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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, [email protected]

THE 2024 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season roared into life last weekend with an exciting line-up of opening fixtures dotted around the country in what is promising to be an eventful football fiesta.

Of all the opening round fixtures, none could beat or even square up to what happened at Barbourfields Stadium where Zimbabwe football giants Highlanders and Dynamos collided in an ever-highly anticipated engagement between the two old rivals.

There are different reasons why this game was highly anticipated depending on which position you were in, but for ordinary fans of each of these two giants, they were looking forward to a good start to the season and there can never be one such great start than winning against your greatest rivals.

Winning is  always a  wonderful moment, but a win for Highlanders or Dynamos against each other is never an ordinary win; it is something extraordinary.

One could then understand the enthusiasm and confidence of both sets of fans ahead of the game. For the two clubs’ officials, there was enthusiasm, confidence, hope and crucially too, a bit of fear and uncertainty. 

For PSL officials and other stakeholders, there was excitement, hope and confidence.

In an ordinary football match, supporters and club officials would just be excited and looking forward to a victory, while for other officials and stakeholders, they would be ready for a mouth-watering intense football duel.

But why would we say “for an ordinary football match” as if a clash between Highlanders and Dynamos is not a normal football match?

Well, events in the last seven years in general and two years in particular have painted a not-so-good picture of this encounter, which rendered it, arguably so, not a normal match. 

“Normal” football  matches have a normal ending yet sadly, it has not been the case for Highlanders and Dynamos, until this year.

In 2017, the match came to an unplanned, unforeseen and unwanted end in the 40th minute following protests from Bosso fans against referee Nelson Kusosa, who allowed a Ntoupa Epoupa equaliser to stand arguing that the Cameroonian had scored from an offside position.

In 2022, trouble erupted in injury time following  a Washington Navaya killer header. DeMbare players mobbed the referee Allan Bhasvi, protesting that their teammate Shadreck Nyahwa was fouled in the build-up to the goal.

The goal sparked wild celebrations from Bosso fans who briefly invaded the pitch which seemed to anger the DeMbare fans at the Mpilo End who stormed the pitch, tore down the nets and attempted to uproot the goalposts.

Last season, there was an invasion of the pitch by Highlanders fans in the 38th minute who were incensed by referee Bhasvi over a number of what they felt were harsh calls against their team by the match official. DeMbare, who were fired up on the day, had cruised to a deserving 2-0 lead.

All these sad incidents in the recent past and many other years before, brought a lot of feelings ahead of the 2024 season opener which, however, was smooth sailing from the first to the last whistle by referee Brighton Chimene, who was on top of the situation throughout the afternoon.

Mentioning  the referee is not just ironic, but also symbolic.

There are those  who would want to argue that Highlanders fans are always riotous whenever they lose to Dynamos at home. 

Whether that is true or not is subjective, but history has it that Highlanders have 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 43rd minute goal by Norman Maroto.

When the goal came, the majority of the supporters were stunned into silence, save for the Mpilo End, which houses Dynamos fans.

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

So the question of bad or sour losers by Highlanders fans falls off as was also demonstrated in the 2022 abandoned match which  Amahlolanyama had bagged in the second minute of added time.

Using  the identified incidents of 2017, 2022 and 2023 and even 2010, which we left out, it is manifest that match-day officiating has had its fair share of fuelling crowd trouble, although there is no justifiable reason whatsoever for football fans to resort to violence. Football has its own remedies which authorities know. In the same vein, these remedies must not be a cause for foolish officiating by referees, they must just do their job to the best of their abilities. 

Sometimes even applying a human decision can help prevent volatility and a case in point is one where renowned former referee Tabani Mnkantjo chose to make an instantly humane decision a few minutes from the end of the Highlanders, Dynamos match at Barbourfields Stadium in 2003.

With a  few minutes to go and Highlanders trailing 0-3 to Dynamos, who had scored through James Matola (71st min), Musareka Jenitala (81st min) and Edmore Mufema (85th min), young Bosso defender Gilbert Banda, who had been having a torrid afternoon at the hands of Agent Sawu, fouled Sawu inside the box.

“Look, tempers were already high from the home side, being down 3-0 at home basebefile vele. I could have taken a football decision and awarded Dynamos that penalty, but I also knew there was a high-profile political figure in the stadium, so I just waved play on. Can you imagine what would have happened had a penalty been given,” Mnkantjo said years later.

The issue of refereeing cannot be left in isolation when interrogating the Bosso-DeMbare match atmosphere and outcomes, hence the mention of Chimene in the season opener.

The conduct of officials before such a big game raises tension among fans. Remember the Leslie Gwindi yellow card drama?

As it is well appreciated that events leading to any big match may manifest themselves during the actual match and this year’s encounter was no exception. 

It’s  kudos to the PSL secretariat led by chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele, who constantly preached peace and for the first time, held a peace workshop for a selected group of fans of all the 18 teams in the elite league. 

On their part, both Highlanders and Dynamos officials, supporters’ chapters and members indeed came along and spoke nothing, but peace.

The messages hit home among their fellow team supporters.

“We want to thank the entire sports fraternity for the successful event. For us, we promise to deliver. We have just renewed our three-year partnership with Delta Beverages. Once you secure a sponsorship, the most difficult part is the retention side of it and delivering on set objectives. 

“Having matches that are played with no incidents of crowd trouble is one area that we are happy and sure all sport-loving people  are happy with the progress because such matches are your flagship matches and watched by thousands of people, so it’s important to organise them in a safe, secure and enjoyable environment,” said Ndebele, in a post-match review meeting last Tuesday.

The atmosphere was indeed that of a Sunday afternoon football match.

Moments before the match, it was refreshing to see two fans, one clad in  Dynamos and the other in Highlanders colours, walking together towards the stadium. 

To an ordinary eye, this was normal, but  to an inquisitive eye, one quickly noticed that one of the fans’ jersey number was 87, a significant number in ending post-independence differences in the country.

The historic Unity Accord was signed on December 22, 1987.