Sports / Soccer
'Juju has no place in football,' says Dembare manager
17 Jul 2013 at 04:19hrs | Views
DYNAMOS team manager Richard Chihoro has rubbished the notion that juju can change fortunes in football following a strange act at Rufaro on Sunday when some of their fans sprinkled a liquid believed to be urine on their opponents Buffaloes' goal area.
The Harare side dominated play and created several scoring opportunities which went agonisingly close, prompting their supporters to suspect that juju was at play. Then the DeMbare fans who were housed at the Mbare End then took matters into their hands and threw bottles containing liquid suspected to be urine at the visitors' goal as they appeared convinced that the visitors had cast a spell on their goal area.
Barely two minutes later Augustine Mbara found the goal that separated the two teams and the incident became the major talking point as the goal seemed to buttress the supporters' argument.
Urine is widely believed to be have powers to "neutralise" suspected juju in football circles. Chihoro however said the issue was a psychological. The DeMbare team manager said his charges deserved to win judging by the way they played on Sunday.
"Those things do not work in football. It's only that we are Africans and we cannot run way from some of those strange beliefs. Football is about preparation and getting your game plan right. I tell you if you want to lose matches heavily, then start depending on juju and taking those issues seriously," said Chihoro.
Beliefs in juju took centre stage during the Premiership matches at the weekend as fellow Harare giants CAPS United were also involved in an almost similar incident in their match against Hwange at the Colliery.
Makepekepe trailed Hwange for longer periods and despite creating a series of chances, the goal could not come as they desperately searched for the equaliser to keep their seven match unbeaten run intact.
But one of the supporters invaded the pitch and sprinkled suspected urine into the home team's nets before Tawanda Nyamandwe's 87th minute goal secured them a point.
However the Green Machine coach Taurai Mangwiro believes juju has no place in football and said it is all about the mind games at play.
"I think those are mere mind games and I am not a firm believer in that. Football is scientific and should be approached as such. People may have different views and beliefs and they should be entitled to that.
"But I am just happy we are a united family, which is what we need at the moment, and I am sure this has helped us get this far," said Mangwiro.
The Harare side dominated play and created several scoring opportunities which went agonisingly close, prompting their supporters to suspect that juju was at play. Then the DeMbare fans who were housed at the Mbare End then took matters into their hands and threw bottles containing liquid suspected to be urine at the visitors' goal as they appeared convinced that the visitors had cast a spell on their goal area.
Barely two minutes later Augustine Mbara found the goal that separated the two teams and the incident became the major talking point as the goal seemed to buttress the supporters' argument.
Urine is widely believed to be have powers to "neutralise" suspected juju in football circles. Chihoro however said the issue was a psychological. The DeMbare team manager said his charges deserved to win judging by the way they played on Sunday.
"Those things do not work in football. It's only that we are Africans and we cannot run way from some of those strange beliefs. Football is about preparation and getting your game plan right. I tell you if you want to lose matches heavily, then start depending on juju and taking those issues seriously," said Chihoro.
Beliefs in juju took centre stage during the Premiership matches at the weekend as fellow Harare giants CAPS United were also involved in an almost similar incident in their match against Hwange at the Colliery.
Makepekepe trailed Hwange for longer periods and despite creating a series of chances, the goal could not come as they desperately searched for the equaliser to keep their seven match unbeaten run intact.
But one of the supporters invaded the pitch and sprinkled suspected urine into the home team's nets before Tawanda Nyamandwe's 87th minute goal secured them a point.
However the Green Machine coach Taurai Mangwiro believes juju has no place in football and said it is all about the mind games at play.
"I think those are mere mind games and I am not a firm believer in that. Football is scientific and should be approached as such. People may have different views and beliefs and they should be entitled to that.
"But I am just happy we are a united family, which is what we need at the moment, and I am sure this has helped us get this far," said Mangwiro.
Source - herald
