Online Reporter
Sharuko on Saturday
IT’S been a season of redemption for the domestic Premiership — many fans have rekindled their love affair with the league and going to the stadium has become fashionable again.
If you are part of the gang which just wants to see this maverick called Denver Mukamba — that occasional touch of genius or that occasional explosion of madness — the truth is that you have been well served.
That stunning winner against Scottland, of all teams, a product of both instinct and precision, sits at the top of the highlights package of what Denver has delivered to those who believe in him.
If you are part of the gang which just wants to peep into the future and wants to see the next generation of our stars, you also got your due rewards throughout this defining season.
Tadiwa Chakuchichi even ended up on the books of Jay-Z and his Roc Nation agency, in the same stable as Brazilian Vinicius Jnr, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Marcus Rashford.
It’s the same stable, which also manages Gabriel Martinelli.
Another boy from Brazil and one of the only few footballers in the world blessed with the instinct and the kind of laser which guides missiles of mass destruction to delicately chip a giant goalkeeper like Donnarumma.
It’s the crazy and beautiful season in which a 13-year-old boy, which is basically the age we used to complete Grade Seven during our time, was introduced to shatter all records in our PSL.
His name is Ethan Tamson.
Lloyd Mutasa was convinced he has come of age and ended up throwing him into battle against some men who are old enough to be his fathers. In a league whose coaches have largely been allergic to love affairs with teenage stars and, instead, prefer to extend careers of age-cheating footballers who should have long been consigned into retirement, the introduction of these young players has been quite refreshing.
Moses Chunga realised a long time ago, at the turn of the millennium, that this was a league which was crying out for a huge injection of talented young players who would be given the freedom to go out there and express themselves.
That’s what he tried with his Kidznet project and that’s what those who were leading Dynamos at the time rejected — blinded by their narrow minds, frightened by their foolishness and burdened by their fear of the unknown.
So, in a flash, it was all lost in a haze of uncertainty and in the mist of doubt.
And, it wasn’t just DeMbare who lost but the whole league as it retreated into its shell pregnant with footballers who should have long retired.
Inevitably, the fans started staying away and it was becoming normal for a Dynamos game to have just about 3 000 fans watching it at Rufaro on a Sunday afternoon.
In fact, things got so bad that DeMbare were now even being fixtured to play on Saturdays because the league’s leaders couldn’t find justification, anymore, that they deserved pride of the prime slots on Sundays.
Then, boom, this season came along.
It’s been refreshing to see faces of people who last came to a PSL game many years ago resurfacing at Rufaro.
Admittedly, the standards that we are seeing are still miles away from what we used to see when the PSL was in very good health and had stars like Joe Mugabe, Memory Mucherahowa and Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo.
But, what isn’t deniable is that there has been an improvement, if not in the quality of the football then it has to be in the intensity of the battles, which we have witnessed this season.
Last Sunday’s Chibuku Super Cup epic battle between Highlanders and Scottland is a case in point — the drama, the beautiful goals, the fightback by Bosso, the life and colour in the stands.
The arrival of clubs, driven by ambition, financial muscle and the audacity to challenge the establishment — the likes of Scottland and MWOS — has changed the game in a big way.
IS THIS THE LAST HARARE DERBY?
Things are changing in our football.
Who would have thought that one day we were going to have a Harare Derby at Rufaro which would be played under the shadow of a Champions League game, involving a Zimbabwean club, which is only in its third year in the league?
Who would have thought that one day we were going to have a Harare Derby at Rufaro, which would be a relegation battle, while a club, which only started playing in the PSL just three years ago, would be flying the country’s flag in the Champions League?
Who would have thought that one day we were going to have a Harare Derby at Rufaro which would be played under the shadow of the two giants having collectively picked 61 points — just six points better than Simba Bhora.
Collectively, DeMbare and Makepekepe have won 14 games (six for Dynamos and eight for CAPS United) and that is one game less than the 15 matches which Scottland, playing in their first season in the PSL, had even won before yesterday’s game.
That neither DeMbare nor Makepekepe have played in the Champions League in the last eight years, with the Glamour Boys’ last appearance coming 11 years ago, hammers home the point I’m trying to illustrate that things are changing on the domestic front.
For me, the most frightening thing is that this could be the last Harare Derby in the way that we have known this fixture for almost half-a-century.
There is a real possibility that either one of these two giants, or both of them, could be relegated at the end of this season.
And, if that happens, then we would have watched the last Harare Derby in this sequence of matches, since the first one was played in 1977.
Ironically, next year we are set to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Harare Derby — the 50th anniversary of that day, in March 1977, when the first showdown between these two giants was played.
It was a five-goal thriller, probably giving us a clue that we had just started an adventure that was going to rock us to the core and which was going to be a staple diet of what we consume from the entertainment which football gives us.
George Shaya was the star of the show, providing all the three assists for the DeMbare goals, which were scored by the great Daniel “Dhidhidhi” Ncube, who grabbed a brace, and Oliver Kateya.
The CAPS United goals were scored by the immortal Shacky “Mr Goals” Tauro, probably the greatest number nine to grace our football fields and Peter Augustinho.
And next year, we are supposed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the day when it all started. We are supposed to relive all the memories that the Harare Derby has given us, including the ugly ones, like that day when Eddie Muchongwe turned his anger on his ‘keeper Leon Nyawatawa.
We are supposed to celebrate what has been an iconic duel and all the memories it has created along the way.
How can one forget that day when DeMbare scored half-a-dozen goals in a 6-2 humiliation of the Green Machine in a Chibuku Trophy semi-final match at Rufaro in 1984?
Moses Chunga and Max Makanza helped themselves to double scores that day and Edward Katsvere and Kembo Chunga joined in the fun as they also scored in that goal feast.
Stix Mutizwa’s double for Makepekepe was just a footnote in a story where all the headlines would be reserved for Chunga and his teammates.
But, in that golden period for the domestic Premiership in the ‘80s, CAPS United could also hit back in a big way.
The highlight for them came one night in 1987 when they thrashed Dynamos 7-0 in an Africa Day Trophy semi-final at Rufaro.
Tauro, just as he had done in 1976, scored again for CAPS United — 11 years down the line — and this time he scored four goals with Never “Maswerasei” Chiku, Gift “Ghetto” M’pariwa and Anthony Kambani also on target for the Green Machine.
All the men who scored for CAPS United on that memorable night are late and that should inspire today’s generation of CAPS United players to fight even harder to preserve the PSL status of their club.
They owe it to the memory of these great players, who fought hard in the trenches, to ensure that CAPS United would write incredible success stories and become known as the Cup Kings.
Joel Shambo, the enduring symbol of excellent leadership at the Green Machine, is also late.
He deserves to be honoured because he did a lot of great things for this club, and ensuring that it remains in the Premiership is one way to honour him.
We also have great players who fought in the Dynamos corner in the Harare Derby, who passed away — the likes of Ghetto, Kateya, Shaya, Jere (no relation to Farai), and Sachiti, to name but a few.
Their memory also needs to be honoured and one way to do it is for the current generation to ensure that the Harare Derby remains alive.
Tomorrow’s battle could be very decisive.
It could be the last of the Harare Derby — as we have known it.
To God Be The Glory
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakari-boys still in the struggle.
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhoooooooooooo!
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