WHAT IF MURWIRA WAS A GREENFUEL PLAYER?

Sharuko on Saturday

THE good boys versus the bad boys, the nice guys versus the thugs, the angels versus the devils, the gentlemen versus the rascals, the decent fellows versus the wild boys.

The beauty versus the beast, light versus darkness, the angel versus the devil, the saints versus the sinners, the gentlemen versus the madmen, the spiritual versus the savages, the heavenly versus the demonic.

MWOS versus Scottland!

Two ambitious clubs, which could produce the next champions of our domestic Premiership even though Simba Bhora, away from the limelight, look to be in prime position to retain their crown.

They have shaken the domestic Premiership in the debut season but their portrayal, especially on the unregulated fields of social media, gives an impression of the good guys and the bad guys.

On those streets, MWOS are the good guys and Scottland the bad guys.

It’s gone to the extent that anyone who sees anything good in what Scottland are doing, including building a football stadium in Mabvuku, whose legacy will outlive this project, is a bastard who is doing so simply because he has been paid.

And, if you then commend MWOS for renovating Ngoni and making it a decent stadium, which now hosts Premiership games, you’re hailed as a principled man who knows what he is doing and saying.

A team led by Khama Billiat, Walter Musona and a good chunk of the players who won the Premiership last season is suddenly portrayed as not good enough to win a game, without fixing the result, one way or the other.

Somehow, their flawed argument is that a team, which has the players who took the top three positions on the Soccer Stars of the Year calendar, and also the Golden Boot winner, can only get positive mainstream media coverage through paying the journalists.

They had no problem with Musona, Machope, Msebe, Shumba, Kawe and Chipunza getting the same positive mainstream coverage when they were inspiring Simba Bhora to the championship last season.

They now have a problem with the same players getting the same positive mainstream media coverage simply because they changed the identity of the team they are now playing for even though, then just like now, their team is firmly in the championship race.

Scottland’s contribution to the buzz we are seeing in the domestic Premiership should be ignored, as far as they are concerned, while everyone should be singing in the MWOS corner because, in their eyes, these are the nice guys.

But we can’t all sing the same song because the reality is that whether you go to a MWOS or Scottland game, you really feel the vibe — the beautiful sights and the amazing sounds in the stands — of our Premiership at its very best as a top-flight league worth the sacrifice of paying your money to be part of the show.

This is what had disappeared from our Premiership, except of course, if you happened to be a regular visitor to Barbourfields to enjoy the privilege of watching the best fans in the league singing in honour of their beloved Bosso.

There were many analysts who had even written off the domestic Premiership as a dead horse, which had been deserted by its fans, especially in the capital, which had last celebrated one of its clubs winning a championship nine years ago.

Although Highlanders last won the championship 19 years ago, the loyal Bosso Brigade is different, it wasn’t built on a foundation of success, it was built on a foundation of love, a sense of belonging to an institution, a baton passed from father to son, mother to daughter.

That’s why you find the word Gugulethu, which can be translated to our pride or our treasure, is quite prominent there and Bosso is at the heart of it all — more than a sporting franchise, it represents their identity and, more importantly, their pride in that identity.

WHAT IF MURWIRA WAS A GREENFUEL PLAYER?

If there is a team which I, as Robson Sharuko the individual, the guy from Chakari, and not Robson Sharuko the journalist who shouldn’t be seen taking any side, want to win the league this season, then it has to be Bosso.

Why?

Because I believe they have waited for it long enough and Kelvin Kaindu deserves his breakthrough, especially when one looks at the painful way his men lost the championship in 2012 and 2013 to Dynamos.

In both years, they finished with the same number of points to the Glamour Boys but on both occasions they ended up as the bridesmaids because of an inferior goal difference.

They had 69 points in 2012, the same as  Dynamos, but an inferior goal difference and they had 54 points in 2013, the same as DeMbare, but once again lost out because of an inferior goal difference.

The 2013 loss was brutal because they had the best attack in the league and outscored DeMbare, scoring 45 goals while their biggest rivals scored 43 goals.

The other reason I would want Bosso to be champions this year is that I would like to see them celebrating their Centenary next year as champions of this country.

Of course, what I like has no relevance whatsoever to the destiny of the championship race.

What matters is what happens on the field and, as of now, Lloyd Mutasa and his MWOS side are passing all the tests and showing the kind of character that makes champions.

Going 15 games, without a loss, beating all the members of the Big Three and their biggest rivals Scottland, has been a dream ride for Samaita and his men.

However, there is a darker side that is emerging, especially on social media, where there is a deliberate attempt to come up with conspiracy theories meant to frustrate the other contenders.

One only needs to look at the two key matches, featuring MWOS and Scottland this week, to see the true extent of this dark side and it provokes a lot of questions:

What would have been the reaction if the mistake which Godknows Murwira made against GreenFuel, which the hosts converted six minutes from time for a share of the points, had been made by a GreenFuel defender and led to a Scottland goal? It’s a mistake and that is fine with me but what isn’t fine for me is that a GreenFuel defender, making a similar mistake at such a late stage of the game, would have been slaughtered as someone who was fixing the game. Referee Lawrence Zimondi pointed to the spot because it was a penalty. The same referee would have been slaughtered if his correct decision was on the other side of the pitch simply because there are no correct calls when it comes to the Scotts.

Chris Ngwende scored from the spot and we are all praising him for his composure, which is what he deserves. But what if Chris had missed that penalty, what would we be hearing from the conspiracy theorists? They would have been slaughtering him today for ‘deliberately’ missing from the spot.

At Ngoni on Thursday, the referee pointed to the spot in the dying stages of the game and Eric Manokore fired high and wild from the spot. The buzz today is that it happens in football, which is correct, because we saw Baggio and Asamoah miss at the World Cup. But what if Monokore had done this against Scottland or he was Chris and had missed his spot-kick at the GreenFuel arena?

What if Manokore, who is a good young man and is from Norton, was from Mabvuku, and he missed a last-gasp penalty against Scottland, would this be treated as normal or would it be treated as suspicious?

For me, what mattered in both games is that the referees made the right calls and if there is disappointment then it’s that the brutal attack on Tendai Matindife went unpunished by the referee.

And, this isn’t a battle between savages and gentlemen but an epic battle between two good teams which have transformed our Premiership and deserve to be commended in equal measure.

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 in the struggle.

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!

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