Lost chances of 2015

By The NewsDay | Dec. 31, 2015 | 8 Min read

Zimbabwean sport encountered so many enduring memories from 2015, some of them good while others are sad.

By Kevin Mapasure

But it will go down as a year of change that ushered in a new boss at Zifa, a new board at Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), a new coach for the national cricket team, new champions in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League and a new for Sport minister.

All the changes brought with them optimism that they could influence a positive turn on the performances of the national teams in particular.

Phillip Chiyangwa was elected Zifa president on October 3 to lead a board that also includes vice-president Omega Sibanda, as well as Edzai Kasinauyo, Philemon Muchana, Felton Kamambo and Piraishe Mabhena, while the Premier Soccer League and women’s football are set to fill the other two slots.

Businessman and politician Chiyangwa beat competition from Trevor Carelse Juul, Leslie Gwindi and James Takavada.

In his campaign, he promised to pour money into football and he did not waste time partly fulfilling that pledge by clinching a $1 million funding from fellow businessman Wicknell Chavayo.

Chivayo, who calls himself Sir Wicknell, is not necessarily a likeable character, but football will be grateful to benefit from his massive wealth. Manase bowled out

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If there is any sporting discipline that could get close to matching football’s struggles, it is cricket.

2015 was a year of ups and downs in terms of the results on the field of play for the senior national team.

Administratively, there was another change in management after the dramatic elections that produced a new board led by Tavengwa Mukuhlani, a development that came as a surprise to many.

Wilson Manase, who had led the board for about a year on an interim basis, lost the election when many expected him to coast home easily.

Later in the year there was a fallout between the two with Mukuhlani accusing Manase of leaking ZC’s salary schedule to the media after it was reported managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa earned $15 000 monthly in addition to other perks.

Manase denied all this, but the year was also not particularly good for him after he was banned by the Sports and Recreation Commission for sanctioning the trip to Pakistan in May.

Zimbabwe became the first full member nation to tour Pakistan since the gun attack on Sri Lanka almost seven years ago in Lahore.

Before that the national team played at the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup where they won just one match against United Arab Emirates and lost to South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, India and Ireland despite playing well in almost all matches, but just failing to cross the line.

Those performances and those in Pakistan gave hope for a brighter future under the guidance of Dav Whatmore.

A one-day international (ODI) win against New Zealand followed, but they lost the series 2-1 going on, however, to record a T-20 win over India.

An ODI series win against Ireland also helped lift the team back into the top ten of the ICC ODI rankings, a series loss to Afghanistan in Bulawayo as well as defeats in the first two of five ODIs meant the national team finished the year ranked number 12.

Against Afghanistan the team was hopelessly bad triggering murmurs of dissent to Whatmore’s continued stay as coach.

New kings on the throne

The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title tussle involving Dynamos, FC Platinum and the eventual winners Chicken Inn left a lasting imprint.

In the end it was Joey Antipas’ Chicken Inn that held on to top spot and won the title playing some good football with Soccer Star of the Year Danny Phiri pulling the strings in the middle of the park.

They, however, failed to win the Easycall Cup when they were upstaged by a resurgent Highlanders side under the guidance of Amini Soma-Phiri, who had replaced Bongani Mafu, who failed to provide the spark and was booted out.

Like Bosso, Dynamos also changed coaches with Tonderai Ndiraya getting elevated to the hot seat after the sacking of David Mandigora.

Caps United started off the year with Mark Harrison, but ended up with Lloyd Chitembwe having had Mark Mathe at some stage as the head coach.

However, they shifted and shuffled the big three all failed. Kudos King Kali

The saddest story was seeing the Warriors getting booted out of the Fifa 2018 World Cup qualifiers over a debt owed to former coach Valinhos.

While Cuthbert Dube and his board received the boot mainly because of that development, efforts by Sports minister Makhosini Hlongwane to save the situation did not bear fruit although the debt was later settled.

But the Warriors began their campaign for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals with a win 2-1 win against Malawi in Blantyre before they played out a draw against Guinea to set themselves well for qualification.

Kalisto “King Kali” Pasuwa has given fans hope that the Warriors can achieve something, but twice his reign looked to have ended: First, when he quite over nonpayment before he was persuaded back and secondly when he was fired by the new board only to be reinstated after a publish outcry that reverberated across the country.

Tired of all the uncertainty in the end he demanded a contract. Villain of the year

Former Zimbabwe national cricket team opening batsman Mark Vermeulen is easily the villain of the year after he was exposed by NewsDaySport over his attitude towards black people.

In a Facebook post that cost him his career as he was subsequently dismissed by ZC, Vermeulen said about Prosper Utseya.

“Haaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! If we had left them in the bush and never educated them Prosper wouldn’t be having these problems because he would be living happily in his mud hut eating ground up maize so of course it’s our fault every single problem a black has is because of white people that’s why racism is only able to work one way because we basically fxxxd up the apes’ lives.”

Despite his halfhearted “apology” ZC would have nothing of that bringing to an end one of the most eventful of careers. Nobody will miss him.

Interesting quotes

“I am not saying we will win the match against Highlanders, but what I can promise is that we will give them a good game. Highlanders are a good team, but what makes them play badly is that they rely on referees,” former How Mine coach Luke Masomere said in a pre-match interview with NewsDaySport.

His team lost that match 5-1 and he did not last long after.

Chiyangwa on the race for Zifa presidency said: “There can be competition, but it will not be of my calibre. I have read about some of the people that are interested, but they are either failures or criminals and there is no need to keep recycling people who have failed before. Those that think they are better than me can come and compete and I will take them on. We will not allow chancers who want to come in to steal from Zifa. If they come I will harass them.”

He won 40 of the 58 votes to clinch the post.

ZC boss Tavengwa Mukuhlani reacting to criticism by former Sports minister on the sacking of Andy Waller as the cricket team’s batting coach said: “(David) Coltart is saying we must reward effort, I am different I will only reward results, Waller did not produce results and he needed to be out. Statistics are accurate, but I don’t care because they are not giving us results. He is just an ordinary cricket fan and we do not make decisions based on what he likes or dislikes. His opinion does not matter to us.”

Judging from this statement it does not look like Whatmore could soon be packing his bags. Sporting moment of the year

They had toiled for so many years knocking on the doors of major global tournaments but failing to get a breakthrough. Finally the women’s senior national football team booked a ticket to the Olympics almost against any expectation after reviving a campaign that looked to have ended when they failed to travel for their first leg qualifier against Ivory Coast.

They got lifeline when Ivory Coast failed to travel to Zimbabwe and pulled out the tournament leaving Zimbabwe with just one hurdle, though not an easy one against Cameroon who had just returned from participating at the World Cup.

By then change had been brought to the technical setup with the roping in of Shadreck Mlauzi to replace Rosemary Mugadza as head coach. Zimbabwe won 2-1 on aggregate after completing the job at home with a 1-0 win. The $70 000 and $50 000 problems

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) demanding $70 000 from boxer Charles Manyuchi as duty on the trophy he had been presented with following his defence of the World Boxing Champion welterweight title.

First, Zimra confiscated the trophy before they swapped it for his passport until they returned the travel document after ministerial intervention.

As if that was not enough Manyuchi’s Zambian promoters Oriental dumped him for the reason that he had refused to share with them the $50 000 he was presented with by President Robert Mugabe as a token of appreciation. The bundle of energy

Makhosini Hlongwane became Sports minister taking over from Andrew Langa.

Hlongwane has been a bundle of energy since he was appointed, a direct contrast to Langa, who seemed always preoccupied with other things showing no knowledge or interest in sport.

Hlongwane has been hands-on and has been visible at sporting events and functions. He follows sport and knows what is happening everywhere.

Pity the government does not have the funds to fully fund sport, but with such energy and commitment sport is finally benefiting from having a dedicated ministry. The irritant of the year

Dynamos striker Roderick Mutuma made more news about his bad behaviour than goal scoring antics. After a training ground brawl with teammate Takesure Chinyama, he went on to harass and insult referee Philani Ncube after Dynamos’ defeat to Harare City in the final of the Chibuku Super Cup.

The two were found guilty of the offence and handed a four-match ban as well as a $1 000 fine each, a ruling which they contested with the help of their club management who went to the extent of threatening to pull out of the league, citing unfair application of rules.

Barely a few days after that, Mutuma slapped them in the face with violent conduct against Highlanders’ Ralph Matema. What a way to pay back. The year’s sad moments

Zimbabwe lost three football legends in former Warriors midfielder Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo, former Dream Team defender Paul Gundani and Freddy Mkwesha all towards the end of the year. All three succumbed to different illness. May their souls rest in peace.

These were some of the ups and downs of an eventfull 2015.