishment, which he will receive should help rather than destroy him.
There is no doubt that he lost it in a big way on Saturday.
And, for him to try and justify the violence, like he was doing in that post-match media conference, by suggesting this was all because football is an emotional game is as foolish as the person who tried to coerce Makuwe to draft a statement pregnant with lies.
A suspension until the end of the season will be appropriate for Chiragwi because he will miss the AFCON finals in December, and that alone will be a big blow to him and will always remind him, in the future, that this is a line which should never be crossed.
Cantona was banned for eight months for his flying kick attack on the Crystal Palace fan and, after serving his punishment, he returned to play for Manchester United.
Sky Sports even came up with a documentary titled “Cantona: Return Of The King”, which celebrated the French-man’s return from his ban and the impact he had on the game during his second coming.
Fittingly, the football gods somehow planned that his return would be on the day United would host Liverpool at Old Trafford on October 1, 1995.
There was absolute mayhem in and outside Old Trafford, and by the end of the game, Cantona had provided an assist for Nicky Butt and converted a penalty in a 2-2 draw.
By the end of the season, Cantona had inspired United to win the Double — the FA Cup and the league championship.
It’s the same game which forgave Diego Maradona for all the madness in being a slave to drugs, it’s the same game which forgave George Best and erected a statue for him outside Old Trafford, even when it knew that he abused both women and alcohol.
It’s the same game which forgave Paul Gascoigne, even though he drank so much his drinking mate was nicknamed Five Bellies.
It’s also the same game which should protect Chiragwi, despite all the red lines he crossed and the foolishness of his act, by ensuring that he gets a punishment which should not destroy his career.
To God Be The Glory
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakari-boys still in the struggle.
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhoooooooooooo!
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