Unfortunately, the Warriors lost 1-0 to Guinea and the loss ignited all the chaos that characterised what was supposed to be an after match party.But what surprised me most was that the violence, which has no room in football, had tribal connotations as most of the fans attacked head coach Rahman Gumbo sparing other technical team members.
To me, it was now clear that these supporters’ madness was not confined to DeMbare supporters only who support an opposition team if their club is down or playing badly as they used to do in the Champions League.
So what it means is that our supporters need to be educated on how to become true football supporters and not fanatics. Besides, it’s not good to wash our dirty linen in the public.
Unlike in 2000 when violence broke out at the same venue when Warriors supporters ran amok after South Africa got their second goal on their way to a deserved victory. The stampede resulted in 13 people losing their lives. May their souls rest in eternal peace.
This time around I would like to salute the police who managed to handle the situation very well. The people who were on the forefront of the stage-managed violence got the taste of their own medicine.
After the match, supporters who were sitting at the rest of the ground bays waited for players to make their way to the changing rooms and pelted them with missiles, forcing the police to intervene and escort the coach and other players to the dressing room.
What this bunch of shameful supporters did not know was that Zimbabwe might face disciplinary hearing after that debacle, and might be charged large sums of money for their unbecoming behaviour.
Outside the stadium police were fighting running battles with other unruly supporters who were throwing stones at them which then forced the police to unleash teargas canisters.
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It was only four weeks ago when I wrote on this platform about CAPS United fans who were almost going out of hand, but they were quick to take heed of my advice, I salute them for that.
Fans wanted to skin Irish coach Sean Connor with their bare hands after a string of poor results, but things then started paying off for them as their team started winning a week after. So it was the players, the technical team and supporters celebrating together. This can also happen with our national team fans.
As I always say, if supporters feel that something has to be done, they have to do it in a proper manner, through their supporters association instead of throwing missiles at their own players; that’s pure madness.
Even chanting Mapeza, Mapeza, Mapeza from the terraces will not help until they make a proper approach, and besides, they should stop politicising football issues.
Let’s give the boys and their technical team a chance. Who does not want to be paid his winning bonus at the end of the match after all? They also wanted to win but were just unlucky. I no longer wonder why the players opt for Rufaro than the National Sports Stadium since goals were hard to come by.
Is the venue cursed or the 2000 disaster still haunts it? No one knows.Tribalism and violence have no room in football. Go Warriors go, Score Warriors score!!! For comments and feedback, [email protected] or call 0775 341 029.
By Brian Nkiwane
