Dongo flatter to deceive

Vusumuzi Makiweni Rusape
THE 2015 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season is one that most Rusape soccer fanatics will rather forget in a hurry as Dongo Sawmills – a team they adopted at short notice and made their own – never lived to expectations, remaining stuck to the bottom of the Premiership log standings for the entire season-despite massive support that the team enjoyed from the town’s soccer crazy residents.

Discussions are awash on social media platforms and public places in Rusape on what went wrong, what could have been and what the future holds for club owner, Francis Dongo, the technical department as well the team’s players – the majority of whom relied solely on the club for income.

In most of these discussions, however, little or no mention is being made on the impact of Dongo’s relegation from the top-flight league to the Rusape community, a loyal lot who made it a point to turn Vengere Stadium into a cauldron, each time ‘Pisai Vanhu’ played at home, albeit all in vain.

It is against such a background that Post Sport this week-sought comments from a cross section of Rusape fans on the implications of the team’s demotion to the less fashionable Eastern Region Division One League.

“The relegation of Dongo has brought a lot of pain for some of us who walked with the team through thick and thin dating back to the days of its formation. That the team has been relegated in its first attempt of premiership football is most disheartening if one considers that the club’s rather premature stay in the premiership had promised much but delivered so little,” said Tichaona Makura, a staunch Dongo fan who resides in the BC section of Vengere Township.

“Dongo’s premiership status did not offer only financial benefits, but also presented us the rare opportunity of watching premiership action in our own backyard which will not happen next season now that the team has been relegated,” said fruit vendor, Tawanda Nyakutambwa, who lives in Vengere’s ZBS section.

Another disappointed fan, Trust ‘Pondo’ Nyambiya of Magamba, said he expected the team to finish in the top four and not the murky waters of relegation as the team exhibited some good football particularly against the so-called big teams.

Lillian Marunga, a regular food and beverages vendor at Dongo’s home matches bemoaned the fact that the club’s relegation had negatively impacted on her business.

“We had become used to rich pickings each time teams visited Vengere as our catering services were on high demand and during big games we sometimes failed to satisfy demand, so we have been left very much poorer”, she said.

“This (Dongo relegation) has hit my business really hard as I was experiencing an early Christmas boom each time there was a game at Vengere since I live very close to the stadium and I doubt if such opportunity will avail itself now that Dongo is in Division One”, said another caterer, Miriam Mangwanda, living in Vengere’s R-Section-the town’s oldest location.

Other stakeholders that include private businesses, Delta Beverages and Rusape Town Council are likely feel the pinch of Dongo’s chop from the country’s flagship soccer league as they enjoyed a piece of cake from the club’s maiden but short-lived flirtation with Zimbabwe’s elite football league.