So, it was once again the same sad story of mistreatment of the Warriors on their visit to Liberia. Its sad that our beloved Warriors will remember more being booked into a shebeen instead of a hotel, and the blatant poor officiating of a Referee returning from suspension than the heroics they performed in eking out a point away from home.
CAF can really not do much about home town decisions, seeing they are the ugly patch associated with the beautiful game everywhere, but one cant help but be perplexed by the way CAF seems to continue condoning this dodgy idea of booking people into disused hostels and claim to have put them in a hotel. After so many years, and so much filling of complaints to CAF by ZIFA, nothing ever seems to happen. Why? Doesn’t CAF or even FIFA have some sort of basic standards that they require their affiliates to book their visitors into? Please tell me we can’t just be allowed to book George Weah’s boys into Mushandirapamwe Hotel kuFiyo when they come down this side? That may not be such a bad idea please, Mr. Dube?
Zimsoccerfan thinks teams should be docked of points for mistreating their visitors. Its sooo unAfrican for crying out loud. Kwame Nkrumah and other Founding Fathers are turning in their graves when African brothers treat each other like this, all in search of fame at a White men’s invention called football. From seeing the Monrovia pics, you can’t help but advocate for something as outrageous as that. The so called hotel looked more like some Mbare hostel and all the Liberian FA could say is we are sorry, and “no comment”. What a disgrace?
Of course you can see right thru the whole plan: unsettle them, give them substandard food and facilities, no water and electricity for them, let them wine and complain and take their minds off the game then beat them on the day of the game. It’s so abhorrent to then see the same associations commandeering little boys to walk onto the field with a FIFA Fair Play flag before kick off. Fair play is not just on the field. Be ashamed.
This cancer should not be allowed to spread. It has become too synonymous with our game to nauseating proportions. Our biggest fear when playing outside the country, whether at national or club level, is the off the field tactics, not the game plan itself. Come on! Being a veteran of the African continent is more of how many bad treatments you have endured on foreign trips than how many games you actually played. It’s pathetic!
But, having said that, I still feel so proud of my country Zimbabwe. Despite the many years our boys have endured on the continent, never for a moment have our guys at 53 Livingstone thought of something as mischievous as throwing a visiting team into Hotel Elizabeth, or asking them to go train at Number 7 Grounds in Mbare. Those wouldn’t be as bad facilities as the Hotel Provident we saw on TV the other night. Hospitality is our mark as Zimbabweans, and we shouldn’t sacrifice it even for a place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, right?
Lets hear your comments.
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