Online Reporter
IT’S clear that a big chunk of Dynamos fans ignored the social media campaign for them to boycott the Harare Derby at Rufaro on Sunday which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
For the whole week various social media pages associated with the DeMbare fans called for the team’s supporters to boycott their showdown against CAPS United in protest over the way Bernard Marriot has been running the Glamour Boys.
A number of former Dynamos stars, including former captain Murape Murape, rallied behind the boycott campaign and posted videos and related material to urge the DeMbare fans to boycott the game.
Many of the supporters’ chapters also joined the boycott campaign and, rather than going to support their team, these fans decided to converge at an entertainment joint in Harare to watch the game on television.
Their argument is simple — they believe the time has come for them to show Marriot that they are the real power behind DeMbare and the club, without the backing of its fans, doesn’t have the same profile as the country’s biggest football team.
They argued that the money they pay at the gates was being used by Marriot and his camp to sustain themselves while, at the same time, they were running the Glamour Boys into the ground.
Protests are normal at football clubs and we have seen regular protests at Manchester United by fans who feel that the Glazer family have been turning England’s biggest football club into a joke of a team.
That DeMbare are not the glamour club that they were before Marriot took over as board chairman and gave himself a 51 percent stake in the company that should be running the team is there for everyone to see.
For the first time in their history, Dynamos have not won the league championship in 11 years.
They have not played in the Champions League for 11 years now and it’s also the first time this has happened since they made their bow in the tournament in 1981.
Every year, they lose their best players and then plunge into a rebuilding exercise in which they scrap through to get the cheapest possible players.
On Sunday, they scored only their third goal in 12 league matches this season and that also came from a penalty.
No Dynamos forward has scored a goal so far this season.
They have fired yet another coach and brought in a new coach.
The call for the fans to boycott the Derby was always going to be tricky because we have some supporters who only watch the two derbies all season.
The real test for Marriot and his camp will come when Dynamos host clubs which do not have the profile which CAPS United have as a true rival of the Glamour Boys.
It will be interesting to see how many Dynamos fans will come to watch a game against Herentals after these fan chapters have called for a boycott.
