The ManicaPost
MOFFAT MUNGADZI’S – FOOTY FOOT NOTES
EVEN as it is only four weeks old, Dynamos’ Castle Lager Premier Soccer League 2019 season has been an eventful lot, to say the least, that what remains the rest of it looks set to be intriguing stuff. Riding high from the bright prospect of a campaign that promised so much to wallowing low in the grim reality of it delivering so little . . . this is the DeMbare story so far.
False Dawn
If putting one over arch rivals CAPS United during a pres-season challenge match – with captain Edward “Duduza” Sadomba dazzling with a goal on his return to the club that gave him a name – impregnated the fallen Harare giants with optimism, then winning their league opener for the first time in four seasons – as Congolese expatriate Ngandu Mangala wormed his way into the warm hearts of the DeMbare multitude with a stunning debut that produced a rare brace – played midwifery to their ensuing bulging buoyancy.
But biting the dust fourfold on the bounce in their next matches – first a low blow from lowly returnees Hwange at home; then a frustrating setback at Chicken Inn where they have suffered fruitless visits since 2016; a walloping by nemesis Highlanders in the Independence Cup and an embarrassment by lightweights Herentals – remarkably marked Dynamos’ early downturn in the season.
And while singing the blues against the Gamecocks – as the boys in blue’s skipper Sadomba was seeing red, during which moment of madness their coach Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigowe stormed the pitch in remonstration over Sadamba’s expulsion – the centre began to drop guard. Things started falling apart. Gloomy clouds were mow gathering and hovering above the former champions.
Disenchanted Fans
While a standing ovation from the proverbial 12th man in appreciation of their efforts on the day cheered the lads on the park’s crestfallen spirits after the Hwange misfortune, it all suddenly – and nastily – turned into growing choruses of disapproval from the stands when the Chicken Inn and Herentals disaster truck. Their fans had, sorrowfully, turned against them and were now playing boo boys; even denouncing their coach in song. Sadly, skirmished crowd trouble flared up and blighted the latter two matches.
But will such upheaval not rub off onto the boardroom hierarchy and cascade down to the executive and dressing room?
That they have endured a goal drought in three successive games in all competitions, having scored two and then one in the first two, paints an even bleaker picture.
With the match attendance numbers already dwindling, a low turnover at the turnstiles will seriously harm Dynamos where it hurts most.
Dearth of Galaticos
Interestingly, the off-season became a chastening period for the dethroned kings of the domestic game as they scavenged the market for crumbs and cheap acquisitions. No Galaticos to woo.
That Dynamos lost practically the entire spine of the team that served and saved the team last term and left to make do with only an off the cuff, skeletal squad from which they are trying to rebuild around ex-son Sadomba puts into sharper focus how players and coaches alike are snubbing DeMbare (remember how Valentine Kadonzvo was alleged to have “cheated” and dribbled his way out of the troubled club!). Long gone are the days when the record championship winners used to boast an unrivalled gravitational allure that virtually every footballer yearned to pull the famous blue shirt and wear their crest as a badge of honour.
Yet, going by their lofty past standards, there used to be a stampede as scores scrambled to be associated with this insanely popular club.
Some corporate entities are finding their enormous brand hardly an appealing and bankable trademark. Others like BancABC and Net*One have in the recent past pulled the plug on renewing their sponsorship nuptials with the club. No glamour to brag about. Not any more. Their five-year package worth a handsome $1 million from Gold Leaf Tobacco through their Rudland and George subsidiary has doled out some relief to the famine that was threatening to ravage them, however.
Vicious Cycle
On current evidence, Dynamos look like a club that is losing the glamour that had become second nature and a culture that defined their storied past. And if no Damascene moment promptly presents itself, their lofty status as the standard bearers of the domestic game increasingly looks lost.
Only last season they precariously flirted with relegation, where demotion terrorised and almost devoured them, but pulled off a Houdini Act to duck the chop. Credit was then duly given to MaBlanyo, a hitherto virtual nonentity in the elite league of gaffers who masterminded the successful push to preserve DeMbare’s Premiership status even as relegation had ominously loomed large over them.
Known for their notoriety of lurching from one crisis to another like boardroom wrangles, maladministration or player mutiny over unfulfilled obligations by the club, the prayer among their oft-delirious seven million faithful is that this gets to be a smooth sailing season that marks their take off and flight back to the perch.
And stung by their underwhelming start to the season, the Glamour Boys swiftly swung into action by axing Chigowe and his entire backroom staff – who lasted only five games into this season – in a desperately firefighting move to salvage something from the season before it suffers an incorrigibly severe stillbirth.
But is there no risk of whirling round and creating a vicious cycle instead of virtuous circle here?
Presently languishing in the bottom half of the table and sitting an unfamiliar 13th on the table, DeMbare need to bite the bullet and pull their weight.
Will the real Dynamos, that Rauya Gen’a carried on the back of their shirts, turn up?
Meanwhile, as Dynamos continue to sneeze Highlanders appear to be catching a cold . . . good a story for another day. Stay put in this space . . .
If it is about football that you care let’s share the cheer because we are made for the game, mad about the game!
Feedback:
During the Easter holidays I had the rare privilege of watching two Division Two matches and was impressed with the level of the great talent in that lower league. I noticed young players who need proper grooming that the next Peter Ndlovus and Yaya Toures can be found in these unknown teams. I am sure that some of the stars I watched in action can play better football than most Premiership players. The media can do a good job by covering some of these matches. – Tawanda Mhlanga, Dangamvura
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