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SHARUKO ON SATURDAY
IN the shadows of the Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia, lie the graves of those who perished in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon on April 27, 1993, when a Zambian military plane came down and wiped out a generation of the country’s finest footballers.
It’s a timeless reminder of the day when Zambia was plunged into mourning, as the country had never done before, when its beloved national football team perished in a disaster which cut short their trip to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier.
Efford Chabala, John Soko, Whiteson Changwe, Robert Watiyakeni, Eston Mulenga, Moses Chikwalakwala, Wisdom Chansa, Timothy Mwita, Numba Mwila, Richard Mwanza, Samuel Chomba, Moses Masowa, Kenan Simambe, Godfrey Kangwa, Winter Mumba, Patrick “Bomber” Banda, Derby Mankinka and Kevin Mutale are the 18 players who died in that tragedy.
Mutale was only 23 when he met his cruel fate and had scored a stunning hat-trick for his country a few days earlier in Mauritius, in another justification of the growing wave of expectations that he was going to be a superstar.
His talent had already taken him to Saudi Arabia where he played for Al-Ettifaq FC, the first Saudi club to win an international title, when they captured the ’84 Arab Club Champions Cup.
They would repeat the same feat four years later, in the very year the Zambians announced their grand arrival on the world stage with their success story at the ’88 Olympic Games in South Korea.
Al-Ettifaq were also the club Mankinka played for at the time he perished in that plane crash.
The midfield magician had arrived in Saudi Arabia via the Polish city of Poznan and Harare, where he had a short but sensational spell at Darryn T in 1991, before it became clear his talent was crying out for the bigger stage of European football.
Mankinka was the ultimate Shooting Star of the domestic Premiership, with his skills providing a blinding ray of light in the blanket of darkness which covered a football landscape desperately crying out for a hero, amid the chaos of the top-flight league’s battle for independence from ZIFA at the turn of the ’90s.
He played only eight games for Darryn T that year, but such was his brilliance which cast a spell around the domestic Premiership. The football writers quickly found it logical to include him among the Soccer Stars of the Year in that unforgettable season.
But, just as his legend began to grow, with his box-office attraction drawing thousands of fans who only came to be witnesses to his talent, he was gone.
Seven-time Polish champions Lech Poznan, the club that would later provide a platform for Robert Lewandowski to nurture his budding talent that would eventually take him to Bayern Munich, were the ones who signed him.
However, even though he waltzed on our football fields for less than 12 hours in his cumulative shift for Darryn T, those who had the privilege of watching him in action will tell you that, for a fleeing period in 1991, our domestic Premiership really danced to the rhythm of his magical beat.
The Zambian plane crash hit us hard because, whichever way one looks at it, we are some kind of Siamese twins with our neighbours to the north of the Zambezi.
And, for all our rivalry when it comes to football, we even used to be one extended family during the days of the Federation when we shared a common name.
Of course, the disaster also came at a time when Mankinka’s magical feet were still a big part of the game’s narrative in this country, and we all struggled to understand why he had to die in such a cruel way while on a mission to serve his beloved country.
The Zambians, too, were also part of our ’94 AFCON Cup qualifying group when that plane crash happened and, as fate would have it, the last time the players who died in that disaster played at home, before the tragedy struck, it was a showdown against our Warriors on April 11, ’93.
That game, which came two weeks before the disaster, ended goalless at the Independence Stadium, the same ground which would be demolished to make way for the Heroes Stadium, where in its shadow, the graves of those who died in that plane crash now lie.
KING KALU LEADS A REMARKABLE REDEMPTION MISSION
Godfrey “Ucar” Chitalu, whom some claim is the greatest Zambian footballer of all-time in a race that also features Kalusha Bwalya, also died in that plane crash and his grave today lies adjacent the Heroes Stadium.
Chitalu was the coach of that Zambian team and, in his days as a player in the ’70s, he had been some kind of Zambia’s George Shaya, winning the country’s Footballer of the Year five times, and scoring an amazing world-record 116 goals for Kabwe Warriors in all competitions in ’72.
Fifteen of those goals came in CAF competitions, 91 came in the domestic championship and other tournaments run by the Football Association of Zambia, five came in friendlies, three in the NFL Trophy and two in an NFL Benevolence Fund match in a remarkable season.
Alex Chola, Zambia’s second highest goal-scorer of all-time after Chitalu, also died in that plane crash.
He was now the national team assistant coach and those who saw him play for Mufulira Blackpool, Power Dynamos and Chipolopolo will tell you that he was something very, very special.
His grave, too, also lies on the fringes of the Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
This year marks a quarter-of-a-century since that tragedy unfolded in the waters of the Atlantic on the edges of Gabon, and I viewed one of the documentaries made in commemoration of that disaster.
Even though 25 years have passed since that tragedy exploded, the short film still had this chilling effect of sending waves exploding inside my body.
“On the 27th of April 1993, the plane carrying the Zambian national team crashed off the coast of Gabon, all 30 passengers and crew perished, 18 of them were international footballers, and with them went the hopes of a nation”, the narrator to that chilling documentary introduces it.
“They were the best Zambian side of all-time and been in a strong position to qualify for ’94 FIFA World Cup finals in the USA.
“Following the tragedy, the national federation received widespread offers of support, Denmark gave them training facilities and the expertise of coach Roald Poulsen and they recruited from the local leagues.
“This wasn’t easy, Power Dynamos, the leading Zambian side at the time lost five players alone. The new team was reshaped around three players who hadn’t been on the plane – Charles Musonda, Johnson Bwalya and Kalusha Bwalya – the only Zambian to be named African Footballer of the Year.
“Despite the amazing triumph of the new generation, there is still a hole in the heart of the game here occupied by what a great team might have achieved.
“The final resting place, in the shadows of the new Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, is a constant reminder to every Zambian player who has come since
that they play not for themselves, but for their country.”
Kalusha, who only missed the doomed plane crash because he was flying to Senegal from his base in the Netherlands, would lead from the front in the aftermath of the disaster, becoming a powerful symbol who united his grieving nation.
He scored the late equaliser at the National Sports Stadium in Harare that took his team to the ’94 AFCON finals at the expense of the Warriors, who needed a win in that game to go through.
He also scored a beauty of a free-kick for the equaliser against Morocco in Lusaka in a World Cup qualifier that provoked a comeback for the Zambians, amid scenes of bedlam in the stands, with Johnson scoring the winner.
However, a 0-1 defeat in Casablanca, in a game they needed a draw to make it to the ’94 World Cup finals, ended their campaign for a place at the ’94 World Cup finals in the only campaign in which both Zimbabwe and Zambia fell on the final hurdle to qualify for the showcase.
Kalusha led his team to a runners-up slot at the ’94 AFCON finals in Tunisia, after losing 1-2 to Nigeria in the final, in what was a remarkable achievement for the team.
And he also led them to third place at the ’96 AFCON finals, where he won the Golden Boot with six goals in a year when he was named the 12th best player in the world, and the only one playing outside Europe, in the FIFA World Player of The Year award votes.
He then returned to coach his national team after his retirement.
And then as FAZ president, he took his men to Gabon six years ago in their first match in Libreville since that plane crash in ’93, to somehow upstage favourites Cote dÍvoire to be crowned champions of Africa.
THIS YEAR SHOULD HAVE BEEN VERY SPECIAL FOR THE KING
For King Kalu, this year should have been all about remembrance of a quarter-of-a-century since that Gabonese tragedy.
A painful personal reminder of the thin line that separates the fact that he is alive today, 25 years later, and the grim possibility that he could have been one of his dead counterparts lying in those graves.
It was also supposed to be a year of personal reflection of an incredible journey he has travelled – the 30th anniversary of the year when he first exploded on the big stage in the colours of his country at the ’88 Summer Olympics, when his amazing hattrick crushed Italy 4-0 and shocked the world.
This year was also supposed to be a year of celebrations for him, as it marks the 30th anniversary of the year he became the only player from his country, and also from this part of the continent, to be crowned African Footballer of the Year in ’88.
He was signed by Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, who were then under legendary English coach Bobby Robson, after his heroics at the ’88 Olympic Games, and in Holland, one of his teammates was Brazilian legend Romario, who in ’94 would be the star of the World Cup.
This was supposed to be his landmark year, when he could remember and celebrate all the great things he has done for Zambian football, both as a unique footballer, and also as the ultimate face of their game.
From giving Zambia her only African Footballer of the Year in ’88, exactly 30 years ago, to leading the post-Gabonese tragedy revolution by scoring the goal that took them to the AFCON finals exactly 25 years ago, to leading his country to become African champions six years ago.
It was also the year he turned 55 two days ago.
But it’s a year King Kalu would rather want to forget in a hurry after he was slapped with a two-year ban from the game by FIFA last week and fined $100 000 for the $80 000 he received from banned former FIFA vice president Mohammed Bin Hammam.
The Qatari strongman is being accused by the world football governing body of allegedly running a scheme to corrupt scores of football leaders.
Kalusha, who insists he borrowed the money from Bin Hammam during a period when his finances were not in a healthy state, and intended to repay the debt, has been adamant he didn’t do anything wrong and told the world his legal team had already started the process to overturn the ban and the fine.
On the interactive forum that brings together leading African football writers, administrators and players, Kalusha has been getting a lot of sympathy, with many choosing to side with his story, while he has also been receiving a lot of support from his home constituency.
But one gets the feeling it’s the year the music finally stopped.
YES, OF COURSE, IT’S THE YEAR THE MUSIC FINALLY STOPPED
It’s not my responsibility to condemn Kalusha, who insists he is innocent, and who claims that, with time, his name will be cleared from all this mess.
After all, this is a game which has already seen Paolo Rossi rise from the depths of the Totenero match-fixing scandal of Italy in 1980, which saw him being banned for two years from football – despite his pleas of innocence – to star for his country at the 1982 World Cup.
His six goals won him the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, as best player at that World Cup, as the Italians were crowned World Champions.
It has also seen Juventus finding a way to rise from the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal of 2006, which saw them being relegated into Serie B, from where they started with a 30-point deduction, while also losing the league titles they won in 2005 and 2006.
They have once again become a global football powerhouse who now have one of the two best players in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo.
And it has also seen Ulrich Hoeness, who was sent to jail for three-and-half years in March 2014 for defrauding the German tax system of more than $34 million and, three months after his release from prison, he reclaimed his position as the president of Bayern Munich, the country’s most powerful football club, winning 97 percent of the vote.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the man who was president of the country most associated with football in the world, Brazil, between 2003 and 2011, was sent to jail for 12 years in April this year for money laundering and massive corruption involving billions of dollars.
He continues to plead his innocence from behind bars, with his supporters saying he is being persecuted by his political rivals, and this week he received the support of his political party to run for the presidency at the next elections in October.
“We will fight for Lula’s candidacy until the end,” Worker’s Party leader Gleisi Hoffman told journalists earlier this week.
Thousands of his Lula’s supporters marched to the capital Brasilia this week, demanding his release and, on Wednesday, his party officially registered him as their presidential candidate even though he is behind bars serving a 12-year jail term.
But, what isn’t in doubt is that, for King Kalu, and probably millions of Zambians who have always looked up to him as the ultimate face of their country, is that this really feels like it’s the year the music, which this magician used to provide as the conductor of their orchestra, finally died.
In a way, of course, it is!
After all, it’s the year the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin also died.
The American singer, one of the greatest of all-time, produced a smash-hit duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”, was used as part of the promotion of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
That tournament, where Roger Milla’s dances at the corner flags after scoring goals for the Indomitable Lions, gave the game one of its enduring sights.
Aretha Franklin died in Detroit, Michigan, two days ago.
Either by coincidence, or whatever, the Queen of Soul had to die on the very day the Zambian King of Football, King Kalu, was celebrating his 55th birthday on Thursday.
But then such has been Kalusha’s life story.
The one the Lord chose to ensure he wouldn’t board that doomed military plane, which crashed off the coast of Gabon, exactly 25 years ago.
The Chosen One who would lead his country’s battle to find some light, amid all that darkness, who now faces his biggest battle to ensure that the band, which has been thrilling Zambians for the past 30 years, plays on.
To God Be The Glory!
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!
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