Matabeleland football odyssey wins hearts ahead of Russia 2018
LONDON: The Matabeleland soccer team’s dramatic, crowdfunded journey from a dirt field to becoming stars of the sport’s alternative World Football Cup is a mighty contrast with the upcoming billion- dollar bonanza of Russia 2018.
The Zimbabwean side won hearts at the London-held tournament for football’s outsiders, thanks to their infectious joy at simply being there – made possible by a shoestring budget of crowdfunding and donations. But as they head home on Monday, the team hopes it was not the pinnacle of their journey but the first step in reinvigorating a region ravaged under the rule of deposed president Robert Mugabe.
Matabeleland beat Sri Lankan side Tamil Eelam 1- 0 on Saturday to finish 13th in the 16-team CONIFA World Football Cup, an alternative tournament for unrecognised nations, small states and ethnic identities left outside the game’s governing body FIFA.
Fuelled by team spirit, with traditional singing and dancing turning their games into carnivals, the side also had some star power to call on, as former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar helped out with coaching duties.
But the Matabeleland Football Confederacy ( MFC) has literally no money: their effort was entirely built on donations and crowdfunding.
“We had two balls, a dirt field and a handful of cones,” said Matabeleland’s unpaid English coach, manager, agent and kit washer Justin Walley, 47, of the time he got on board in October last year.
“People have said we have won the tournament, in many ways.”
Their grassroots story of amateur endeavour is a timely antidote before the FIFA World Cup extravaganza in Russia.
Their return flights to London cost around 18,000; the visas were US$ 5,000, while US$ 7,000 has gone on running costs since October.
Their stay in the tournament’s suburban hotel was covered during the competition but the team arrived a day early and stayed on for Sunday night, eating up a few more thousand dollars.
“We’re pretty close to covering it all in crowd funds,” Walley told AFP.
“But we will be back to zero when we go home.”
“It would be nice if we had more money so we had something to build upon rather than struggling.”
Online sales of the team’s colourful shirts have raised some cash, while a spare change bucket has done the rounds at matches.
Walley’s mother has lent the team £ 2,100 ( US$ 2,800), while one fan arranged a fried chicken takeaway for the team’s arrival in London.
A brief team sightseeing trip into central London, burning up 200 in Tube tickets, was made possible by a novel idea.
When the Chagos Islands stepped in for a friendly fixture on Thursday after Matabeleland’s Isle of Man opponents quit the tournament, Walley auctioned two spots on the substitutes’ bench, raising 330.
Grobbelaar, now 60, captained the side. — AFP