adminfootball’.
Speaking at a function in the capital, the committee’s chairman, Lovemore Banda said yesterday’s launch marks the actual kick-off of the celebrations.
“While the commissioning of the Zifa Golden Jubilee Committee last month marked the beginning of the celebration of this historic milestone in Zimbabwean football, today’s event is the actual kick-off.
“Our mandate is to co-ordinate the commemoration of 50 years of Zimbabwean football and we have given the event the theme, “Celebrating 50 years of Zimbabwean Football.
“At the core of this mandate is to come up with an awards dinner night in which we will honour those Zimbabweans who contributed to Zimbabwean football in various ways,” said Banda.
The committee has lined up various events including dinners, building up to the main event which is the awards dinner night set for October.
“We will have football galas, merchandise and memorabilia, dinners with speakers from home who can take us down memory path or give us deeper insight into the present and those from abroad who can give us glimpses of the future.
“We will have publications, a monthly newsletter and then what we are describing as a “voluminous” book that will be 50 years of Zimbabwe football on paper. For this, we are calling on those still in touch with the yesteryear of the game either through memory, memorabilia, scholarship, or descent to help us fill in the gap
“The landmark celebration will be the 50th Anniversary awards, a night we hope to capture what has been good about the beautiful game in Zimbabwe since May 1963.
“The Golden Jubilee Celebrations will also see the erection and inauguration of the Zimbabwe Football Hall of Fame, at the Zifa Village in Mount Hampden in Harare. And this year is a good one to begin the project.
What with the Asiagate clean-up coming to an end, the nation can now move from shame to fame,” said Banda.
Banda said they are going to spread their net wide to honour all those that have contributed to the success of the game including the administrators, artists, clubs, corporates, coaches, media, medics, referees, sponsors, and the supporters.
“We want this to be a participatory event in which every stakeholder will input into the search for theses winners. We are still working on this but suffice to say that we are going to have a panel of judges who will undergo induction.
“Other categories will be decided by the voice of the people – not the newspaper but the process.
“For these awards and honours, members of the public will be invited to submit their choices through various interactive platforms such as facebook. This is as it should be because the awards are not my committee’s awards or Zifa’s, but the nation’s and so the people of Zimbabwe should have a say.
“And so we will involve the fans by way of SMS and the social networks and in that regard we have established a website and will also open a facebook page and a Twitter account among others forms. In addition to overall Golden Jubilee awards, we will have awards too for each of the five decades, in some cases,” Banda said.
The Golden Jubilee Committee chairperson said the celebrations are an opportunity to open a new chapter in football.
“We appreciate that the image of football is not rosy at the moment but the committee sees the Zifa Golden Jubilee as the best opportunity for all football stakeholders to put their differences aside and play a pivotal role in supporting the celebrations,” said Banda.
Yesterday’s launch was attended by various stakeholders including members of the corporate world and Zimsafe donated jackets to the committee members while the Zimbabwe Institute of Diplomacy pledged free lectures to Zifa board members on protocol and etiquette.
Online Reporter