adminARCHFORD Gutu must face the music, in one way or the other, for dragging the lives of a number of young footballers through hell.
The former Warriors midfielder, who had stints in Europe, took 17 players from his football academy to Dubai in March.
He promised the youthful footballers, and their parents, that this was a mission to help the budding stars in their quest to secure attach-ment with a foreign club.
Any parent, having been presented with such an attractive offer, would have invested into the project hoping that his or her son could strike gold in the United Arab Emirates.
They had no reason, whatsoever, not to trust Gutu.
After all, this was a former player who had shown his commitment to helping young footballers follow the path he travelled, by establishing his academy.
He told them he had many contacts in Europe, which he established during his playing days there, and a trip to Dubai would help them move closer to securing their move to foreign clubs.
Football is now a multi-million-dollar industry with many of its stars now earning huge salaries and living lives like rock stars.
It has changed the lives of many African footballers, the majority of whom were raised in very poor environments, and they have also, in turn, changed the lives of their families and communities.
We have seen how Marvelous Nakamba, who was born into a poor family in Hwange, changed his life, and that of his immediate family, thanks to his earnings as a professional footballer plying his trade in Europe.
Nakamba has even gone to the extent of investing in a junior football development programme in which he hopes to identify, and nurture, some of the best emerging talent in our communities.
Nyasha Mushekwi, another local footballer who has enjoyed consid-erable success in foreign bases, has already invested in his former club, CAPS United, by acquiring a state-of-the-art coach for the Green Ma-chine.
All these success stories provide the inspiration to tens of thousands of young footballers, who are chasing their dreams, in this country.
They need to be helped, and not to be duped, as was the case with Gutu’s chaotic mission to Dubai, which was built on a foundation of lies, in which he promised them that he had found interested clubs who could sign them.
Gutu’s expectant wife even had the luxury of giving birth in the UAE.
The couple are reported to have squandered the money and accumu-lated huge hotel bills.
Other players managed to return home but Gutu was left stranded with eight players.
The kids are now expected to return home after the intervention of the Zimbabwe Embassy in the UAE, which rescued the eight children.
That should not be the end of the story.
Gutu should face the music, in one way or the other, so that it be-comes a lesson for those who might have such evil minds to abuse kids for the sake of their personal interests.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter