Online Reporter
Sharuko On Saturday
IT was the defining image of the humiliation — Bernard Marriot slumped in his seat in the VIP Enclosure, his face in his hands, shielding it from the horror of the destruction.
Shielding it from the brutality of the reality of the capitulation.
An old man lost in a haze of confusion and being haunted by the demons which have stalked him from the time he converted a people’s club, under very dubious circumstances, into his family’s pet property.
A 78-year-old man, a grandfather or probably a great grandfather, being consumed by the sheer magnitude of the latest disastrous chapter of his project’s failure.
A battle-hardened boardroom warrior slumped in his corner, punched into submission, probably unaware if it was either daylight or well into the night, trying to ask himself questions that would never deliver an answer.
The scoreboard was right in his sight, at the other end of Rufaro, ironically so close to Vietnam, that fortress which the Dynamos fans call their spiritual home, their eternal sanctuary.
The two figures on that scoreboard, FIVE and ZERO, were a miserable sight for the DeMbare fans as they captured, in high definition, the humiliation which their club had suffered that afternoon.
One of their own, Richmann Bonongwe, the man who called himself Big Bharanzi, was not there to watch the football club of his dreams being torn apart in the very stadium they call home.
He was too sick to make his regular pilgrimage to cheer his team and, just a few days after this Mother Of All Humiliations, Richmann died.
I had known Richmann for a very long time, his passion for his Dynamos was something else, he used to tell me that he was born to love his Glamour Boys, a natural romance which didn’t need any explanation or justification.
I didn’t know he was sick but what I know is that DeMbare lost one of their true all-weather fans.
Such things happen, at some point we will all die and leave the things we loved behind us, death is the reality of life, once we are born there is one thing that we can’t change – that we are going to die.
My friend Richmann has left his Dynamos at the crossroads, just a few days before a new league championship marathon starts, and just a few days after the Glamour Boys suffered an implosion at Rufaro.
Today, DeMbare start a new campaign in the Midlands, against a club coached and captained by two men who used to be a part of their payroll before they both decided their interests, including welfare, would be better served elsewhere.
Herbert Maruwa and Frank Makarati used to be Glamour Boys and that they both decided they were better off, in terms of their careers and their welfare, at TelOne than at DeMbare, tells us a big story of how the domestic football landscape has shifted.
I grew up during a time when virtually all the players, and coaching staff, at clubs like TelOne would even agree to take pay cuts just to be allowed to join Dynamos because that was considered a huge leap in their careers.
Now, I have to accept that things have changed so much that a DeMbare captain considers it a massive leap in his career when he leaves the Glamour Boys and pens a deal at a club like TelOne.
NUMBERS DON’T LIE
It’s those little things, which might escape many in casual conversations and analysis in newspapers and on social media, which explain why we end up having the scoreline like the one we had at Rufaro on Sunday.
Exactly this month, two years ago, I penned an article on this very prime real estate in which I argued that Marriot had become the ultimate symbol of failure at DeMbare.
Next month, on April 16, Marriot will mark a dozen years in charge of Dynamos.
He was 66, when he took over as board chairman, on April 16, 2014, in what was effectively a boardroom coup, he will be 78 next month, when he marks a dozen years in power.
Dynamos have failed to win any of the NINE championships which they have competed in, with Marriot in charge, from the start of the campaign.
This is the same club which, when Marriot arrived as boss in April 2014, had just started a campaign in which they would win their fourth straight league title.
Given no other Dynamos board chairman has taken charge of the Glamour Boys, in an era in which they didn’t win a league championship in ELEVEN years, Marriot qualifies to be termed the worst leader of the Glamour Boys Of-All-Time.
As his face slumped into his hands on Sunday, I don’t know whether in that brutal time of self-introspection, Marriot realised that he is still the biggest problem at the Glamour Boys.
Kenny Mubaiwa was very successful; he was even elevated to the position of club president but he was kicked out of office by Marriot and his parting words told a chilling story.
“The most painful part is that the blame for all the club’s ills has been laid squarely on my feet yet I am not in control of the running of the club,” he said.
“If results don’t come, it’s the president’s fault. Square and fine, then we make a decision to reshuffle the technical team – fire Lloyd Mutasa and we were negotiating to bring back Kalisto Pasuwa – then out of the blue Mutasa is reinstated.”
Who reinstated Mutasa?
Of course, the one-man band so-called board of directors led by Marriot.
Solomon Sanyamandwe, Moses Maunganidze and Isaiah Mupfurutsa all came in and, one by one, they left the post which Mubaiwa had vacated and, in all this drama, one thing didn’t change – Marriot.
To show that it’s Marriot’s crumbling empire which was the problem, Mupfurutsa went on to win the championship with Simba Bhora, working with Tonderai Ndiraya, who is also a victim of the DeMbare madness.
Today, the same Mupfurutsa is the second most powerful man in our football as the leader of the PSL.
Ndiraya has just won the last two league championships. Now, we have Vincent Chawonza in the hot seat.
A successful self-made businessman, who values the importance of education, he is the finest of those who have taken charge of Dynamos lately and, somehow, I have the confidence that he can turn things around.
The question is that can Chawonza, and all the good guys in his team, get the freedom they need to really implement their ideas at this club without the interference of the old man and his family?
MUDHARA MARRIOT SHOULD BE PENSIONED OFF
In an era where one football-loving man, Shepherd Chahwanda, can build a beautiful stadium in Kwekwe, it’s a signal that the likes of Marriot, who are still trapped in what the world was like in the Sixties, should go into retirement.
In an era where we have such incredible investments in our football we have owners who are now able to send their clubs to pre-season training camps all over the region, Marriot should know that the train has long passed him.
In an era where we have a knockout tournament which gives its winners a staggering US$1 million in prize money, it’s a big signal that this is not the time for old-school owners like Marriot who look at gate-takings as representing the heart of revenue which the club should get.
In an era where we have a club, which has the financial muscle to woo Peter Ndlovu from his base in South Africa and unite him with Norman Mapeza in an A-Team technical team combination, the likes of Marriot have no place in its administrative structures.
Yes, we need to honour the old man for his lifelong service to the club but he should first acknowledge that the time has come for him to be pensioned off so that he can enjoy his retirement without having to put himself through the kind of torture we saw consuming him at Rufaro.
My main concern is that we need a competitive Dynamos for what promises to be an exciting PSL season to live up to its potential.
If DeMbare struggle again this year, a big chunk of the constituency that ills our stadiums will disappear and it will have a huge effect on the season’s success.
There are some guys who probably feel that I have a personal dislike of Marriot.
That is why it’s important to bring in other voices.
Simba Rushwaya, one of the best sports journalists of his generation, published a report in the Business Times, under the headline: ‘Marriot: The Cunning Fox Behind DeMbare Fiasco.’
He wrote:
“Since his ascendancy to the position of board chairman at Dynamos Private Limited in 2014, things have gone down.
“It is unthinkable for a team so decorated and big like Dynamos to find themselves in the relegation zone at this point in time.
“The blame squarely lies on Marriot.
“Marriot is a cunning character with the audacity sometimes to conclude issues in the most unfashionable way because he is also a former boxer apart from the fact that he donned the famous blue jersey.”
Sadly, on August 14, 2024, Simba died at Parirenyatwa after losing his battle against colon cancer.
He is now with Richmann dining with the angels.
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 Warriors!
Come on Maswanhise!
Zaireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
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Grow up Sharuko, please!