Bosso, Dembare feud: Tribalism or fanaticism merely symptoms

FOLLOWING the violence that erupted after the recent game between Highlanders and Dynamos at Barbourfields Stadium and the death of a Bosso fan there has been intense debate as to why the two giants' supporters are so antagonistic.

We would not want to dwell much into who did what but just concentrate on trying to find out why there is always so much tension between these two icons of Zimbabwean football.

Is the rivalry anything to do with tribalism or it's purely fanaticism taken too far which later is viewed as tribalism by some people. What happened or usually happens between these two teams before, during and after matches has always been on the spotlight, good or bad.

What needs to be done is to try and find out what really causes all this, is it football fanatics or football tribalists?

But still why do we have such characters, especially the latter because usually, fanaticism rarely turns ugly as people will just be overboard in terms of their celebrations, just like what Highlanders striker Gabriel Nyoni did sometime back when he removed his shorts after scoring.

So, what causes such bad behaviour which is viewed in some quarters as tribalism? The derogatory songs sung by both sections of the supporters are probably as a result of an underlying factor that needs to be addressed and addressed quickly before it turns our football stadia into hard hat areas.

A fanatic, according to the Macmillan dictionary, is someone who has a very strong religious or political belief that often makes them behave in an unreasonable way. According to the Oxford version, it's a person filled with excessive and often misguided enthusiasm for something.

The Macmillan dictionary goes on to define tribalism as a way of thinking or behaving in which people are more loyal to their tribe than to their

friends, country or any other social group. The other version is that it's a very strong loyalty that someone feels for the group they belong to, usually combined with a feeling of disliking groups or being different from them.

The definitions make very interesting reading indeed, especially to a football crazy someone in Zimbabwe but on most occasions if not all, the two have been confused or mistaken by a majority of people.

There are many factors that can cause people to behave in such a barbaric manner, factors which can clearly be avoided.

The first and foremost is poor officiating by referees, at least from the losing team's supporters' point of view.

There are those who would want to argue that Highlanders fans always become riotous whenever they lose to Dynamos at home. Whether that is true or not is subjective but history has it that Highlanders has lost many times at BF to Dynamos with their fans going home. For example, the Kidznet side coached by Moses Chunga stunned a then strong Bosso 1-0 at Barbourfields Stadium in 2002 through a Norman Maroto 43rd minute goal. When the goal came, the majority of the supporters were stunned into silence, save for the Mpilo End which houses Dynamos fans and naturally so.

When the referee blew for fulltime, Highlanders supporters cursed their gods and blamed one or two of their players. There was no chaos at all.

So, what causes these running battles?

Some Highlanders fans have the opinion that Dynamos is always favoured by officials and administrators. Whether it's true or not is also subjective.

Those who believe it's true will tell you of many incidents like the 1997 BP league Cup madness and the 2010 BancABC Sup8r drama.

In 1997, a gallant Hwange, then Wankie, held the Glamour boys to a 0-0 stalemate in the semi-finals of the BP League Cup at Rufaro Stadium and with everyone expecting the replay to go to the Colliery, the football fathers said the replay was to be played at Ascot Stadium in Gweru.

Despite all the protests, Hwange went there and got hit 2-0 through goals from Makwinji Soma-Phiri and Lloyd Mutasa.

The officials cited poor lighting system at the Colliery as the reason the match had to be taken to Ascot. It could have been true; it could have been false but it's such decisions that will live long in the minds of some football followers. Certainly, this is not a passport for engaging in violence.

But a neutral would have hoped the match was replayed at Barbourfields Stadium which is almost halfway between Hwange and Harare.
In 2010, then Highlanders chairman Themba Ndlela stepped down from the Premier Soccer League vice- chairmanship in protest over the way his team was treated in the BancABC semi-final dispute with Dynamos.

After going through two disciplinary bodies, the first ordering a replay in Kwekwe which Dynamos later challenged leading to the replay being set for the giant National Sports Stadium, Bosso were eventually booted out in the boardroom.

It was the first time that a team attends a match, the referees come and the police come but still get booted out. Dembare never bothered to go to the National Sports Stadium yet other parties were there, including referees.

Whether those who eventually booted Highlanders out were right or wrong, to an ordinary man out there, Dynamos were favoured. So the onus is also on the administrators to avoid making or coming up with rather absurd decisions that will leave everyone, except them, in shock.

The tension between these two teams, I believe, is also fuelled by those entrusted with running football in this country, referees and administrators.

But to get that tension resulting in open violence and deaths of fans in and out of stadia, is very regrettable and must be avoided at every cost. Referees and administrators must be professional and impartial, and fans must behave.