Online Reporter
Tendai Chara-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ASK Chris “Romario” Musekiwa about the Battle of Zimbabwe and he does not begin with this afternoon’s showdown at Barbourfields Stadium.
Instead, he travels back to 2003.
The Dynamos cheerleader still remembers a packed BF and a Highlanders side being dismantled 3-0 by their fiercest rivals.
“Bosso fans could not stomach the humiliation and the majority of them left before the final whistle,” Musekiwa recalls.
More than two decades later, that image remains one of his defining memories of a fixture that has shaped generations of Zimbabwean football supporters.
For the veteran Dynamos supporter, the memory remains vivid.
The celebrations in blue and white, the growing silence from sections of the home crowd and the feeling that he had witnessed one of those afternoons supporters would talk about for years.
This is why, for him, this fixture continues to stand apart from every other match on the local calendar.
“The Battle of Zimbabwe will forever be the biggest fixture on our local soccer calendar,” he said.
The rivalry has survived different generations of players, coaches and administrators.
League positions change and title races come and go, but for Musekiwa, the fixture remains a contest of identity, pride and history passed from one generation to the next.
Yet some of his memories are not as fond.
Musekiwa still speaks with disappointment about the abandoned 2023 clash between the two sides.
“I also witnessed the abandonment of the Bosso showdown with Dynamos in 2023 when Dynamos took an early 2-0 lead in the first half,” he said.
“Hooligans started throwing missiles onto the pitch until the match was called off.”
The incident remains one of the darkest moments associated with the fixture in recent years.
Musekiwa believes such scenes undermine the image of local football and discourage potential sponsors from investing in the game.
“We totally condemn such acts of hooliganism and barbarism as they scare off sponsors,” he said.
“We say no to missile throwing, no to violence and pitch invasion.
“Let us be disciplined winners and disciplined losers.”
His message comes as thousands of supporters prepare to descend on Barbourfields for another chapter in the rivalry.
Musekiwa expects Dynamos fans to turn out in large numbers and believes the Glamour Boys are capable of producing a positive result.
“We are rallying behind the Glamour Boys, who have all it takes to win this big match given the positive display from our last encounter against TelOne,” he said.
He welcomed the introduction of advance ticket sales, describing it as a sign that the domestic game is adapting to modern demands.
“We applaud the Castle Premier Soccer League for moving with the times by launching advance ticket sales for a game of this magnitude,” said Musekiwa.
The memories of 2003 remain precious because they captured everything that makes this rivalry special — packed stands, raw emotion and a result supporters never forget.
That is why the fixture still matters.
Not because of what happens on social media or where the teams sit on the table, but because every generation adds its own chapter to a story that has been unfolding for decades.
And for supporters like Romario, the hope is that this afternoon’s chapter will be remembered for the football rather than the trouble that sometimes threatens to overshadow it.
