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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
HARARE giants Dynamos are set to begin their pre-season training today as they brace for an eventful campaign in 2023.
The Glamour Boys have a lot on their table as they look to end the silverware drought and celebrate their 60th anniversary this year in style, after announcing plans to reclaim their place as the top team in local football.
The anniversary is expected to bring a change of fortunes at the Glamour Boys, who last won a major silverware in 2013. The Glamour Boys leadership are today expected to hold a meeting to lay down the plans for the year.
The club has since set up a DeMbare@60 Anniversary Celebrations Organising Committee led by Denford Mutashu, who has promised to make the commemorations a spectacle that will change the landscape for domestic football forever.
A number of activities have been lined up by Dynamos to mark the club’s 60 years of existence in 2023. Dynamos will also use the milestone to reflect on the trail of successes scored along the way.
Dynamos, who were formed in 1963, are looking to use the milestone as a springboard to bounce back as the leading club in the country. They have reconstituted their technical team after bringing on board Hebert Maruwa to replace Tonderai Ndiraya as head coach.
Players that were largely deadwood the previous season have been released and new signings will be unveiled in the coming days.
The executive committee was also rejigged with Moses Maunganidze taking over from Isaiah Mupfurutsa while Musa Gwasira came in as vice-chairman.
Veteran football administrator Jonathan Mashingaidze was appointed chief executive officer to run the day to day affairs of the club.
The Harare giants have also assembled a strong 26-member committee that will oversee the historic anniversary celebrations.
In his acceptance speech, chairman of the committee, Harare businessman Mutashu, said his committee aims to deliver a world class series of events culminating in a glamorous end-of-year awards and establishment of a Hall of Fame.
The Glamour Boys, who are the country’s most popular and successful club, paid dearly for the deficiencies in planning in 2013 when the Golden Jubilee passed without the glitz which should be associated with such a milestone. Dynamos were formed in 1963, after a group of black players from erstwhile topflight teams Salisbury United and Salisbury City came together to challenge the racial discrimination by white-dominated clubs during the colonial era.
The club owe a lot to their founding fathers who included the late Obadiah “Wasu” Sarupinda, Patrick “Amato” Dzvene, Ephraim Mpariwa, Richard Chiminya, Nathan Maziti, Josiah Akende, Jairos Banda, Danny Bricks, Alois Mesikano, Sam Dauya and Bernard Marriot.
Marriot is the current board chairman while most of the founders are now late.
Over the years, DeMbare have won a record 21 league titles, and several other local trophies.
They have also been the country’s flag bearers on the continent. The Glamour Boys have a CAF Champions League silver medal, from the 1998 final, which they lost in controversial circumstances to Cote d’Ivoire side, Asec Mimosas.
Dynamos also produced arguably the greatest ever player to have graced Zimbabwean football stadiums in the form of George Shaya, a five-time Soccer Star of the Year award winner.
But silverware has eluded them in the last eight years. In his acceptance speech, Mutashu said the celebrations should give the club new impetus both on the field and as a business entity.
“The celebrations, in our view, should help in redefining the Dynamos Football Club DNA, as we believe that at 60, the most decorated club in Zimbabwe should unlock the business potential which has been accumulating since 1963.
“Beyond the 60th year mark, Dynamos Football Club should enjoy its mega business share in the football industry, leading the way as the flagship team in monetising the numerous commercial properties and general goodwill.
“Football is big business and there is no stronger vehicle than the anniversary celebrations that the most followed and supported club in Zimbabwe shall use to grow its business profile.
“The celebrations will see the club take its products and services to every corner of the family of football in Zimbabwe and in the diaspora.”
Online Reporter