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Sharuko On Saturday
IT’S a vintage year in which the sporting world has been celebrating landmark anniversaries.
A cocktail of 30 years of memories, which will certainly last a lifetime. They say ’92 was a great sporting year, and for a very good reason too.
Take for instance Michael Jordan and his Dream Team at the Olympics in Barcelona in summer of ’92. A collection of superstars who took the world on a merry joy ride and transformed basketball into a sport which appealed beyond its American fortress.
MJ lives to this day, as a proud witness of how his Dream Team’s magical Barcelona show, 30 years ago, provided his game with its watershed moment.
This wasn’t reality TV, the Keeping Up With The Kardashians kind of stuff, which we have today.
This was real stuff, a special exhibition of sporting poetry, a grand celebration of athletic genius.
Of course, now and again, the incredible script, and its sights and sounds of greatness, tested the boundaries where fantasy and reality collide. We even borrowed the name, without any shame whatsoever, to give it to a special group of our Warriors, a nickname which fitted their swashbuckling displays.
That’s what German efficiency, when mixed with raw ambition and an indomitable spirit, usually brings out.
And, in ’92, we found our Dream Team and its firebrand coach.
It’s hard to find a single highlight, which becomes the case when you complete an entire initial World Cup qualifying round without defeat, in a group that featured the Pharaohs.
The very team which, at the last World Cup at Italia ’90, had ended Egypt’s 56-year wait for a return to football’s biggest festival.
When the Pharaohs held the Dutch, who were the reigning European champions, in their opening World Cup group match, to a 1-1 draw in Palermo, on June 12, ’90, they broke a record.
Fifty six years and 16 days, the longest gap between matches played by a team at the World Cup finals, had passed between the Pharaohs last game, and latest match, against the Dutch masters.
But, two years after Italia ’90, the Pharaohs, the first African and Arab nation to feature at the World Cup finals in ’34, were no match for our Dream Team in the qualifiers for the ’94 edition of this grand event.
They were beaten in Harare and they were not the only ones.
Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, the stars of Italia ’90, also lost in H-Town, which had been turned into the graveyard of the giants.
The National Elephants of Guinea, powered by a certain big forward with the skills good enough to earn him a career at Liverpool, Titi Camara, were also humbled in H-Town.
They were so special, the Dream Team, they even had to play a World Cup qualifier in Lyon, France, because it was the only way FIFA could guarantee they wouldn’t be victims of hometown bias, which was rampant back then.
If CAF wasn’t under the leadership of a crazy authoritarian Cameroon chief, called Issa Hatayou, it’s very likely our Dream Team would have cleared the final hurdle and qualified for the ’94 World Cup.
But, the world wanted another dance with the Indomitable Lions, after the beauty of the sights and sounds they produced at Italia ’90, and little Zimbabwe could be sacrificed.
After all, for all our heroics, we were still to qualify for the Nations Cup finals and, given a choice, the world conspired against us, and chose to have another romance with Roger Milla and his Lions.
It meant that rather than watching a Peter Ndlovu, just out of his teenage fantasies and fresh from making history as the first African Premiership player, the world traded that golden opportunity for a swansong dance with a 42-year-old Milla.
The one who had even retreated to play in the obscure league of the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
A league which, a few years later, would send a team into the Champions League, which suffered a seven-goal hammering, at the hands of Dynamos.
That’s one goal more than what the hapless Indomitable Lions conceded in a horror match against the Russians, at the ’94 World Cup, confirming that they had cheated their way to the grand show.
TUESDAY MARKED 30 YEARS AFTER BAFANA’s DESTRUCTION
It was in ’92 that the sporting gods decided to introduce a teenage Tiger Woods to the world, via the US PGA Tour.
He was just 16.
Woods became the youngest player to feature on the US PGA tour, in a process that was effectively the building of a foundation, for a career whose achievements would be written in gold letters.
Invited guests, Denmark, who had failed to qualify for the ’92 Euros, were summoned from their holiday beaches, to replace Yugoslavia, who were thrown out of the tourney.
What followed was probably one of football’s greatest miracles as the Danes found a way to win a tournament, for which they had failed to qualify.
In August that year, exactly 30 years to this week, Bafana Bafana, the newboys on the international football scene, arrived in Harare for an AFCON qualifier showdown against the Dream Team.
They brought the full package, including a poster boy called Doctor Khumalo, with such striking handsome features the late Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo said he was “too beautiful to play football.”
They also brought Shu-Shine piano, a football version of the township beat we now call Amapiano, where entertainment, which came through elaborate flicks and tricks, appeared to be the main mission.
Their opponents knew the value of entertainment but, crucially, knew that this game was all about outscoring the opponent and, by the hour mark, Bafana Bafana had leaked four goals.
That they limited the damage to only four goals, in a way, is probably their greatest achievement, since their return to international football.
But, what about their success at the ’96 AFCON finals?
Well, it’s a big thing, too, but it will always be clouded by the fact that the best team in Africa, then, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, did not take part, because of some political issues.
On Tuesday, this week, the world marked the 30th anniversary of that afternoon, at the National Sports Stadium, when Peter Ndlovu, and his Dream Team, destroyed Bafana Bafana 4-1.
The final goal by the Flying Elephant, the fourth goal for the Dream Team, is probably the greatest goal ever scored by a Warrior.
The good thing is that it’s available on YouTube!
Five days later, Peter Ndlovu made history when he became the first African footballer to feature in the English Premiership.
Tomorrow, Africa, in particular, and the world, in general, will mark that special day, August 21, 1992, when a 19-year-old from Bulawayo, blazed the trail for the likes of Didier Drogba, Jay Jay Okocha, Yaya Toure, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.
In other countries, where the football communities celebrate their heroes, the lights at the Town House in Bulawayo would turn into sky blue, at exactly 9.10pm tomorrow, to celebrate the minute Peter made history that night in 1991.
Why sky blue? Because that is the primary identity of Coventry City, the team he featured for on that historic moment for Zimbabwe, in particular, and Africa, in general.
Even the lights at the National Sports Stadium, the venue where he created his greatest moments, in serving his country, would also turn sky blue, at 9.10 pm, to mark that special occasion.
But, we know it’s unlikely to happen because we are a football community that is reluctant to celebrate our heroes and would rather read, or hear, about their challenges rather than their success stories.
But, even if they don’t honour you Peter, just remember that some of us, your all-weather friends, will always salute you and, as the English Premiership celebrates its 30th anniversary, we will always talk about you.
Thirty is really special mate and let’s praise God that he ensured we would still be there, 30 years later, to celebrate that milestone.
After all, it’s God who ensured that Jesus Christ would publicly preach the gospel at the age of 30 (Luke 3:23) and that John the Baptist would begin his ministry at the age 30.
That, the greatest betrayal was done, by Judas Iscariot, it was for 30 pieces of silver, that the patriarchs Salah, Peleg and Serug would all have their first sons at the age of 30.
That Abraham was promised by God that, if he found at least 30 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, He would spare the two cities from destruction.
That the death of Aaron and Moses was mourned by the children of Israel for 30 days and that, in 30 A.D, the New Testament church was born.
Since we started with basketball, Michael Jordan and his Dream Team, it would probably interest some to know that there are 30 teams in the National Basketball Association.
CITY OF KINGS BUT NOT CITY OF ZIFA BOSSES
Trevor Carelse-Juul, who at the age of just 26 had helped coach Dynamos to league success in 1983, was the ZIFA boss, in August 1992.
That’s the month, 30 years ago, when the Dream Team began their Cinderella adventure with that crushing win over Bafana Bafana.
A few months into the adventure, Carelse-Juul fell out with the Sports Commission, for maladministration, including failure to remit levies from gate receipts, and was kicked out of office.
He subsequently resigned.
“We were on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup, after beating the likes of Egypt and Cameroon at home,” he told the local media.
“And, being suspended by FIFA was going to disturb us, I could not stand in the way of the team and I resigned, so that we did not get suspended.
“It was a sad moment considering what I had built with my team.”
He was replaced by Leo Mugabe who, a decade down the line, would be pushed out of office, this time by the ZIFA Council.
The Councillors claimed that some funds from FIFA had not been accounted for and laid the blame on Leo and treasurer, James Mutisi, triggering a fierce boardroom battle, which even spilled into the High Court.
The drama had begun, on December 12, 2002, when the ZIFA board passed a vote of no-confidence in Leo and Mutisi.
On January 4, 2003, the ZIFA Councillors endorsed the ousting of Leo and Mutisi.
And, Vincent Pamire, who was then the association’s vice-chairman, was promoted into office as the leader of domestic football.
Under Pamire’s short-term guidance, the Warriors flourished and the high point of their campaign came in June 2003, when they held Mali to a goalless draw in Bamako.
On July 5, that same year, the Warriors beat Eritrea 2-0 in Harare, with Peter fittingly scoring both goals, but Mali’s 2-0 win over Seychelles, on the same day, meant the Eagles won the group and took the automatic ticket to the 2004 Nations Cup finals.
It didn’t matter that they finished with the same number of points (13) as the Warriors, won the same number of games (four) and lost the same number of games (1).
The Malians’ better goal difference (+7), compared to ours (+5) proved decisive even though we had taken four points from them, in our head-to-head battles – winning 1-0 in Harare and holding them to a goalless draw in Bamako.
But, with the best among the second-placed finishers, in all the groups, also booking a place at the AFCON finals, there was still hope for us, which came with Gabon’s 2-0 win over Sierra Leone, the following day.
Finally, on July 6, 2003, after a 23-year wait, the Warriors could celebrate a place at the AFCON finals.
Just one month later, on August 30, Pamire, who had successfully steered the Warriors to their maiden Nations Cup finals, as ZIFA boss, was thrown out of office, by the association’s Councillors.
By the time the Warriors kicked the ball, for the first time, at the AFCON finals, on January 25, 2004, in S’fax, Tunisia, Rafik Khan was in charge of ZIFA.
Maybe, on the 30th anniversary of the start of the Dream Team adventure, the 30th anniversary of Peter’s demolition of Bafana Bafana, the 30th anniversary of Peter making history as the first African to feature in the Premiership, we need to take a step back, and reflect on a few things:
Why is it that our football appears to have an unwritten rule that only the football administrators from Harare, including some who can barely run a social side, are the only ones who can be ZIFA chairman?
Why is it th at our football appears to have an unwritten rule that the best football administrators from Bulawayo, including some like Ndumiso Gumede who were pure genius, can only end up as ZIFA vice-chairmen?
Why have we tolerated the nonsense, to the extent of making it appear normal, that someone like Felton Kamambo can be ZIFA president, and someone like Ndumiso Gumede, could not become one?
Even now, we have an acting ZIFA president and, just like Vincent Pamire before him, he appears to have only been seemingly accepted to play the leading role, simply because he is acting on an interim basis?
Just like in the era of Vincent Pamire, we have to turn to someone from the City of Kings, only when it comes to looking for someone to clean the mess, which would have been inflicted by those from Harare?
How can our football pretend not to find leadership in the very city which, when it comes to our national game, not the local club matches which we see at our local stadiums, but the international ones, has contributed more than any other city in this country?
The home of the first ZIFA boss, Pamire, to guide us to the AFCON finals, the first Warriors skipper, Peter, to lead us to the Nations Cup finals and the first Warrior, again Peter, to score for us at the tournament.
The city which provided all the FOUR players, who scored the goals for us, at our maiden AFCON finals — Peter (three), Adam (one), Esrom (one) and Joel Luphahla (one).
The only city which has provided the only two brothers to score for us at the Nations Cup finals — Peter and Adam — the only time in history that two brothers has scored four goals, at the same Nations Cup, in a team’s debut show.
The city which provided us with the first Zimbabwean, to score at Old Trafford and in the Manchester Derby, Benjani, and the city, which provided us with the only Zimbabwean, to win a European club title, Bruce.
The city whose biggest club has had a role in nurturing THREE of the FIVE Zimbabwean players to feature in the Premiership, is somehow considered not good enough to provide a ZIFA leader.
In sharp contrast, the other big city, which has provided the ZIFA bosses, boasts of only one player, who was born there, who has featured in the Premiership and, even that one, Brendan Joel Zibusiso Galloway, left Harare when he was only six.
But then, probably one gets a rough understanding of this pathetic show, disguised as a search for a ZIFA leader, when the ’82 Soccer Star of the Year, James Takavada, gets one vote.
And, Nigel Munyati, one of the brains behind the Aces Youth Academy, which gave us Knowledge and Khama, doesn’t even get a SINGLE vote.
Here’s to another 30 years, God willing!
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 United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ronaldoooooooooooooooooooooo!
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