REMEMBER THE ‘HAND OF GOD’, SAUL?

Saul Chaminuka raised his concerns after watching his side suffer a two-nil defeat at the hands of Herentals on Saturday.

Sharuko on Saturday

THEY are the biggest clubs in their countries, they have the biggest support bases and they are their countries’ most successful football clubs in terms of league titles won.

They haven’t won the league title in more than a decade — one of them was last crowned champions in 2013 and the other got their last crown a year later.

One has a record 21 league titles, while the other has a record 20 league titles.

However, in the past few months, they have both flirted with relegation.

Dynamos and Manchester United!

The Glamour Boys and the Red Devils!

To some, gigantic symbols of greatness, excellence, brilliance and to others dinosaurs from the past whose time came and went and now find themselves having to battle extinction.

Two iconic giants being dragged into their graves by a group of leaders whose sheer incompetence borders on Satanism.

Leaders plucked from hell, who appear to be competing to produce the best template for PHD students to use for reference if they choose to write a thesis on ‘How To Destroy A Football Giant’.

I am a lifelong United fan, and proudly so, and I will always be indebted to Sir Alex, Bryan Robson, Cantona, Schmeichel, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney and Ronaldo for giving me some of the greatest football memories of my life.

Going to Old Trafford in 2002, long before the Holy Trinity statue of Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best became a big part of this iconic stadium, was a very proud moment for me.

Another six years would pass before this statue was unveiled in 2008, the very year that a rag-tag team of Glamour Boys somehow defied the odds to punch above their weight and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

That Cinderella adventure is part of a vault of great memories, for the DeMbare fans, which will last a lifetime.

The men and women who will always be indebted to Mhofu, Shaya, Chunga, Mucherahowa, Vitalis, Tauya, Maringwa and others for giving them the greatest memories of their lives.

I know a number of them — Spencer Manguwa, Godfrey Japajapa, Dallas Sekawawana, Obert Masvotore, Joseph Nemaisa, Robson Mhandu, Douglas Chigwida, Kudzi Shaba and our sub-editor Evans Dzore.

There was a time when they would foolishly claim that they were seven million in total, which was then the entire population of this country, and I am not sure what their claims are now.

What isn’t in dispute, though, is that most of them have since stopped going to the stadiums to support their favourite club and the remaining attachment is just emotional and the physical connection was lost along the way.

Now, a giant football franchise which would regularly attract 30 000 people at Rufaro has been reduced into something that now struggles to bring just 3 000 fans to the old stadium.

At least, the Manchester United fans are still going to Old Trafford and following their team in numbers to away games and that gives the Red Devils hope that things could change tomorrow.

They are even investing in the grand project of building the biggest football stadium in the UK while at DeMbare money is being invested into a cocktail of sangomas in the pursuit of fantasy.

Smaller boys like MWOS, Scottland, Yadah and Hard Rock have either built or are building their stadiums.

However, this isn’t a lecture on the value of having immovable properties for football clubs but this is about the value of protecting the institution called the most beautiful game in the world.

To imagine a world, in which football as a game would not have been played, is quite scary because that means generations of human beings who would have lived and died without being seduced by the likes of Zidane, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, the original, and Ronaldo, the crown Prince.

A world where Peter Ndlovu would have been just another boy from Makokoba without the crown which he carries today as our GOAT.

A WORLD CUP WON BY THE ‘HAND OF GOD’

At Mandava on Sunday, Dynamos coach Saul Chaminuka and his men, in a moment of both madness and weakness, somehow chose to urinate on the very basic rule important to keep football alive — the referee’s decision is final.

Chaminuka transformed himself into a choir master, who was leading the chorus of rebellion as the DeMbare players protested the decision by the referee to award FC Platinum a late penalty.

He then turned himself into the lieutenant who commanded his troops to storm off the pitch and, in the process, force the abandonment of the game.

Since then, he has been unapologetic, slamming the referee for awarding the penalty and defending his decision to lead his team in ensuring that the game would not be completed.

I understand that Chaminuka is still struggling to convince himself that all this is real, that he is, indeed, the Dynamos coach and this is not just a dream and, when he wakes up tomorrow, he would be in familiar territory in charge of the likes of Agama.

This probably explains why he hasn’t made the adjustment to the reality that being in charge of Dynamos, whether as a coach or chairman, comes with a certain weight of responsibility.

It’s just like being the coach of Manchester United.

Yes, we all want to see referees who are fair and who do not decide matches with their questionable decisions, but I’m not sure Chaminuka would be going ballistic if that decision had gone Dynamos’ way.

Would he have walked on to the pitch to tell the young referee that he had made a mistake and he was proposing, in the spirit of Fair Play, that he should reverse his decision and award FC Platinum a free-kick?

Would he have used his post-match media conference to tell the world that Dynamos had benefited from a blunder by the referee or he would have been telling us that there was enough contact for the penalty to be given?

Is Chaminuka trying to suggest that this is the worst penalty call he has seen in his lengthy coaching career?

Yes, he has a right to feel aggrieved because it was a decision which would have looked fair either way – given or not given – but for him to command his troops off the field of play, and then boast about it, was pathetic.

Dynamos, through Morrison Sifelani, back in the age when they had true football leaders, were one of the biggest players in the formation of the domestic Premiership.

They have a huge responsibility to ensure that they play a leading part in the protection of the league and protection of the sponsors who have kept it going for so long.

Chaminuka needs to understand that DeMbare, just like Manchester United, profited from big controversial calls from referees and this helped them, in a way, to build the legacy that they have today.

Some of the decisions, like those which used to be given by Martin Gede and Tichaona Chapfika in favour of Dynamos, were diabolical, but they all contributed to the success story which the Glamour Boys have today.

Gede gave DeMbare a ghost penalty at Rufaro against Darryn T, when it was a Dynamos player who had handled, and they went on to win that game and the championship.

If we want to start writing about Chapfika then we might need the entire space in this newspaper.

Howard Webb ended up with rival fans creating images of him in a Man United jersey to illustrate that he was a Red Devil.

Now, he is the leader of the professional referees’ body in England, PMGOL, and in a frank interview revealed that he gave United a ghost penalty in 2009 in a game against Spurs.

“The one that stands out is one where in the game I knew I got it wrong,” he told The Athletic.

“I was just hoping that Ronaldo would miss the penalty. But he didn’t.”

United, 0-2 down at the time the penalty was awarded, roared back to win 5-2 and win the league.

Spurs didn’t walk off the pitch in protest because they respect the game.

Chaminuka is old enough to know that the World Cup, in ’86, was won in part thanks to a phantom goal scored with the ‘Hand of God.’

England didn’t walk off the pitch and Argentina went on to be crowned World Champions.

DeMbare, just like Manchester United, should be the last team to walk away from the pitch complaining about referees.

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 in the struggle.

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!

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