A FOOTBALL tournament to celebrate the birth of the President of Zimbabwe is no small matter.
NewsDay Editorial
The picking of Dynamos, Caps United and Highlanders means the organisers are targeting a huge crowd, probably to raise prize money.
Honestly, how can a tournament to honour the president of a country be announced five days before the so-called play-off is played? Worse still, it is announced in the media before the teams are informed and there are no rules and regulations for the competition, let alone prize money.
Is February 21 not on the calendar?
Are these not the same people who cry foul and say football administration in the country has gone to the dogs when they are actually aiding its death?
That one Charles Mabika is part of the organising committee, spokesman of the same committee and commentator for the matches, smells really bad.
The final between Dynamos and Caps United will take place on Sunday. After that, the nation doesn’t want to hear that clubs have not been awarded their prize money.
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Reconciliations from gate-takings cannot take weeks. We are sure there is enough raised from Sunday’s match between Highlanders and Caps United for Mabika and company to put aside some for prize money.
In East and Central Africa, we have the Kagame Inter-Club Cup, sponsored by Rwandan President Paul Kagame. It is well organised because the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) does not want to soil the name of the Rwandan leader.
The same goes for the Spanish Copa del Rey (Championship of Spain — His Majesty the King’s Cup) or the Emperor’s Cup in Japan. There is so much importance attached to these competitions because of who they stand for.
But here, we have turned President Robert Mugabe’s tournament into a Mickey Mouse event, one that spoils the name of the President. Or is it just some fundraising initiative for some individuals?
This organising committee must know that football lovers are not happy with this messing-up. And they are not zipping their mouths in the face of such failure. Football lovers don’t need to be your friends. They are simply saying, get your house in order and have preparations for Bob92 starting sooner than later.
This tournament is five years old now, but same organisers can’t put things in place. In fact, there should be a qualification criteria for this tournament.
It should have evolved from handpicking of teams to maybe four, later eight and then all the teams in the Premier Soccer League.
One season, you have two teams, the next your have four, then you have three, then four and then three. What is happening?
And last, to the fans, violence has no place in football. It’s as simple as that. Those that want to engage in violence should do so elsewhere, not at our football venues. Sponsors get scared to have their names associated with football because of this.
Fans must be responsible and serious supporter-education initiatives must be done by clubs to ensure that there is no hooliganism in our football. There are only three results in football — a win, draw or a loss and fans must learn to accept any of the results.
By the same token, players must not incite fans.
