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Obert Masvotore
Sports Correspondent
WATCHING Real Madrid unveil Kylian Mbappe before a near capacity Bernabeu invokes excitement on one nerve and sadness on all other nerves that connects one to Dynamos, Zimbabwe’s most popular club.
Without equating stature and decorum of Europe’s most successful club to Dynamos’ own historical feats, l dare to say the support enjoyed by both clubs entrench deep into the hearts and souls of their followers such that football becomes a culture.
A cult that began in 1902 for Madrid while 61 years later it was to be the birth of Dynamos.
A quick search on who formed Madrid springs a tale that somehow hints at troubles dogging my beloved DeMbare.
Julian Palacios is credited with leading Madrid’s formation but he was a Catalan,
Yes, it was a man from Barcelona who set off the rollercoaster of domestic and European glory.
How ironic.
Madrid are reigning European and Spanish champions, bringing to 15 the number of times they have conquered European club football.
A record we are unlikely to see beaten in our lifetime.
Back home, Madrid boasts of 36 La Liga titles and 20 Copa del Rey titles.
This is the story of ‘Hala Madrid’ and its success in brief.
Back to my DeMbare where Bernard Marriot controversially hangs on to the power belts of the club’s ownership.
Just like the Catalan, Juan Padros, how did Marriot end up as the Dynamos owner?
He is an unpopular figure, whose story in the formative years of ‘Haina Ngozi,’ needs more witnesses to just confirm that it’s as true as he says it.
For now l will leave it there.
But the fortunes of this once majestic club have been dwindling.
The shift has been huge, so huge it’s a mockery to speak about DeMbare with Real Madrid in one sentence.
Twenty two league championships, and around 16 domestic cups, should be quite an impressive lot.
Of course, DeMbare have no glory on the continent but they were proud finalists in that unforgettable 1998 Champions League campaign.
Had football been as fair as it has become in the boardroom now, then Dynamos deserved at least a replay of that final.
But the mark Sunday Chidzambwa’s men left that year, and the controversy of that Abidjan final, made everyone notice that in Zimbabwe there is a club that is iconic.
We cannot say the same about its administrators.
The crest has fallen, the pride is gone, the crowds are disappearing fast and the results are hard to come by.
The brand is now tainted and hardly marketable.
The economy is unforgiving but globally football, like any other sport, is commercialised.
You have to attract sponsorship from big corporate institutions.
This has been let down.
Bernard Marriot is far from deserving to lead this club, let alone claim to own it.
The old man is disillusioned and lost in fantasy.
Sport is scientific and numbers don’t lie.
When you don’t train but go on to pay traditional healers, in search of positive results, that epitomises stupidity.
When you don’t pay players their dues, there is no motivation and expecting maximum input by the same players is sheer arrogance.
DeMbare can’t be the antithesis of football.
The old man must just retire and stay away from the team’s management.
There are good administrators out there who can transform our club of choice to the pinnacle of domestic glory and into the deep ends of African football.
We have the players, we have the support and we will have the sponsors once the product is right.
Vietnam will roar again.
And roar again to remind Marriot not to play with the people’s team. (Usaite funny funny ne team yevanhu).
– Obert Masvotore is a lifelong Dynamos fan
Online Reporter