Online Reporter
Sharuko On Saturday
YOU can call it a baptism, if you want, even though that will certainly be a crazy form of description.
The year was 1994. I was 24.
This was my second year on this newspaper’s Sports Desk, a greenhorn from Chakari who had dared to pursue his dreams, a football fan now covering the game of his dreams.
If anyone had told me back then that, thirty-two years later, I would still be working and writing, for this grand old newspaper, I would have recommended them for a psychiatric examination.
But, here we are, three decades later, and the romance is still alive and well and the bond is yet to be broken.
Exactly 32 years ago, this month, the champions of our football were Highlanders, who had won the title in the inaugural season of the era of the PSL in 1993.
Thirty-two years later, Bosso are celebrating a Centenary of existence, as a major football club in this country.
That’s a cool 10 decades of a golden presence in which they have evolved to represent something which is bigger than football.
Not many clubs in Africa can boast such longevity, like Bosso, and such a powerful influence on the people who associate themselves with the club.
On Africa Day, in 1994, Bosso were the champions of local football, Agent Sawu was the Soccer Star of the Year and football in the City of Kings was alive and well.
The capital, though, was fighting back.
And, back then, such a fightback would be led by Dynamos and CAPS United even though the arrival of a swashbuckling Blackpool, pregnant with both swag and ambition, was starting to be felt.
So, in May 1994, I made my way to Rufaro for yet another edition of the Harare Derby which, this time, was playing out in the form of the Africa Day Cup showdown.
I arrived at the main entrance of the Western end of the stadium at about 1.30pm and Rufaro was already packed to the rafters, buzzing with excitement and booming with expectation.
The gate was locked, it was quite clear that the good old stadium could not take any more people even though there were probably as many people, outside the ground, as those who were inside it.
It remains that one occasion where I believe that if Rufaro was a stadium which could accommodate 60 000, it would still have been full to capacity that day.
For about half-an-hour, there was no action on the main gate, it remained sealed and my chance of watching this special match looked very remote, with each passing minute squeezing life out of those expectations.
Then at about 2pm, Morrison Sifelani arrived.
He wasn’t just the Dynamos chairman, he was also the PSL chairman.
Now, that was a huge boost because, I told myself, there was nowhere this man, who was the leader of the league, would not be allowed to enter Rufaro and watch the big game.
He greeted me and told me he had sent emissaries who had gone to get the right people to open the gate.
BAPTISED BY URINE, WELCOME TO THE DERBY
We talked about how special the Derby was and, suddenly, we were “baptised” by a shower which had come from nowhere, on this bright and sunny day.
“Even the heavens have acknowledged that this is a very special day,” Sifelani said, as he wiped his face.
“Can you imagine, it’s also raining on such a sunny and beautiful day. It shows us that even God is smiling at us.”
I told him I was in agreement because, where I come from, if there was an abrupt shower at our stadium, Chakari United always won.
I also wiped my face as another “shower” came down.
Then, someone who was part of the small crowd, which had gathered outside that main gate, gave us the shocking news which ended our honeymoon.
The “showers” we were bragging about, as a sign of a blessing from the Lord and confirmation that this was, indeed, a special occasion, were in fact, urine.
It was coming down from the top of the Western Stand which, when the bay is packed, is converted by some people into a makeshift toilet.
I had not covered the Derbies in 1993, because of commitments elsewhere, including a world sailing championships in Kariba.
And, given this was the first Derby I was covering, this was a cruel version of “baptism”.
But, whatever nightmare we endured at the gates, urine and all, was worth it when one considers the box-office quality of the product, which we witnessed on the field of play.
That those who were lucky enough to watch that Derby still talk about it, as if it happened yesterday, is testimony of how very special it was, and how very special it still is.
CAPS United raced into a deserved 2-0 lead at the break, which was a fair return for their dominance in a period they could have scored even more, and the game looked as good as over.
Then, somehow, DeMbare fought back and, powered by an attacking brand of football which made a mockery of the defensive template of their coach Sunday Chidzambwa, scored four times in the second half for an incredible 4-2 triumph.
An older generation of CAPS United fans will tell you that it was an Africa Day Cup showdown against Dynamos in 1987 when their Green Machine scored seven goals, against the old enemy, without reply at Rufaro.
It was as if the Green Machine decided to allocate a goal to each of the million fans, among the Seven Million fans, which DeMbare used to claim was the number of their supporters.
Shacky Tauro scored four times and there was a goal each for Never Chiku, Gift M’pariwa and Anthony Kambani.
All these guys are late and it’s important that the new generation of footballers play at a level which would be a tribute to these late stars for building a product, called the Harare Derby, which remains such a major box-office attraction.
THE DERBY AND THE NUMBER 16
Sifelani is also late.
It’s now been 16 years since the founding godfather of the PSL died at his plot in Gweru in December 2010, at the age of 75.
If you are deeply spiritual, you can probably say that the good old man waited for the FIFA World Cup to be played in Africa, for the first and only time, before waving farewell to the garden of the living.
Sixteen years had also passed since we met at the gate at Rufaro that Africa Day, in May 1994, and I had my “baptism” as I waited to cover my first Harare Derby.
It’s now 16 years since the World Cup was held on our continent.
There were 16 years from the time Dynamos became the first Harare club to win the league championship in 1963, to the time CAPS United became the last club from the capital to win the title, before Independence, in 1979.
There were 16 years between the time CAPS United won their first league title in 1979 and the time Dynamos won their TENTH league title, after Independence, in 1995.
There were 16 years between the time we celebrated Independence to the time the Green Machine won their first league title.
In 1995, Dynamos and Blackpool ended with the same number of points (58) and the same goal difference (+25), only for DeMbare to be crowned champions because they scored more goals.
Sixteen years later, DeMbare also ended their campaign with the same number of points as they had in 1995 (58 points) and, just like 16 years earlier, another club also finished with the same number of points.
However, FC Platinum had to settle for silver because of an inferior goal difference.
CAPS United used to have a giant goalkeeper, Edmore Sibanda, who was quite good at scoring from free-kicks, usually by sheer brute force.
Sixteen years ago, the man we all call ZiKeeper scored seven goals during the 2010 campaign for the Green Machine.
None of the forwards who were fielded by CAPS United and Dynamos managed to score that number of goals last season in what was a miserable campaign for the two Harare giants.
Seven is the number of goals which the CAPS United forwards scored in the Derby one night at Rufaro in a year which also ended with the number seven.
The two highest scoring games between the two giants have produced 13 goals for the victors (seven for CAPS in a 7-0 win) and (six for Dynamos in a 6-2 win).
If you add the three goals, which Dynamos scored in their victory in the very first Harare Derby in 1977, then the number 16 reappears.
The last time any of these two giants won the league championship, it came in a year which ended with the number 16.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!
Antoniooooooooooooo!
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