The Pretty Woman

caressed our spirits and, in an instant, made us fall in love with local football once again.
She didn’t need to strike a pose, like a model ready for a photo-shoot for the front page of Vogue Magazine, but it all came so natural – even in the intensity of the battle for her country – as her beauty beamed brightly in the arena that is the ceremonial home of our football.
As her beautiful eyes smiled at us, from the 30 000 plus watching the game at Rufaro to millions more watching it live on national television at home, we felt her charm and believed in her mission.
Her first name, Rudo, represented love and it was clear that there was this romantic attachment, which was developing quickly, between the Mighty Warriors’ golden girl, leading the team’s line in attack, and the fans rooting for their cause.
Never before, in the history of our football, had a pretty girl done so much, in such a short time, to woo our hearts and help revive the bond that we had with the Mighty Warriors, a relationship that had been crippled during their years of inactivity.
Never before, in the history of our football, had a beauty queen combined the charm of her pretty features, and the power of her undoubted athletic talent, to make us all fall in love with what she was doing and whom she represented.
For some of us, it was a throwback to the summer of ’88, the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, as a flying American sprint queen, with a beautiful face and striking long finger nails, ran into our hearts as she won the 100 metre dash.
Florence Griffith Joyner lies buried in an American cemetery today but, for those who saw her make her mark on this world in Seoul, her image will remain part of the lasting memories from our sporting collection.
“When you think of Florence Griffith Joyner, you think of beauty, style, long fingernails and speed,” wrote Olympic champion Gail Devers, in her eulogy published in Time Magazine.
“But she was so much more.
“I first met Florence in 1984 and was captivated not only by her beauty but also by the beauty of her grace and the patience of her character.
“On and off the track, Florence gave gold-medal performances.
“She inspired and motivated many people through her speech and words. How many people’s lives, when we look at them, make us stand back in awe?
“In 38 years Florence accomplished what would take others three lifetimes to do. She was a wife, a mother, an actress and a poet; she ran, she taught, she loved.
“Although she retired from track and field in 1989, she left a lasting mark.
“She raised the standard of competition and at the same time brought femininity to our sport. She showed by example that when you look great, you feel great- and when you feel great, you perform great.
“Florence brought to track a unique flair, style and grace, and added to them gold medals and world records. She was unquestionably the fastest woman in the world.”
Some will probably remember the first time they saw Marion Jones, another American sprint queen, and fell in love with both her beauty and her athletic prowess as she smashed records and won Olympic gold medals.
Even, when it later emerged that she used drugs and she plunged from grace in spectacular fashion, the Marion effect still hangs large over millions of people in the world.
“Even those with no interest in sports, who view the Olympics as essentially a travelogue with bad costumes, are moved by the downfall of track star Marion Jones, who admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs after years of public denials,” wrote journalist Robin Givhan in the Washington Post.
“In part, that’s because of the magnitude of her achievement, winning five medals at the Sydney Olympics, three of them gold.
“But she was also an exemplar of the beauty inherent in female strength, held up as a role model of glamour and womanliness.
“She did not have to be a pretty athlete, a sexy sprinter or a stylish runner.
“She didn’t glam-up her performance in the sports arena; she didn’t feel the need to sprint in couture. She was not the elite version of the weekend athlete who wears lipstick and mascara to the gym.
“In January 2001, Jones appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine.
“She was wearing a garnet-beaded Calvin Klein gown, she was barefoot on the beach in a pose that could accurately be described as classic. It was the first time an athlete had ever appeared on the magazine’s cover.
“At the time, Vogue’s editor-in-chief said she chose Jones as a cover subject because of her ‘grace under pressure.’ And she added that she made a point of not photographing her in running clothes. “
Serena Williams brought more male fans to women’s tennis, because she was beautiful and different, and the more she won Grand Slam tournaments, the more that we fell in love with her.
Others were so obsessed they even stalked her, following her all over the world, and just finding comfort in the reality that she was close, she was in the same city, she would be seen playing a tournament in the same town and it all meant so much for them.
Rudo Neshamba hasn’t scaled the same heights as Jones, Flo-Jo or Serena, but – in our little world – she made a huge difference at Rufaro on Sunday you have to forgive us, given our lack of real heroes in football, for the way we have fallen for her.
Her goal was a cracker, giving the team the breathing space it badly needed in a pressure game, and – having scored the decisive goal in the first leg in Angola – she was living up to the task, demanded by her coach Rose Mugadza, to deliver the goals.
As she flung her arms, in wild celebrations and 30 000-plus souls inside the stadium joined her in ecstasy, she embraced us in her heart and, together as a united nation, we enjoyed the moment and dared to dream.
The Mighty Warriors, against all odds, had risen from the dead.

Thank You Mavis Gumbo
In just one year, Mavis Gumbo has silenced all her critics who questioned how she came, in their own words, from nowhere to become the leading administrator in women’s football in this country.
In just one year, she has shown her male colleagues on the Zifa board that there is nothing like Mission Impossible when you are determined to make a difference and, having come on board with a promise to change the face of women’s football, she has done just that.
In just one year, she has done what her male colleagues on the Zifa board are unlikely to achieve in four years.
In just one year, she has breathed life into a franchise that was as good as dead, whose players had long given up hope of playing organised football, let alone representing their nation at the All-Africa Games, and whose dying clubs were as disorganised as the game itself.
In just about 12 months she has lifted the spirits of her players, has given them cause to believe, a platform to play the game in a competitive atmosphere again, a coach they can trust because she has been there and done that and a technical adviser, Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe, rated as one of the best football brains in the country.
In just one year, she has tapped into the expatriate skills and experience of German coach Klaus Pagels, seconded here by his Government to try and help Zimbabwean football the way they did when Reinhard Fabisch created his Dream Team, and made him feel a part of the Mighty Warriors’ revolution.
In just about 12 months, she has built a national team that is not only playing games because it has an obligation to fulfill such matches, on behalf of the nation, but one that is now going into battle knowing that it has a good chance of winning the tie.
When noone gave them any chance to win in Zambia, because the Zambians had spent more time together while playing in the qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics, the Mighty Warriors went to Lusaka and destroyed their opponents 3-1.
When noone gave them a chance in Angola, because their opponents were ranked higher and had better structures in their domestic game, the Mighty Warriors went to Denda and bravely fought for a draw, even when it was clear the hosts were getting a helping hand from the match officials.
Such was their passion, to fight for the flag, that not even a last-gasp penalty could break their spirits and their goalkeeper duly saved it and laid the foundation for a win, on home soil, and on Sunday they just couldn’t disappoint 30 000-plus fans and millions more rooting for their cause.
In the end it was an easier assignment, than it had looked at the beginning, and we all celebrated because the Mighty Warriors had risen once again and, in qualifying for the All-Africa Games again, they had shown enough to justify the investment of our confidence in their brand.
Mavis Gumbo has been the leader of that revolution and, as she moved mountains in the past 12 years, it became very clear that she didn’t only possess the qualities to lead women’s football only but was such a fiery character, blessed with gritty determination to succeed, she could one day even be counted upon to lead Zifa.
What has impressed many neutrals, in her successful adventure, has been her bold commitment to get it right, working around the clock to set up structures, to raise funds, to bring in people in business to help her, to find friends all over the region, to enter into a strategic partnership with Banyana Banyana and, above it all, build a team that could compete.
We have been left with a lot of questions about Mavis Gumbo in the aftermath of the whirlwind year that has just passed and they all need answers.
If she could accomplish all this, in just one year, then what are the prospects for the next three years?
If she did all that, while trying to find space for herself in a new environment, what then are the prospects now that she knows the terrain?
If she did all this, when many companies doubted her mission, what then are the prospects now that her Mighty Warriors have shown all of us that they are the real deal and a brand that should be supported?
If she did all this, when the players still doubted whether she was genuine or just a shooting star that would soon fade in the horizon, what then are the prospects now that she has shown she is a shoulder they can lean on?
Mavis Gumbo has set the standard for football administration, at Zifa level, in the past year and you have to be a real devil, not a Red Devil of course, not to embrace all that she has achieved in the name of the Girl Child and her beloved game.
She knew that the fans had lost interest in the Mighty Warriors’ brand and she ordered that supporters watch their games for free, for the sake of rebuilding that bond, and the response has been incredible.
Now, even if she asks the fans to pay five rand, to watch their next game, she can be assured that there would be a sizeable crowd.
Crucially, in pushing the agenda of her Mighty Warriors, Gumbo has helped the team to appeal across the country’s political divide and, just watching the leaders of the nation’s political parties, uniting in supporting this team every time they play at Rufaro, has been one of the refreshing stories of their campaign.
Thank You, Madam Mavis Gumbo. That’s what real leaders are made of. Given more time, one can only imagine the possibilities?

Lessons For All The Crew On The Male Side
The general conclusion, when it comes to the male side of the national game, is that it hasn’t moved an inch since the new Zifa leadership came on board and there are some who actually believe that, for all the horrors of the past regime, the game has moved backwards.
It depends on how you see things.
What is clear is that the Zifa board inherited an organisation that was limping and, as they battled for places on the new board and made all the promises, they might have under-estimated the task at hand.
It’s not easy trying to build something at a bankrupt organisation and the situation is made even worse when that association has as bad, a name, as Zifa and you have all the companies turning their backs whenever you approach them for help.
But it’s also true that women’s football was bankrupt when Gumbo took over the show and her steely determination hasn’t only changed its face but has created a brand that supporters and companies are now proud of.
If one person can do all that, why then are all the men who make up the Zifa board not making a similar impact when it comes to the male side of the national game?
Why then are we still trapped in an era where Cuthbert Dube, the Zifa president, needs to mortgage his personal property to finance the Warriors’ trip to an African Cup of Nations qualifier in Mali?
Why then are we still trapped in an era where the Warriors can’t organise a two-week training camp, ahead of their big Nations Cup qualifier against Mali in Harare, simply because there is a squeeze that is affecting the association’s finances?
Why then are we still trapped in the old dark days when readers would open newspapers to read that the water supplies to Zifa House were disconnected, about two weeks ago, because of an outstanding balance of about US$1 500?
If we have such brains like Twine Phiri, who owns and runs a good football club, Solomon Mugavazi, who owns and runs successful companies, Elliot Kasu, who runs the financial arm of ZBC, Cuthbert Dube, who turned PSMAS around and runs a number of his own companies, Ben Moyo, an engineer who knows his stuff, Nigel Munyati, a marketing guru, where are we then coming short?
The last time I saw Nigel, during a media conference organised by Zifa in Harare, I asked him why we still don’t have quality replicas for the Warriors, so that fans can buy and identify with the team, rather than for them to wear Bafana Bafana jerseys, and he said something was being done urgently.
That was last year, and nothing has been done.
Still the fans come to watch the national team wearing Bafana Bafana jerseys, as if we don’t have our own colours, simply because the Legea replicas that are on sale are either too expensive or their quality is inferior.
Soon the Warriors will be back in action and Rufaro will be full with gold and green colours but make no mistake about it because 95 percent of those jerseys would be Bafana Bafana replica kits.
You know, it’s like imagining Egyptian fans watching their national team wearing the replica shirts of the Libyan or Tunisian national team.
Or, you know, the English fans watching their national team wearing the replica shirts of the French or German national teams or, worse still, the Argentine national team?
It will never happen and the fact that we are letting it happen is an indictment on our capacity to lead the national game and the Mighty Warriors have broken ranks and, on Sunday, they used an Adidas kit that looked South African but had a Zimbabwean flag on its chest.
I like Nigel a lot and I was impressed with the way he helped shape the Aces Youth Academy that gave us Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiart and has turned into a reference point, when it comes to football academies, in this country.
But Nigel clearly needs to do more, in terms of his marketing portfolio, and the issue of the replica jerseys for the national team leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
The guys on the Zifa board have a lot to learn from Mavis and, after a year spent as a divided board, they need to find their unity so that they can make decisions that can move the game forward.
After a year spent talking about Asiagate, there is need for the Zifa board to break free from this, now that they have completed their probe, and focus on other issues that matter and which they promised to deliver.
Sponsorship is key and, somehow, someone will have to find it.
I always give Botswana, as an example, because our neighbours were shaken by the cancer of Asiagate, shortly before it exploded here, and they sacked their FA chief executive but, crucially, found a way to rebuild their game, and their national team, and they have been rewarded with a place at the 2012 Nations Cup finals.
The Young Warriors have shown us that we have the talent in this country and all that is needed is a spark to bring it to life.
In one year, Mavis showed us that you can breathe life into a franchise as dormant as the Mighty Warriors and, if she could do it virtually alone, I believe the dozen or so men on the Zifa board have no alibi, in the event they fail, to also revive a dormant franchise like the Warriors.
They will certainly need to do more and it doesn’t help their cause when they can’t defend themselves against litigation, as in the case brought by Sunday Chidzambwa, in which he flew from South Africa, to win a US$67 000 compensation claim, in the High Court in Harare, by default because the Zifa representative was not there.
Admittedly Zifa CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze wasn’t feeling well, and couldn’t go to court, but the association is such a big family that it can’t find any grain of justification to why noone was there for them during the pre-trial conference in Justice Makoni chambers on Thursday morning.
You have to get such things right, or the sake of the association which lives even when the current crop of administrators is no longer in charge, because that is where you demonstrate your commitment to corporate governance and identity.
When you begin losing US$67 000 compensation claims by default, simply because noone was there for the association at the High Court in Harare and the lawyer sent to represent the Zifa lawyer could not get a postponement of the case, you would be sending the wrong signals to the corporate world.
Then there is the Tom Saintfiet issue where it’s becoming clear that Zifa took a gamble to sign a contract with him, before he had been given a work permit, and there is no doubt that they will have to pay in some way for his compensation.
He might not get the US$450 000 that he wants but it’s very likely that he will get a substantial sum from a Fifa that really protects its players and coaches when it comes to contracts and breach of such agreements.
For an association, whose headquarters goes for two weeks without water supplies because of a US$1 500, or thereabout, debt, these claims coming from Chidzambwa and Saintfiet blow the mind away and compromises the future.

Fifa, Fifa, Fifa, Fifa Everywhere
With the elections for the Fifa presidency set for June 1, it’s clear that the football world has gone into overdrive in terms of the politics related to the battle and the juggling that comes with the exercise.
Suddenly everyone, especially the associations whose votes count, have become the good guys and I found the comments by Fifa head of security, Chris Eaton, on the Football Association of Malaysia interesting.
After a week of being bombarded by claims from Fifa that the FAM was under investigation, triggering all the frenzy that the probe will be centred on how they hosted Monomotapa who masqueraded as the Warriors, Eaton’s statement in Malaysia was interesting.
He said their visit to Malaysia had been sparked by investigations into possible corruption in Germany, Finland and Singapore, where they had found leads, which pointed to the involvement of several Malaysians in match-fixing in football.
“I have to admit that from our investigations, several Malaysians are involved in match-fixing,” Eaton told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
“But the case did not involve the FAM (Football Association of Malaysia).
“The FAM has a very good approach to combating corruption and the police are very active.”
Now, if Fifa are coming out so clearly that FAM are good boys and the Malaysian police is active in combating match-fixing, what message are they sending in relation to the Zimbabwean games played there under the umbrella of FAM?
What about the Monomotapa games?
Maybe, it’s all about the election season and Fifa have to be seen doing something but, at the same time, cannot afford to antagonise football associations, including FAM, whose votes are crucial in determining who wins the Fifa presidency.
One of the interesting sub-plots that has come from the English FA’s claims that Qatar paid Issa Hayatou and company to vote for them in the race for the 2022 World Cup, which they say reflects badly on Blatter’s leadership, has been the coincidence that the man who wants to replace Blatter is from Qatar.
Mohamed Bin Hammam is a Qatari businessman, and the most powerful football figure in the country by virtue of his role as head of the Asian Football Confederation and Fifa vice-president, and – if his little nation was buying people to make them vote for Qatar, then how can we claim that he didn’t know what was happening?
How then does he make a better president than Blatter?
Maybe that’s why the English FA, who made the sensational claims, have now decided not to cast their vote during the Fifa presidential elections, sending the message that they have no faith in either candidate.

English FA To Abstain From Fifa Vote
LONDON – The English FA, bruised by their World Cup bid rejection and wary of stories of corruption within Fifa, said on Thursday it would abstain in the vote between Sepp Blatter and Mohamed Bin Hammam to be FIFA president.
“The FA Board has today agreed to abstain in the vote for the Presidency of Fifa,” the FA said in a statement.
“There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of The FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.
“The FA values its relationships with its international football partners extremely highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both Uefa and Fifa.
“We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.”
Former FA chairman David Triesman told a UK parliamentary inquiry last week that the 2018 bid process was stained by corruption.
The inquiry also heard that Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 tournament, backed by Asia confederation president Bin Hammam, a Qatari, was also marred by allegations of wrongdoing.
Blatter said it was a “little bit strange when the number one association in the world” cannot decide.
“The FA have two candidates in front of them and cannot make a decision which one to support,” he told reporters.
“Of course, you can abstain but I explained to (FA chairman David) Bernstein the part FA has played in the development of football, specifically in the laws of the game, having organised FIFA and modern football.
“He (Bernstein) asked me what Fifa can do for England and I put it the other way – what can England do for FIFA? With their efficient Premier League, they should ask what can we do for Fifa?” – Reuters
Blatter is in Johannesburg today where all the leading regional football journalists have been invited for a function, backed by Cosafa, which will look at the legacy left by South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup.
But it’s hard to see it beyond an opportunity for Blatter to sell his candidature and, as happens in an election season, expect all the nice words about Southern Africa.
I think we should vote for Blatter because he promised to give Africa its World Cup and had the courage, against a hostile international media that doubted him, to deliver it to South Africa giving all of us a chance to watch live action.
Let’s give him another four year term, and he has said that’s his last, and let him have all the time he needs to sort out the threat of match-fixing and illegal betting and gambling syndicates.
He is the devil we know, and that’s his advantage.

FC Platinum, Shock Defeat And Unpredictable Premiership
So the moneybags of FC Platinum finally lost at home, for the first time this season, when they crashed to a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Gunners, winning their first game in the process, at Maglas on Wednesday.
That was a shock but in a season where Dynamos have already lost three times, in eight games, CAPS United and Highlanders have been beaten by Blue Ribbon, Chicken Inn are there at the top of the log, Hwange can only win at home and Motor Action lose to Shooting Stars, maybe that’s the way things are this year.
What I detected on Wednesday was that the FC Platinum defeat was hugely popular in Harare.
The platinum miners are not popular and it’s understandable, especially in a league where the majority of the clubs are struggling just to make ends meet, where their financial weight is seen, in some circles, as either obscene or something that could be abused in their search for the Holy Grail.
But I like FC Platinum because they represent the future of football in Zimbabwe, they are a model of what a football club should look like, they offer hope for scores of Zimbabwean footballers whose talents have not been paid accordingly in the past and they are an oasis of order in an ocean of disorganisation.
Yes, when a Zimbabwean club starts paying its coach US$5 000 or thereabout a month, when the national association couldn’t pay its former coach that same amount leading to litigation, then there is hope for the coaches we have in this country to make a living in the comfort of their motherland.
When a Zimbabwean club starts paying its players US$400 as a bonus for a win and salaries of around US$2000 a month, then there is hope that our players don’t necessarily have to play football in Botswana, Mozambique or South Africa for them to live a decent life.
When a Zimbabwean club is prepared to invest about US$1 million, in pursuit of football excellence and to built a championship winning team, even if the prize for doing so is US$70 000, then you know that you have serious people who really see beyond the figures and are committed to football development.
We are scared of projects like FC Platinum because we are used to living in poverty so much, in our football, that anything that brings a change to the status quo is despised because of its strangeness.
We hated Amazulu, as a football family, because they represented something that was different to what we were used to in a football team.
They brought order, they brought hope, they paid their players well and they paid them in time, they bought good kits and their players and coaches lived in good neighbourhoods and could afford to take their wives and kids for shopping.
After years in which we were used to bumping into our players in the nightclubs and bars of Bulawayo, and giving them a beer or two so that we feel important and they feel their allegiance to us, Amazulu was an irritating project that created these supermen, among players, who felt really big.
So noone supported Usuthu, even when they won the championship, and – in the end – we hated them so much we couldn’t even allow them to exercise their religious right and not play matches on Saturday.
We hated Blackpool, as a football family, because they represented something that was different to what we were used to in a football team.
They brought order, they brought hope, they paid their players well and they paid them in time, they bought good kits and their players and coaches lived in good neighbourhoods and could afford to take their wives and kids for shopping.
After years in which we were used to bumping into our players in the nightclubs and bars of Harare and Chitungwiza, and giving them a beer or two so that we feel important and they feel their allegiance to us, Amazulu was an irritating project that created these supermen, among players, who felt really big.
So noone supported Ndochi and, inevitably, they collapsed.
I would love to see FC Platinum doing well and winning the league championship, on merit of course, because they are a refreshing oasis in our football.
They have players who can win it and they shouldn’t lose heart simply because they were hammered by Gunners in a match in which the coach might have lost it by making all those changes.
Guys who really love our football will love FC Platinum but the point is that, if they have to win it, it has to be on merit.
So far they have done pretty well but the penalties they are getting, at an average of a penalty per game, has raised a few eyebrows.

Nineteen Is The Number
So it came to pass that Manchester United broke the record, for the number of English Premiership titles won, in the year of our Lord 2011.
We are certainly not the most attractive team or the strongest team, man-for-man, in the English Premiership but, over the course of a season, we have the best lasting power and a way to grind out results.
On Saturday, in the year of our Lord 2011, we could make it four European Cups and, when you consider that no London club has ever won this trophy, you can understand the magnitude of the achievement.
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
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