Forgetting Yogi, Forgetting Duduza

Sharuko on Saturday

ON Christmas Day, 2008, the feel-good movie, ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ was released in the United States.

It cost US$15 million to make but it became such a massive hit worldwide that it grossed about half a billion dollars.

The movie also won the Best Picture gong, the award given to the best movie of the year, at the 2009 Academy Awards.

It’s based on a refreshing tale of a poor boy from one of the poorest areas of Mumbai, a slum in the Indian commercial heartbeat, who survives trials and tribulations to strike a jackpot.

Jamal Malik (18) rises from the Juhu slum, an area of about a million people crammed in just 590 acres of land, to defy personal tragedy, including the death of his mum, and become a national celebrity.

Fate ensures he becomes a contestant on ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati,’ an Indian version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.’

And, his quest, live on TV, to try and win the US$460 000 first prize offered by quiz show, grips the attention of the whole of India and its population of over a billion people.

The movie’s fascinating tale of love, hope and destiny charmed audiences throughout the world and continues to resonate with millions to this day.

This year, the world remembered the 15th anniversary of the first time ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was first screened before it exploded into a movie the globe really fell in love with.

That’s what good people do — they celebrate important milestones and they also take time to appreciate the fine efforts of those who played a part in making all that possible.

In a way, ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ reminds me of the Dynamos Class of 2008.

Just like Jamal Malik, the Glamour Boys are very, very poor.

DeMbare are not from a slum but their spiritual home, Mbare, cannot qualify for reference whenever affluent suburbs are talked about.

For decades, the Glamour Boys have struggled to break out of the quagmire of poverty, where they have been trapped since their formation back in 1963.

Their battle for normalcy hasn’t been helped by the toxicity of the politics, which have always stalked this institution, and a DNA in which self-destruction occupies a huge part of the nucleotides.

In 2008, in the year ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ was first screened, Dynamos returned to the CAF Champions League for the first time in NINE years.

Ten years earlier, the Glamour Boys had reached the final of the same competition but, after another appearance in the group stages the following year, they disappeared from the arena where Africa’s best football clubs dance.

It was a trying period for the club, which included a flirtation with relegation in 2005 where they ended up needing a win, on the final day of the season, to avoid the drop into Division One.

And, to rub salt into their wounds, virtually their entire first team, including captain Leo Kurauzvione, deserted the ailing club and moved on to join newboys Shooting Stars.

However, by 2007, Dynamos were back at the top of the domestic football tree after winning their first league championship in 10 years.

And, the following year, they were back in the Champions League.

But, it’s also fair to say that expectations were quite low, among their fans, after years of struggles on the domestic front.

Relegated to the preliminary round, a 3-0 aggregate win over Royal Leopards of Lesotho did little to raise expectations.

A 4-2 aggregate triumph over Costa do Sol in the first round, including a stunning Edward Sadomba hat-trick in the 3-0 win in the first leg, instilled some hope.

However, many of the critics highlighted the weaknesses of the opposition, Royal Leopards and Costa do Sol, rather than the strengths of that Dynamos team.

The real test, they kept on insisting, was about to come.

AN ADVENTURE MADE IN HEAVEN

It came in the second round when fate, somehow, ensured that Dynamos would have to face the defending champions, Etoile du Sahel.

Just a few months earlier, the Tunisians had won the tournament after a stunning 3-1 win, in the second leg of the final in Cairo, over the continent’s greatest football club, Al Ahly.

Surely, there was no way, the critics said, the Glamour Boys could compete against such heavyweight opponents, let alone subdue them.

However, DeMbare beat Etoile home and away by a similar score (0-1), ensured they failed to score in 180 minutes and became the first team to beat the Tunisians at home in the Champions League.

Forgotten forward Benjamin Marere scored the golden goal in Tunisia despite Dynamos arriving just hours before the game after their financial challenges had left the trip hanging in the balance, until the last minute.

Fate again punished them by throwing them into a group which had the two Egyptian powerhouses — Al Ahly and Zamalek — and Ivorian giants ASEC Mimosas.

In 2008, the Dynamos asset register didn’t even have a bicycle let alone a motor bike or a team bus.

In sharp contrast, their opponents had everything a football club could wish for and today Zamalek and Al Ahly are ranked in the top three of the richest African clubs.

Ahly are top of the Moneybags table, valued at around US$31.65 million, while Zamalek are in third place, valued at around US$21.71 million.

Dynamos had NOTHING then and have virtually NOTHING now and, if I am to predict their value, then they are worth around US$50 000.

But, sometimes, as Jamal Malik showed in ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ it’s not about the financial muscle that matters.

Sometimes, having the right spirit can also make a huge difference in the quest for success and greatness.

It’s a quality which those Glamour Boys had in abundance.

And, in key moments in their campaign, it’s a quality they demonstrated with devastating consequences on their opponents.

Even when they had personal challenges, which were too many they would need the whole of this newspaper to document, this collection of Dynamos legends kept fighting back.

And, one personal tragedy really defined their campaign.

On July 18, 2008, Sadomba’s sister Portia died in Harare and plunged the forward’s family into mourning.

It was a tragedy which the DeMbare family also felt because not only was Sadomba the pace spearhead of their attack but he was a huge influence in their dressing room.

With a group match against ASEC Mimosas set for Rufaro, just two days later, Duduza’s participation in that must-win game was thrown into question.

But, Sadomba, in a remarkable commitment to the cause of his club, decided to leave the funeral ceremony, and go into battle against the Ivoirians.

When he trooped onto the pitch that afternoon, it could not escape the attention of many that the body of his sister was, at that same time, still lying in state at Sadomba’s family home in Mbare — not far from where this game was being played.

And, as if driven by some supernatural powers, Sadomba scored both goals to give Dynamos a 2-1 victory, pregnant with emotions, on a defining afternoon at their spiritual home.

Would any of the current DeMbare players do this?

I have my doubts but Sadomba and his teammates were a different and committed lot and, for them, playing for the Glamour Boys became something of a lifestyle.

A CURSED FOOTBALL COMMUNITY

Against all the odds, that Dynamos side went on to beat ASEC Mimosas in Abidjan, something which the Class of ’98 failed, with Philip Marufu scoring a last-gasp winner.

Al Ahly, the eventual winners, needed a goal six minutes into added time for them to edge the Glamour Boys 2-1 in Cairo.

And, in a game which their fans will probably never forget, they beat Zamalek 1-0 at Rufaro in a winner-take-all showdown.

David Shoko’s thunderous drive from a free-kick, in the dying moments of the game, has been described by some as the most vicious dead ball execution they have ever seen.

There are some fans, and pundits here, who say they have never seen such a goal, in terms of power, pressure, precision and the magnitude of the occasion.

That DeMbare side reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and pushed their name into the pages of some of the world’s leading newspapers, including the Guardian of the United Kingdom.

The newspaper peddled the argument that should DeMbare win that Champions League, given all the challenges they had faced just to fly to fulfil their assignments, they would have written football’s finest success story throughout the world.

A bigger success story than Egypt’s win at the 2008 AFCON finals in Ghana, Spain’s win at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland and Argentina’s win at the Summer Olympics in China.

But, the phenomenal achievements of a group of individuals, the guys who lived next door in such suburbs like Mbare, Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah, Warren Park, Zengeza, Mabvuku and Dzivaresekwa, who defied all odds to go this distance, have now been virtually forgotten by the football community they served with such distinction.

And, even worse, they have also been forgotten by the very club they served with the highest possible honour one can find in a group of footballers.

Their coach, David Mandigora, should be turning in his grave.

In a normal football environment, one would have seen the DeMbare Class of 2008 being feted, on the 15th anniversary of their adventure, by both the club and community they served.

You would have seen documentaries, pregnant with interviews from those who were on the frontline, in what would have been a grand celebration of the achievements of that band of Glamour Boys.

Sadomba would have spoken about his brave decision to leave his dead sister at home to fight for the Glamour Boys and it would have been a very good story.

Shoko would have told us about how he scored that wonder goal and why, after that, his career stalled and it would have been a nice story to listen to.

Marufu would have told us about how he scored that last-gasp winner in Abidjan, to down ASEC Mimosas and, in a way, make them pay for that win over his club in ’98.

One would have expected the Dynamos leadership to provide a proposal to their principal sponsors to honour these gallant Glamour Boys and I think Sakunda Holdings would not have said NO.

But, then, these are the same Glamour Boys who forgot that this year marks the Silver Jubilee of the year Sunday Chidzambwa and his gallant troops went no other Zimbabwean club has ever gone in the Champions League.

To them, the Miracle of ’98, when DeMbare reached the final of the Champions League, didn’t happen.

Maybe, in their eyes, this is a different Dynamos to the one that took the continent by storm and reached the final of the tournament.

Somehow, these are the same people who have been telling us that they want to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their formation in 1963 this year.

How is that possible when you can hardly remember landmark events which happened just 15 years ago?

Indeed, we are a cursed football community.

At least, I can watch ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ again and again because they are celebrating its 15th anniversary.

To God Be The Glory!

Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.

Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brunoooooooooooooooooooooooo!

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