Opinion / Columnist
Take the game of football seriously
19 Apr 2023 at 23:12hrs | Views
Zimbabwe celebrated its 43rd years of self rule and independence and this year's national celebrations were held for the first time in Mashonaland Central Province Mt Darwin.
Forty three years into independence the two biggest Zimbabwe's popular clubs Dynamos and Highlanders played on a makeshift stadium at Mt Darwin Secondary School in Mt Darwin in Mashonaland Central Province.
There was nothing wrong for these two popular clubs to meet and entertain the crowd on such a very big stage as per independence celebrations programme because that is the only way being used by Zanu PF government to lure people to come and attend the celebrations as the majority of people are now shunning this day because of the ruling party's idea of politicizing the event.
However the government knew that it was going to hold an independence celebration in Mt Darwin but it failed to prepare the venue to expected standards especially the turf on which the two premiership teams were going to play. This shows how unprepared our government is.
The Mt Darwin High School stadium was not fit for such a high profile match pitting Dynamos and Highlanders. No inspection was done by ZIFA to see whether the stadium was suitable to hold any top flight football. According to FIFA rules stadia should be inspected prior to the start of the match.
It is high time we should do better and stop accepting mediocrity. It was an embarrassment which we will never recover from as a nation.
Zimbabwe needs to be rescued. Professional players are made to play football in an unsanctioned and uninspected ground. If one gets an injury, that's the end of their career. ZIFA needs to be serious. It's the reason our football is in shambles. Nobody will ever take us seriously. The stadium was like a potato field taking words from a renowned former Dynamos coach Moses Chunga.
None of these players have insurance life policies in case they get injured It's the end of their careers. This is a problem when clubs are sponsored by Sakunda. This country really needs to be rescued. We need to do better as a country.
We should understand that FIFA is very strict on these things. Grounds are inspected and approved before the season begins. Professional footballers just don't play games everywhere.
They had all the time to prepare for the venue to host the national event. If they had started preparing the stadium in January by now the turf would be looking very well.
Football in Zimbabwe is now certified dead no matter how many premiership games we play. I don't think the players enjoyed playing on that bumpy turf. Zimbabwe we can do better.
Email - konileonard606@gmail.com
Twitter - @ Leokoni.
Forty three years into independence the two biggest Zimbabwe's popular clubs Dynamos and Highlanders played on a makeshift stadium at Mt Darwin Secondary School in Mt Darwin in Mashonaland Central Province.
There was nothing wrong for these two popular clubs to meet and entertain the crowd on such a very big stage as per independence celebrations programme because that is the only way being used by Zanu PF government to lure people to come and attend the celebrations as the majority of people are now shunning this day because of the ruling party's idea of politicizing the event.
However the government knew that it was going to hold an independence celebration in Mt Darwin but it failed to prepare the venue to expected standards especially the turf on which the two premiership teams were going to play. This shows how unprepared our government is.
The Mt Darwin High School stadium was not fit for such a high profile match pitting Dynamos and Highlanders. No inspection was done by ZIFA to see whether the stadium was suitable to hold any top flight football. According to FIFA rules stadia should be inspected prior to the start of the match.
It is high time we should do better and stop accepting mediocrity. It was an embarrassment which we will never recover from as a nation.
None of these players have insurance life policies in case they get injured It's the end of their careers. This is a problem when clubs are sponsored by Sakunda. This country really needs to be rescued. We need to do better as a country.
We should understand that FIFA is very strict on these things. Grounds are inspected and approved before the season begins. Professional footballers just don't play games everywhere.
They had all the time to prepare for the venue to host the national event. If they had started preparing the stadium in January by now the turf would be looking very well.
Football in Zimbabwe is now certified dead no matter how many premiership games we play. I don't think the players enjoyed playing on that bumpy turf. Zimbabwe we can do better.
Email - konileonard606@gmail.com
Twitter - @ Leokoni.
Source - Leonard Koni
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