Chronicle Editor
IF you are one of those people who had the mistaken belief that Zimbabwe sport is all about football then you have to revise your thoughts and, if you can, take some time to be part of the rugby festival that has been rumbling on in the country since the beginning of the week.
The World Rugby Under-20 Trophy, one of the most prestigious junior sporting tournaments in the world, has been going on at Harare Sports Club and the second round of matches will be played this weekend with our Young Sables one of the teams battling in the global showcase.
We are only the second African nation to be given the honour to host the event, after Kenya, in another vote of confidence — not only in our abilities as a nation to organise a tournament of such magnitude, but also, crucially, in our ability to offer the visiting teams the security that is required.
We are hosting teams from all over the continent, the Pacific islands of Fiji and Samoa, European side Spain, the United States and South American side, Uruguay, and that means — given that some of the best teenage rugby nations in the world are here — the whole globe has been watching us since they arrived, to see if we can provide the security and safety guarantees required for such precocious talent.
We have never doubted our capacity to provide such security; we have always preached the gospel that Zimbabwe is a very safe country with very friendly people, even though we know there are some, among us, who don’t want that image beamed across the world for selfish political interests.
It hasn’t escaped our attention that it wasn’t a coincidence that one of the political marches that we saw last Thursday was not only timed to clash with the start of the 2016 Golden Pilsener Zimbabwe Open, our flagship annual golf tournament which attracts golfers from around the globe, but also the arrival of the teams for the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy tournament.
There might have been an attempt, shameless as it is, to either divert the attention of international journalists who came here to cover the Zimbabwe Open to this largely hopeless march, or to create chaos that would project Zimbabwe as a lawless nation.
Thankfully, neither of that happened as most of the people chose to do what they do every day, go about working for their families, and the 2016 Zimbabwe Open came and went without incident.
International sportsmen and women, just like other tourists, can come and have a time of their lives in Zimbabwe.
The image of the captain of the United States Under-20 team, Hanco Germishuys, joining his fellow captains as they posed with the World Junior Rugby Trophy against a striking background of some zebras and impala on a Zimbabwean safari, was breathtaking and, like all great pictures, said more than a thousand words.
It was a sensational coup for those who have bravely fought in the corner of this country, against formidable forces within and outside the country, who have tried to use sport as a weapon, including calling for our isolation from the global sporting family.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we should imagine that those forces of darkness have been defeated, and that is why it is important that we should remain vigilant as a nation, our forces on alert, to make sure that those who might try to spoil our party are thwarted and held to account.
On Monday, the biggest schools rugby festival in this country — the Prince Edward Dairibord Rugby showcase — gets underway at its traditional home and, this year’s edition is bigger, with the organisers promising they will put together an even better show.
Scores of schools will come for the party where our next rugby superstars will be showcasing their talents and we hope that, from among those schoolboys, another Beast, Tendai Mtawarira, who used this tournament as a springboard to bring his talents to the fore before transforming himself into one of the best rugby players of his generation in the world, will emerge.
Let’s all go and support these big tournaments and show the world that, contrary to what others believe, our love for sport goes beyond football.
Hopefully the players and officials from around the world we have been hosting will go back to their countries carrying beautiful memories of their time here and, when they get to their homes, will tell the true story of our beautiful Zimbabwe and why we brag that we are a world of wonders.
Online Reporter