The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi’s FOOTY FOOTNOTES
THE blanket ban by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) barring all our stadiums from hosting international matches came as no surprise, but was shocking nonetheless.
This disaster had been brewing over the years. Man has to suffer first in order for him to learn.
This is such a fatal blow hitting us where it hurts the most given that if we fail to spruce up our facilities on time to satisfy the recommendations made by CAF, the Warriors may be forced to play their home matches outside the country, beginning with the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against reigning champions Algeria set for this month.
Yet alarm bells concerning the decaying condition of our soccer venues were ringing out aloud and we turned a deaf ear.
The time bomb that was ticking exploded in our faces.
Twnety years on, still trying to score from an offside position
In all fairness, we have been our own worst enemies. When the nation was stripped of its rights to host the 2000 Afcon finals, we chose to lose heart, yet this indictment should have served as a rude awakening.
The argument then, from the continent’s football-controlling authorities, was that we neither had the facilities nor the capacity and our preparations were lagging behind schedule as the host nation. We had been told an uncomfortable truth which ought to have nudged us into promptly getting down to serious business.
We abandoned both the dream and our stadiums.
Sakubva was one of the grounds earmarked to host some of the 2000 Afcon finals.
Fifa club licensing — whose five key areas demand a commitment to infrastructure development which entails safety and comfort for fans, the players and the media, with stadia equipped with proper training and other necessary facilities — took effect some 10 years ago. Yet we failed to bring ourselves up to speed with this international requirement.
Learning, doing it the hard way
To think that Mutare City Council had their own team, Mutare City Rovers, playing in the top-flight league on two separate occasions, and no meaningful renovations were carried out on their home ground defies logic.
Meanwhile, the present predicament presents institutions such as Manica Diamonds with an opportunity to seriously consider building their own stadium, just like FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum Stars have done.
Pure Platinum Play already enjoy a head start in that they have a structure in place, which may eventually get CAF approval if they continue improving Mandava.
Again, come to think of it, if all of Mutare’s biggest four teams — Buffaloes, Mutare City Rovers, Manica Diamonds and Tenax — were to compete in the top-tier division at the same time (with two playing during the same weekend on Saturday and Sunday, while the other pair will be away), this would boost the city’s revenue.
Supposing one of these teams gets to participate in the CAF competitions, the tourism business could get a major boost, given that Manicaland has attractive tourist destinations that have the potential to lure even the Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin.
Cleaning up the mess
Corrective measures have to be put in place to refurbish our stadiums.
Given how the game itself has evolved and continues to evolve, we shouldn’t be comfortable using the same facilities built half a century ago.
In our case, Sakubva Stadium has to match global standards. Mutare’s citadel of soccer was in a state of rapid decay, having been turned into a freefall love nest and “public toilet”, where those who do not respect the world’s most beautiful game would relieve themselves on the premises.
We are told that refurbishments on the stadium are now underway.
We hope this project will achieve the desired results.
Let’s share the cheer in football because we are made for the game, and are mad about the game!
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