adminduring every game in order to wave the magic wand and help Blue Ribbon win their assignments.
Chidzambwa has seen his public image tainted by the myth that he uses juju for Blue Ribbon to score goals wherever the Premiership newboys are playing. When the rumour began to do the rounds that Chidzambwa would have to visit his team’s dressing room, the myth was that the coach would have to do it towards the end of a match. The claims were that he would mix a concoction that would enable Blue Ribbon to score goals.
However, the veteran coach scoffed at those claims and said he only left the Blue Ribbon technical bench when nature called and he felt a need to relieve himself.
Chidzambwa also revealed that the kind of drugs he was taking meant he needed to visit the toilet quite often but to the ordinary football fan that has been “misinterpreted to mean that I would be rushing to get some juju”.
On Sunday Chidzambwa was under the spotlight following an off-field incident with CAPS United marshals during Blue Ribbon’s Premiership game against Makepekepe in which the newboys were soundly beaten 4-1.
In fact CAPS United had raced into a 3-1 lead when matters nearly turned ugly after 68 minutes when a Blue Ribbon official was blocked by CAPS United marshals from going to the club’s dressing room at the National Sports Stadium.
Chidzambwa, who had to leave his seat on the technical bench to intervene, said he only did so to try and assist his team manager “who had forgotten players’ licences at half-time.
The team “needed to use them for the substitutions but they were being denied entry by the CAPS United marshals”.
As he jogged his way to the dressing rooms at the National Sports Stadium, the giant coach was subjected to a torrent of verbal abuse by the CAPS United fans, a move that only served to inspire the club’s marshals into blocking the coach’s way and an altercation ensued.
With the marshals even defying orders by the Zimbabwe Republic Police details to let the coach or his team manager through, the altercation nearly turned into a fist fight.
Then CAPS United chief executive Maxwell Mironga intervened and ordered that the Blue Ribbon officials be allowed access to their dressing room.
It is this belief that he is so embroiled into juju and that Blue Ribbon can only score when he has gone back to the dressing room during the game, which Chidzambwa yesterday described as “a joke that has gone too far now and is tarnishing my image”.
The former Warriors coach, who has also seen club duties at Tanganda, Chapungu and Monomotapa, said it was unfortunate that those superstitious beliefs by a few local clubs were diverting attention from events on the field. Chidzambwa said he firmly believed that Blue Ribbon followed the tenets of Fair Play and do not use juju to influence the outcome of their matches.
The coach also saluted CAPS United for playing well and felt Lloyd Chitembwe’s men had won the game convincingly because “they had been the better team on the afternoon and not because they were aided by any juju”.
Chidzambwa said they had also experienced an ugly incident similar to Sunday’s events when they visited Shabanie Mine at Maglas and said he would talk to the Blue Ribbon management to formally lodge a complaint with the PSL to ensure visiting teams are not harassed by home sides’ marshals.
“We really had problems with Shabanie at Maglas and what we saw against CAPS United but we have not had problems with the other PSL teams that we have visited and I don’t remember a rule anywhere which says visiting teams should only have access to their dressing rooms at such and such a time and not during the match.
“In any case why should we be denied access when I will be going to our team’s dressing rooms?
“It is unfortunate that there is a myth now that whenever I visit the dressing room to use the toilet I will be going there for juju yet we have gone on to lose games even when I have visited the dressing rooms. If that was the case then I would make several trips so that we can score goals. If it was all about juju, then we would simply lock one of our people in there and when the time comes we
would phone him or give him some signal but no-one has proof that I will be going to mix some juju.
“Football is supposed to be professional and the time to harass visiting teams or scale perimeter fences should be behind us now, it’s now archaic.
“Whenever we are the home team we do not harass the visitors and we d o not interfere with their dressing room once we hand them the keys before the game.
“As Blue Ribbon we believe that we finish the business with the opponents on the pitch, whether we draw, we win or they win,” Chidzambwa said.
Chidzambwa said he was also deeply concerned that his social standing was being affected by the superstitions of a few people in the game whose beliefs were sending a wrong signal to the fans and the community.
“Those who were at the National Sports Stadium saw that the CAPS United marshals were even defying police authority and if such things are not curbed now, it could result in some serious incidents and injuries to individuals.
“When it all started I thought it was a joke and those mind games you find in football but now I am so scared that I hardly go to the toilet during a game even when I really need to”.
Chidzambwa, however remained optimistic that despite the 4-1 reverse to CAPS United, Blue Ribbon would bounce back in their remaining matches and fulfill their target of finishing among the top eight.
“We have done well in our first year in the PSL and even through as coaches we would want more, it must also be understood that some of the youngsters we have do not have Premiership experience yet but I think we are still on course to finish among the top eight. I also think we have achieved our first objective which was to avoid relegation,” Chidzambwa said.
Online Reporter