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IF you are living in this world of technology you are probably among the many of us who are getting at times upset by some nauseating Whatsapp chain messages.
In this particular time of the football season, the World Cup finals are underway in Brazil and everyone is being forced to get into the “Samba” mood. Do we have a choice? Yes we have, we can switch off our smart phones and forget the social media for a while, but is it feasible? I wonder, we have become accustomed to starting our business of the day by going through the social media, even important family messages are being passed through some group Whatsapp platforms so if you switch off your phone, you have switched off yourself from the whole world. That is the new world order, call it a tragedy of technology if you want but if you are a football fan, and a follower of this blog, you have probably come across this message on your phone.
(Whatsapp Group World Cup) “Spain has left the group, Australia has left the group, Cameroon has left the group, Mexico typing message, Croatia loading image, Netherlands online, Chile online, South Africa last seen in 2010, Zimbabwe blocked” Lol, you probably know what this means by now, laugh out loud.
Then there is this one that brightened my morning during the week. “African countries are being beaten left, right and centre in the World Cup. Thina as Zimbabweans we avoided such embarrassment by not qualifying for the World Cup. It was a well calculated strategy that we do not participate in such western machinations of embarrassing Africans on a global scale. We are a sovereign country and we will not bow to the Western powers. We will not allow Brazil to be used as a tool by the evil West. Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again!!” (kkkkkkkkkk).
Someone seems to be enjoying this World Cup and our being not there is also an issue. Understandably so because we are a footballing nation and we should strive for excellence and qualification to big events like African Cup of Nations and the World Cup. But there is always some rumour coming out of every calamity and in this cold weather, it’s good for our health.
While the rest of the nation can be exchanging these chain letters to send each other deep into laughter, it still remains a big challenge to the leadership in sport to regenerate energies in the right direction so that we can take our place in the sun as Zimbabweans. Believe you me, we are not that bad and we are not that hopeless. All we need is a well thought out strategy and resources to develop junior national teams that will form a competitive senior team in the next four years and onwards.
The tragedy befell our football when football leaders and club owners started to search for ripe players whom they could sell across the border and no one thought of a continuous production chain so that players to sell and make money for clubs, club owners and agents are there.
What we saw in the last ten years was the emergence of individually owned teams that went for ripe players and even big institutions like Highlanders and Dynamos lost the plot in junior development and joined the bandwagon of Division One and Division Two football. But is it certainly not too late to go back to the drawing board?
Yes, it’s embarrassing that we were booted out of the 2015 qualifiers of the Afcon at the first hurdle, but we have to dust ourselves up and move ahead as a united country with common purpose, in any case, we are all Zimbabweans.
While there seems to be a lot of material in the print and electronic media about the World Cup, we don’t seem to get the same excitement on the streets about the tournament. The tempo is certainly lower than in 2010. Perhaps back then we were all excited because the tournament was on our African soil for the first time.
Perhaps this winter chill is making things worse coupled with the late hours of the games, with some being played as late (or early) as 1AM. I have not seen many World Cup t-shirts in the streets of Bulawayo, unless I’m walking on the wrong streets (LOL).
But I hear there is pomp and fanfare in Brazil, according to media reports and music, football and everything erotic is the order of the day.
“The bass is pumping, the air is thick with sweaty humidity and booties are popping in the tiniest shorts you can imagine. Welcome to the world of Brazilian funk, a unique style of music and dance coming out of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and nothing like the funk you know of James Brown, Jamiroquai or Kool & the Gang.
“The beat is catchy, the type of tune that can get stuck in your head and before you know it you are singing along to something you don’t even know the meaning of. It’s probably better you don’t know the meaning; the lyrics are dirty. Most funk songs are laden with explicit content of sexual exploits, and the dance moves leave little to the imagination.
“It’s all about what you can do with, in or to the boomboom, and the dancers, usually young women wearing tiny denim cut-offs, demonstrate this with their gyrations while shirtless men look on. Moves include bending down to touch the ground while shaking the butt about in the air, lying down waving the arms and legs around in a suggestive fashion, and wiggling the hips around while doing a headstand. The gritty sound is something of a blend between rap, electro-funk and Miami bass.” Do you wish you were there?
Come on Warriors so that we go to the coming global showcases.
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derick.khumalo