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IN their payoff line, world football governing body FIFA say “For the Game, For the World’’ which is inspired by the power and global reach of this sport that transcends cultural, racial and religious barriers and has the power to unite the world.
For Zimbabwe, football remains the country’s flagship sport and for many of the game’s followers and stakeholders, the 18-month isolation from the international game which came as a result of a FIFA suspension has been a forgettable experience they would never want to endure again.
That FIFA suspension meant none of the local clubs and national teams could take part in any international competitions at any level.
The suspension had resulted from the row between the ZIFA board led by Felton Kamambo and the Sport and Recreation Commission.
FIFA, citing third-party interference on the part of the SRC as their reason for the suspension, had also initially demanded the reinstatement of the Kamambo board as a precondition for the lifting of the suspension.
As is now common knowledge, however, FIFA decided to lift the suspension on July 11 after months of intense deliberations which involved the Sport and Recreation Commission, Premier Soccer League, Footballers Union of Zimbabwe and other stakeholders.
FIFA were unambiguous in their letter to Kamambo and ZIFA on how they reached the decision to lift the suspension and the steps they had taken to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis.
One of the major steps was to appoint a Normalisation Committee to run ZIFA on an interim basis and prepare the ground work for the association’s next elective assembly.
Zimbabweans and even to the surprise of the SRC and the football family, woke up to the surprise news earlier this week that the same Kamambo, who had appeared to have accepted his fate back in July, is actually back fighting again.
Kamambo and his colleagues — Philemon Machana, Bryton Malandule, Stanley Chapeta and Joseph Mamutse — want FIFA to overturn the decision to lift Zimbabwe’s suspension.
Their gripe is that they want SRC to withdraw a matter that is before the magistrates’ court, which Kamambo cites as a condition for his acceptance of the July 11 FIFA decision.
BUT we ask, and we believe we speak on behalf of many progressive football loving people, why does Kamambo want to hold the national game to ransom again?
Was the 18 months of isolation which our football endured not enough punishment for the country?
Has Kamambo considered the impact of the FIFA suspension particularly on the players, coaches and referees, who had their careers severely affected by the nation’s isolation from the FIFA family.
What gain is there for Kamambo and Machana and their colleagues to have selective amnesia to the contents of the FIFA letter penned by the world governing body’s secretary-general Fatma Samoura?
It is time Kamambo and his pals gave Zimbabwe football a chance to breathe again.
It takes one to be a true sportsman to concede defeat with grace and after all the FIFA Fair Play tenets also speak about respect, friendship, team spirit, equality, sport without doping, respect for written and unwritten rules such as integrity, solidarity, tolerance, care, excellence and joy.
Yet Kamambo is not exuding any respect for the Zimbabwean game.
If Kamambo were a true sportsman who is so passionate and loyal to Zimbabwean football as he claims to be, then he must wait to fight another day at the next ZIFA elections where Congress can always re-elect him if they feel he deserves another chance.
For now, the mantle is with the Normalisation Committee and they must be allowed to deal with the reform challenges before them without any side shows as is being exhibited by Kamambo.
To call for a fresh embargo on Zimbabwean football is as foolish, ill-conceived as it is selfish from five men who claim they have always put Zimbabwe and its football first before all else.
Their move must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by all who are for the game.
It is a move that must not be allowed to prevail at the expense of athletes — in this case the players for whom even their representative body — Footballers Union of Zimbabwe — also fought very hard to convince FIFA to lift the suspension.
While we wonder what Kamambo’s end game is… it certainly must not stand in the way of the dreams of a host of players who include Jordan Zemura, Marvelous Nakamba, Marshal Munetsi, rookies Calum English-Brown, Washington Mapuwa, Tanaka Shandirwa and Andrew Mbeba and the Girl Child represented by Tanyaradzwa Chihoro, Patience Ndlovu, Chido Dzingirai and Shyleen Dambamuromo.
Those players’ livelihoods and dreams and those of millions more in the country and in the Diaspora depend on playing football and are not interested in the toxic politics which Kamambo wants to drag them into. They deserve the opportunity and the platform that FIFA has provided. Fifa SG Samoura is aware that the game must continue unhindered hence she wrote that “… the lifting of the suspension imposed on ZIFA and the appointment of a Normalisation Committee shall take place without prejudice to the ongoing investigations and court proceedings at national level.’’
Please Kamambo and friends, give our players the space to excel and fulfil their dreams.
Online Reporter