Why Saintfiet?

Some things never change in Zim football. At ZIFA, it doesn’t matter who is in charge, it’s always full of surprises. And there is an age old adage which says never change a winning team that seems to have eluded those in charge of our football.

True to form, the latest board in charge at 53 Livingstone connived to shock soccer loving Zimbabweans with an inexplicable decision to relieve Warriors Coach Norman Mapeza and replace him with one Tom Saintfiet who is being fired by lowly Namibia. What really is wrong with these people? Fine, we might admit that Nomara hasn’t yet proved himself at the top level in terms of coaching, but how better is this guy from Belgium, we wonder? At least we know who Norman is. The man won the domestic championship with a then non giant called Monomotapa. He has played in world football’s top club competition, the European Champions League. He has captained the Warriors and played countless matches at both senior and junior national level. No one can really take anything from the way he has started the current campaign, nor the performance of the team he took to Liberia two weeks ago. So, on what basis did the so called selection committee decide to sideline Mapeza for the unknown Belgian?

Why are our Zim football administrators so obsessed with foreign coaches? It’s very surprising given that no foreigner has even been able to win the regional COSAFA Cup with the Warriors. On both occasions the warriors have qualified for the Cup of Nations and the Championship of African Nations (CHAN), it’s been the local boys who have been in charge, Norman included. We don’t care what their CVs say or where they have coached before, if the foreigners aren’t gonna take us to the Holy Grail; we don’t want them anywhere close to the Warriors bench. Besides, the come at a cost ten times more than what the locals demand, so why ZIFA why?

Maybe the answer to the treasonous decision the selection committee had arrived at can be found in the alternative nominations these guys had made. It is reported that the committee had appointed Black Mambas’ Madinda Ndlovu and ex - Monomotapa (now Eagles Gaffer) Friday Phiri to deputise Sentief. Caps United Goalkeepers Coach Richard Twatwa was also to be roped in. What’s striking about that decision is the fact that neither of the appointees had applied for the job. It would appear therefore that a plot to ensure the interests of the members of the selection committee are catered for in the Warriors set up was brewing here.

We are happy when men who have put personal resources in developing the local game get involved in the decision making hierarchy, but our deduction of how these appointments might have been reached, sends chills right down the spine. It would appear Friday Phiri came in as Solomon Mugavazi’s trump card. Mugavazi is a director at Monos where Phiri is part of the coaching staff. There is no hiding that Twatwa represented Twine Phiri’s interests, being from CAPS United which is owned by the PSL Chairman, and Madinda represented some Regionalists who seems to clamour for some dubious quota system which really has no place in football. This of course is a ploy to influence the team selection and guarantee that clubs like CAPS United and Monos get their players in the national team, and get chances to be bought outside the country, for the likes of Twine and Solo to pocket the dollars.

Mapeza might just be paying for his level headedness. He showed that he is not scared to make big decisions by dropping Captain Benjani Mwaruwaru, his Vice Esrom Nyandoro and Midfield kingpin Tinashe Nengomasha for the trip to Monorovia, and many might have swallowed their hearts when his new look side put up a good show and irked a decent result. This might not have gone down well with some quarters who were hoping he will be condemned for his bravery. It became crystal clear that influencing such a man to pick their favourites will be pie in the sky, and so the ZIFA bosses thought of giving the job to their blue eyed boys. It’s sad that the same men we thought were building our game are the forefront on destroying it.

Yes, there might be nothing yet to suggest Mapeza was going to be a huge success, and who knows, ZIFA might still settle for someone else even before the end of this campaign. But why should we accept the appointment of this excuse called Saintfiet that Namibia no longer wants being preferred ahead of Mushini wemajuzi. Norman deserves a chance, not only to ensure continuity as he deputised Sunday Marimo, the previous head coach, but also simply because right now, there is just no plausible reason to drop him. The man hasn’t failed, and it appears the team, fans and the media like him. So why drop him? Zimbabwe needs to play for consistency if we want our game to succeed. Our neighbours South Africa might not be the best example of consistency, but they showed some reasoning when they appointed Pitso Mosimane to take over from Carlos Alberto Pereira ahead of Gavin Hunt, 3 time League Champion with Supersport. Its clear the decision was influenced mainly by the need for consistency, since Pitso was Pereira’s understudy, and the same reasoning should apply to Nomara.

We are tired of these double standards. If it was not for our love of the Warriors, we were gonna call for a boycott of all Warriors matches long as this Belgian is in charge, but thats too much. Its up to you the owners of the game, maybe we need some uriri on the Warriors bench when Cape Verde comes, or better still in the VIP enclosure, just to express ourselves.

Are DeMbare Execs For Real?

Exactly what happens when someone joins the Dynamos Football Club executive?

Some cloud of confusion seems to engulf anyone who joins any team of executives that attempts to run the affairs of this football teams. It seems not to matter who it is, or where they coming from. Even some of the country’s once considered shrewd businessmen have turned into unbelievable blunderers the moment they get into the Dynamos offices. They seem to immediately forget the rules that govern the game, cast corporate governance to the dust bin, start thinking as if the team is bigger than the game itself and seem to consider other teams as mere pawns meant to be sacrificed in the process of getting what the ever demanding legion of their team’s fans call for.

What is amazing is that some of these individuals would have actually served the game at national level, and in most instances running successful business entities. Yet, when they come to DeMbare, all hell breaks loose. Could it be the pressure that is associated with the huge expectations the DeMbare following relentlessly carry season in, season out? Or could it be that these would have been incompetent individuals whose shortcomings would now be exposed by running arguably the country’s largest sporting institution by following? One can’t help but ask these questions seeing the comedy of errors the powers that be continue to make in running the popular club.

The latest one is the team’s exec’s attempt to “borrow” players from other Zimbabwean teams to take to their Champions League match TP Mazembe in the DRC tomorrow. It is reported Dynamos tried to get midfielder Steven Alumenda (CAPS United), defender Zephaniah Ngodzo (Higlanders) and goalkeeper Willard Manyatera (Black Mambas) to be part of their contigent to their CAF Champions League Mini league match against Champions Mazembe. Thsi cam after seven of the DeMbare players had been suspended after picking two yellow cards and red cards in the tournament. Alumanda, Ngodzo and Manyatera were registered with CAF by Dynamos late last yaer, although the former two had not signed for the team. Manyatera was then a Dynamos player but moved to the Police side after being considered excess baggage at the Glamour Boys.

Admitted, taking players from other teams in the domestic league is a practice alleged to be prevalent with some West African clubs who participate in continental championships, but the fact is that CAF rules are very clear that a player can only play for a team in the Champions League that he is registered with locally. Any soccer exec who is not aware of this rule should immediately resign. Yet, DeMbare execs wanted to take players featuring for other clubs for their continental assignment. Even at schools level, where the winning schools would pick players from other schools to form some sort of zonal or district select, this practice has been banned. Yet the Dynamos executives want to do this at continental level. Stop embarrassing us!

What makes this even funny is that according to reports, team coach Elvis ‘Chuchu” Chiweshe wasn’t even aware of his bosses’ manoeuvres. How on earth was he expected to plan his game when he wasn’t aware of the “new” players that were going to be part of his team? And then there is this idea of speaking to the media claiming that other clubs had agreed to release their players for their benefit. This is one very irritating practice synonymous with anyone that become part of the DeMbare executive which has continued unabated over the years. Who do they think they are? Always abusing the media attention on them to become self appointed spokesmen for other clubs.

Now, to consider that it was because of some ill conceived ideas of registering some of these players with CAF when Dynamos had neither contracts with them nor finalised negotiations with their clubs late last year makes the whole scenario laughable. Towards the end of last year, eager to build a team capable of bringing continental glory home, Dynamos executives were busy submitting details of any player in the local league they thought would appear on the soccer stars calendar, even without talking to the player’s paymasters. As fate would have it, some players didn’t eventually join DeMbare and the team found itself with registered players not on its payroll. That misdemeanour is now back to haunt the club at the time of its most wanting, when they need their best performance to rescue an ailing campaign in the cauldron of Kinshasa.

The issues of player registration and transfers seem to be robotics to almost anyone that has been in charge of the affairs of the Harare giants. The handling of the Cuthbert Malajila transfer from Army side Chapungu being a recent case in point. To an independent observer, it was very clear Chapungu were very patient with Dynamos and looked willing to sit down and talk to DeMbare. However, DeMbare blatantly took advantage of Chapungu’s benevolence, and the player’s desperation to play at the highest level and attract the eventual move to Tunisia. Chapungu on many occasions accused Dynamos of negotiating in bad faith, fielding the player when there had been an agreement that he should not play til negotiations are completed. It only made sense for what will be the point of negotiating if the buying club is already enjoying the services of the player being transferred, and indeed Dynamos were enjoying Malajila’s scoring prowess. At the end of the day Malajila made the move up north, and sadly for Dynamos, no cent came their way, despite them marketing the player at the highest club level in the continent.

In 2003, Dynamos virtually lost the League Championship because of their executive’s abhorrence in using striker Eddie Mufema against the orders of the Premier Soccer League. Mufema, then embroiled in an ownership dispute between DeMbare and Eric Rosen’s Motor Action, played in a game against Lancashire Steel and the team was docked three points, which at the end of the day was the difference between them and eventual winners Amazulu. Such wanton disregard of the rules boggles the mind and leaves wondering whether DeMbare’s leaders consider their team invincible and above the law. Or maybe they are just ignorant of the rules and regulations governing the game the claim to administer.

Currently, midfielder Farai Vimisayi only waits to play for DeMbare in the Champions League as he is barred by his club Hwange from playing in the local league, again as a result of a raging transfer dispute between his former and current paymasters. Hwange, Chapungu and other clubs have insistently complained about DeMbare’s big brother attitude when it comes to negotiating for player transfers. Given, many players would want to don the Blue and White strip of Dynamos, but that shouldn’t give the team from Mbare the green-light to hold other sides at ransom, and negotiate in bad faith. It is very clear that if they were to be charged, Dynamos will be found guilty of palyer tapping at many occasions. And this should make them tantamount to being banned from the transfer market. How does one explain a situation where a player considered AWOL by his club features for another in their continental matches? With a player seeing the lifetime opportunity to play consistently before multitudes and the guarantee of continental football, smaller clubs are always at a loss as their want away players drool over a move to Dynamos. This is what normally results in the awkward Vimisai situation where the player only waits to play a few continental matches while seating out the rest of the season. Its pathetic.

To make matters worse, DeMbare hardly give these players, no matter how desperate they will be to please Vietnam stand, long term contracts. Most of them come for one season loan spells, which at the end of the day benefits the player’s original club as they are the ones that get to pocket the money if the player eventually leaves for a foreign club. This was the case with Malajila and speed merchant Edward “Duduza” Sadomba who moved to Mozambique then Al Hilal of Sudan two seasons ago. It is also reported that DeMbare didn’t benefit from the transfer of four players Ephraim Mazarura, Mtshumayeli Moyo, Phillip Marufu and Carrington Gomba to DRC side FC Lupopo early this year. All these players were on loan to DeMbare and the side simply marketed them to cash rich clubs on the continent who paid the clubs that had longer term contracts with the players.

Having botched enough with player transfers and registration, DeMbare were ready to bite the bait from TP Mazembe, in the form of USD 400,000 donation! Surely, any A level Business Studies student who can define Corporate Governance could easily see through the potential conflict of interest associated with such a dubious offer. But alas, some in the Dynamos executive were already buying tickets to go and negotiate “the deal” with Governor Katumba of Katanga Province. Were they serious?
The level of unprofessionalism at Dynamos can be blamed for the constant lack of financial resources the club faces. It may indeed be too simplistic to say if each of the claimed 7 million supporters donates a dollar each, the club will become a multi-million dollar institution over night, but it is certainly true that the Glamour Boys can easily raise a million dollars from its supporters by either donations or membership fees without much struggle. Why such a scheme will never work currently is simply because the current and past leaderships don’t inspire confidence in the club’s following. There are many who could easily part with their lifetime savings to assist their beloved DeMbare, but with the current circus and that of past years, they would rather wait and see.

Given its following and achievements on the domestic and continental scene, Dynamos shouldn’t be struggling for players, training facilities and finances as it currently does. With a professional executive, visionaries who can see beyond lining up their pockets, Dynamos can be one of the biggest economic players in this country. What with the potential to sell replica shirts or even run Sports shops. Potential DeMbare executives must take a closer look at the developments in Zimbabwean cricket, and learn how franchises, which is basically what Dynamos is, should be run.

To hell with the thought that the team must cease to be a community team to be run professionally. DeMbare stands a better chance to succeed as a community team, than as privately held. Look at Barcelona, possibly the world’s most successful community team. They even refuse shirt sponsorship deals choosing instead to emblazon their jerseys with the UNICEF logo. They still afford to have the world’s most exciting player Lionel Messi in their team. DeMbare can do the same. Many corporates are headed by staunch Dynamos supporters, who would die to have their name even on the sleeves of the famous Blue and White strip. Many companies would pay thousands just to have their names and products associated with the famous team, but only if the controversies that often rear their ugly heads can be kept at a minimum, if not out of the picture totally. The team’s leadership needs to get real, realise that they are running the nation’s most supported team and stop the Mickey Mouse business of borrowing players from rivals, receiving donations from opponents or relying on bully tactics to force smaller teams to let their players play for Dynamos for free.

Hotel Elizabeth for the Liberians

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.

Will it Still Be an African World Cup?

With a few days left before the kick off the first ever World Cup on African soil, reality is now dawning on many African soccer fans that the dream of an African World might remain just that. If they had been asked a few years back, many soccer supporters on the continent would have declared their participation in the world’s biggest single sport spectacle right in South Africa. Now, complicated visa requirements, the cost of travelling and inaccessibility of tickets will now exclude some of the continent’s most fervent followers of the game, who will have to now be content watching on television from home. Unfortunately for others in power deficit countries like Zimbabwe, they might even be excluded from watching the games even on TV.

Poor choices in terms of modes of selling tickets meant that many Africans, with limited access to the internet, could not buy tickets to the games. Furthermore, the SA government has maintained some strict visa requirements, including requiring one to have a given sum of money in their bank account, thus including more would be cheerleaders from the showcase. To add insult, the authorities even chose a non-African in Shakira to sing the theme song for the World Cup. This has been heavily criticised by many analysts, considering Africa vast musical talent.

Many will now hope for a good showing by Africa’s six representatives to give them something to cheer about the tournament.

What Justifies a Warriors Foreign Coach

Newly elected ZIFA President Cuthbert Dube has started living true to the colours of Zimbabwean Football adminstrators, staking his belief in a foreign coach for the Zimbabwean National Soccer Team, the Warriors. What is perplexing though is what the authorities at 53 Livingstone see in foreign coaches that some of us fail to see.

The only two coaches who have been able to take the Warriors to the African Cup of Nations are local, Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa in 2004 and Charles Mlhauri two years later. Foreigners have failed to win even the regional COSAFA Cup, with Chidzambwa (twice), his brother Misheck and Mlhauri architecting Zimbabwe’s successes in the competition. Sunday Chidzambwa also guided Zimbabwe’s qualification for the maiden Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in Côte-d’Ivoire in 2009, and seems to have laid the foundation for a second qualification before sadly ending his second flirtation with the Warriors. Despite the success of the local boys, we once again start hearing the need to hire a foreign coach, purportedly from Germany. But why? We tend to ask.

The Warriors failed to make to the Africa Cup of Nations Finals in Angola early this year, and couldn’t make it to the second round of qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup set to kick off in South Africa in a matter of weeks. During that forgettable time, they were under the tutelage of one Valinhos from Brazil. What gives Dube and his colleagues at ZIFA the next foreign coach is going to deliver? Many proponents of foreign coaches always rush to mention the late Reinhard Fabisch’s achievements with the Dream Team of the 90s, and conveniently forget that the Dream Team failed to qualify for the Cup of Nations.

Some high profile coaches have been hired and fired by ZIFA, all without achieving much with the Warriors. Clement Westerhof was holding an Olympic Gold Medal won with the Nigerian Under 23 team when he landed at Harare International Airport, while Ian Porterfield had rebuilt a Zambian side out of the ashes of the plane crash off the Gabonese coast to the Final of the Africa Cup of Nations, but both failed to take Zimbabwe to the holy grail. There is just something about our national team that makes it a preserve of the local coaches, and the sooner ZIFA realises that the better.

Dube’s assertion that a foreign coach was best suited for the Warriors job is not only perplexing, but senseless as well. He didn’t mention any names, but is very convinced a coach from German will do. Is it about the nationality or individual ability? Can we surely choose a coach for our beloved Warriors on the basis of nationality? If it be so, then the only nationality deserving this dispensation can only be none other than Zimbabwean.

To many Zimsoccerfans, it seemed obvious the resignation of Chidzambwa will give way to his understudy, ex Captain Norman Mapeza to take over. The young coach proved himself leading an unheralded Monomotapa side to the 2008 Premier League championship. He also had vast experience playing with and skippering the Warriors on the continent as well as at club level in Europe. Fine, he has been given the caretaking job, but does he not deserve a chance to be substantive?

If for some reason ZIFA does not feel “Nomara” is the man for the job, then lets look no further than another ex Captain and Mlhauri’s ex Assistant coach Moses “Bambo” Chunga. Like Mapeza, Chunga also led unfancied Gunners to a historic League Championship last year, and can be credited for building the current Gunners side that defeated the mighty Al Alhy of Egypt early this year. He seems to be the man for any side willing to rebuild, and has the Arsene Wenger touch of unleashing raw talent, which is what Zimbabwe needs right now, towards 2014.

Maybe ZIFA will talk of experience, and we will put up the name of deposed former mentor Rahman Gumbo who has been taking Southern Africa by storm. Gumbo has so far won the Zimbabwean, Malawian and of late Botswana Premier League with distinction, making him one of a kind in the region. It looks inevitable he will soon be following Chidzambwa’s footsteps in the great trek to South Africa; where we are confident he will also be rule the roost.

Maybe it will take a little more that what ZIFA can afford to lure Gumbo from Township Rollers in Botswana, but although it’s sad to admit, Mapeza and Chunga will be available to serve the nation at a fraction of what we might fork to bring a German or other foreign national to Zim. This makes Dube’s aspirations even more unjustifiable, given that his association reportedly owes Chidzambwa USD 67,000. Its surprising and heart rending that ZIFA prefers to use scarce national resources to pay foreign coaches who hardly bring glory to the country, while failing to pay “Sons of the Soil” who almost always deliver. It is also alleged that even Mlhauri is owed money by ZIFA, while Valinhos was paid his all when he was fired.

What then is the justification of going foreign when the costly foreigners have failed to bring Zimbabwe footballing glory? Perish the thought Mr. Dube.