adminBack in the days we used to have a system, in our football, that produced not only Agent Sawu, but Peter Ndlovu, his strike partner in that Dream Team, the late Adam Ndlovu, the late Benjamin Nkonjera, you name them.
It’s that system that we have destroyed because our football leaders forgot the value of people like Ali “Baba” Dube, the celebrated juniors coach who worked wonders in Bulawayo, the value of people like Albert “Dalala” Mabika, we frustrated them and made them feel so unwanted a lot of them just gave up.
We encouraged a system where our Premiership and Division One teams abandoned the junior structures and it became so fashionable, all hidden under the guise of cost-cutting measures, no one raised any alarm when we didn’t see any players rising from the junior ranks of our so-called Big Three Teams, in the past few years.
Our football leaders spoke about development, only when the television cameras were running, and it ended the moment the guys from ZBC switched off those cameras because no one would ask questions from that point and no one would hold them to account. The South Africans, since Danny Jordaan came on board, have gone back to the basics and invested into an ambitious programme to re-activate the structures that used to produce the likes of Doctor Khumalo and we have seen a number of youth tournaments being held throughout that country.
Meanwhile, even against the damning report card of our worst World Cup and Nations Cup campaign in history, no one is pressing the alarm switch and Sports Minister Andrew Langa’s response has been to call an all-stakeholders’ indaba to discuss this crisis. In August 2012, his predecessor, David Coltart, also attended an all-stakeholders’ indaba on football where Zifa briefed the Minister the state of football in the country in general and it was the same story, lack of funds, lack of government support, lack of this and lack of that.
Two years later, nothing changed and we find ourselves facing another all-stakeholders indaba and Zifa will again brief the Minister on the state of football in the country and it’s likely to be the same story — lack of funds, lack of government support, lack of this and that.
In the meantime, no one cares about reviving the structures that gave us Agent Sawu and Peter Ndlovu, even though this doesn’t cost a fortune, and all we do is telling each other, and finding a lot of comfort in those words, that we have always been a hopeless football nation. —Sharuko On Saturday, Saturday Herald, June 14, 2014
Online Reporter