Online Reporter
Onward Gangata
Zimpapers Sports Hub
SUNDAY’S ugly scenes at Chahwanda did more than stop a football match.
They exposed uncomfortable questions Zimbabwean football has been avoiding for years.
These are questions around preparedness, crowd control and whether safety at our biggest matches is receiving the seriousness it demands.
The violence that brought Hardrock and Dynamos’ league match to a halt left more than damaged property and bruised supporters.
It left a dent on the image of local football and raised deeper concerns about how easily a showpiece occasion drifted into disorder.For those who work around safety and security, one phrase always comes up: one life lost is one too many. Chahwanda ended without tragedy on that scale but many supporters left feeling football had come dangerously close to something worse.
Attention will naturally turn to what happened after trouble started.
Questions around police deployment, stewarding and crowd management will dominate discussions in the coming days.
But some of the warning signs were already visible before a ball had been kicked.The match itself had already been delayed by 20 minutes to allow supporters still outside the stadium to enter.
Match commissioner Ruzive Ruzive announced the delay, but those extra minutes quickly began exposing cracks in crowd control.
Seven times supporters from both sides invaded the pitch to perform rituals around the centre spot.
Those moments should have sounded alarms. Instead, they became an early sign of the disorder that followed later.
Neither Hardrock nor Dynamos immediately took responsibility for the conduct of their supporters.
Shortly after the abandonment, Hardrock posted an aerial image of Chahwanda Stadium on social media with the caption: “This venue deserves love.”The apology only came yesterday.
“We strongly condemn the pitch invasions and acts of vandalism that disrupted the game and damaged stadium property,” said Hardrock media and communications officer Bruce Chikuni.
The investigations will eventually establish who started what and who should be punished.
But Chahwanda may leave a bigger question hanging over Zimbabwean football.If supporters could repeatedly invade the pitch before kick-off without consequences, were the warning signs already there long before the first bottle was thrown?
And, then, there is that image of a Hardrock official.
Club chief executive Kudzanai Hove is seen in the viral video appearing to pin a Dynamos fan to the floor using his heavyweight right leg.
That left the fan vulnerable to attacks from the Hardrock fans.
Hardrock chairman, Wellington Mpandare, said the club was still gathering facts.“It is premature for me to comment at this stage, we are still carrying out investigations. ZIFA as well as the PSL are also carrying out investigations and the security services are also doing their part,” he said.
Bongani Ndlovu
Wait until the terraces of Rufaro Stadium collapse under the weight of football fans. It has been said again and again that the stadium is no longer structurally safe for use but nobody is listening. This is clearly a sign that elsewhere people are more interested in making money at the expense of safety. What happened in Kwekwe wasn’t isolated, it’s the norm in our football. The authorities don’t listen until it happens.