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FOR many years, football has been the number one sport in Zimbabwe, with the largest following compared to any other sport.
At their peak, local Premiership giants like Dynamos, Highlanders and CAPS United would fill stadiums to the brim, especially in the big games they came head to head.
It was not business as usual in the week leading to these big games. The clash between CAPS United and Highlanders was one such act that the domestic sports fanatics always looked up to with eagerness.
But these days, it is no longer so. As two of the domestic football giants are set to clash tomorrow, in a weird arrangement that has CAPS United hosting Highlanders at Barbourfields, the conversations the whole week have centred on the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier taking place in Harare and Bulawayo, and nothing on the anticipated football resumption.
Zimbabwe are one of the 10 countries participating in the tournament in which the top two teams that reach the final will get the tickets to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup finals in India later this year.
A lot is at the stake. Just like the previous Qualifier which we hosted in 2018, the spectators have been coming out in numbers to support the Zimbabwe national team.
The huge crowds that have thronged the Zimbabwe national cricket team games at Harare Sports Club have given other sport codes, especially football, a wakeup call.
In fact, the Chevrons are attracting almost a capacity crowd each time they host an international game, whether at Harare Sports Club or Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
This has been happening for the past few years and it appears the numbers keep getting high with each passing home series. Even some of the games that have been played mid-week have attracted huge crowds.
Last week Harare Sports Club was sold out for Zimbabwe’s group games. The organisers were forced to set up a fan park at the rugby field, just behind the cricket arena, when Zimbabwe played the West Indies in what probably ranked as one of the best crowds at the venue in recent history.
The spectators still enjoyed following the game from a giant screen. Most of those that came late had to endure the frustrations of standing in the long queues before the gates were locked to avoid a possible stampede.
Parking space ran out inside the venue, forcing motorists to find alternative parking in the streets adjacent to the ground.
Naturally, the carnival atmosphere witnessed at the Zimbabwe national cricket team games has led to comparisons between the game of cricket and domestic football, which is currently going through one of its most difficult phases.
While football has been struggling to fill the stadiums, the Chevrons have built a loyal fan base. With the fortunes on the field having taken an upward trajectory again in the last 12 months, the passion has also increased among the fans.
Back in 2018, Zimbabwe played to capacity crowds during the ICC World Cup Qualifier they hosted.
The feat was repeated last year during the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers in Bulawayo where multitudes packed the Queens Sports Club to help Zimbabwe complete a clean sweep and punch their ticket back to the ICC T20 World Cup, for the first time in six years.
The trend continued when the Chevrons hosted Bangladesh last August winning both the ODI and T20I series. Even at the ICC T20 World Cup finals in Australia, Zimbabwe were among the best supported teams as the diaspora fans also could not resist the urge to spur the team on.
It just goes to show how Zimbabweans have fallen deeply in love with cricket. Probably it’s because the Chevrons have been given the enduring Zimbabwean sports fans something to always look forward to on the international stage.
It could be the positivity brought by the arrival of Zimbabwe legend Dave Houghton on his second stint as head coach.
Houghton has always preferred an attacking and entertaining brand of cricket and this has helped unlock the potential in many of the national team players as they have been given the license to freely express themselves.
But you cannot take away from Zimbabwe Cricket the sound management that has characterised the running of the game.
The cricket fan numbers cheering for the Chevrons are a fantastic reminder for sports such as football that fans go to where there is entertainment value.
Football has been affected by poor attendance in recent years. Many theories have been brought forward to try and explain the plummeting numbers at football stadiums.
But what has been witnessed at Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club shows that it is not about the gate charges since the fares are almost the same.
It is not about Covid-19 since all sports were affected by the pandemic. It is not about the English Premier Soccer League being a counter-attraction to the domestic Premier Soccer League.
It is not about the location of the venue.
The truth is that fans want value for their money. They want to see competitive sports. They want to see committed leadership, free of corruption and petty politics.
But the way football has been run over the years is enough to put off even the most steadfast supporters of the game. Imagine recently, games just stopped abruptly because there were no stadiums to accommodate matches?
The quality of the game has also gone down drastically.
Fans cannot waste their money on poor quality products and no well-meaning sponsors would want to associate with such.
In fact, the reason many Zimbabweans had migrated to better leagues such as the EPL could have been because of the poor grade football they have been subjected to in the local league week in and week out.
Cricket as a brand, has always been up there among the Zimbabwean sports and the Chevrons are doing well to give the football constituency time to reflect and mend their ways.
The onus is also on ZIFA and the local clubs to plan for and start developing good quality players. It’s sad though, that junior development is not being taken seriously.
In the meantime, cricket continues to show the way. Sport is always complete with fans. The same crowds that are being witnessed at Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club should be seen in football, rugby, athletics, you name it.
Zimbabweans love sport but somehow they are being let down.
The onus is on the people in leadership positions and the athletes themselves to roll up their sleeves and help turn the tide.
Online Reporter