ALL EYES ON KHAMA
. . . will hero’s return spark interest in PSL?
IT’S a league which has been crying out for a hero and will the return of Khama Billiat provide the spark needed to coerce fans to return to the domestic Premiership which explodes into life tomorrow?
That’s the million-dollar question as the Castle Lager Premiership, which has suffered badly from a wave of spectator flight, in an era where its All-Star English cousin has transformed itself into the first-choice league for local fans.
PSL chairman Farai Jere said Billiat’s return, in an instant, doubled the value of the domestic Premiership as interest in the star, in particular, and the league, in general, soared over the past week.
The expectation was that he would join Dynamos but Billiat chose Yadah Stars where, since his arrival, he has been feted like a king and given the love which the Kaizer Chiefs fans denied him during his lonely final stages of his stay in South Africa.
His glitzy unveiling ceremony was a blockbuster event as the Miracle Boys pulled all the strings to show that local clubs can also invest into the kind of events which have become synonymous with football around the world.
SuperSport wanted to screen part of the ceremony live on their weekly magazine programme, Soccer Africa, but there was a clash in the time of the two events but that, on its own, was a huge demonstration of the power of Billiat’s appeal.
Now, the sideshows are coming to an end.
And, from tomorrow, the real business starts on the field as life returns to the stands in a marathon in which Billiat’s name will feature prominently.
The reality is that he hasn’t returned home as a fresh-faced Bill Antonio who has age on his side, a pace to burn and so much to learn and a lot of areas to improve in his game.
He is back home as a 33-year-old who, in the twilight of his career, now finds himself powered by a body which has been ravaged by injuries.
He will play for a team which needed some last-day heroics, beating the Glamour Boys, to survive relegation.
To expect him to explode the way Antonio has been doing in Belgium in the past few weeks, before a bad injury brought his show to a halt, would be expecting too much from Billiat.
But, this is a player who knows how to turn on the show and in his career he had touched the heavens, conquered Africa on the club scene, conquered South Africa and turned himself into the posterboy of Supa Diski.
Yadah, who start their campaign away in Hwange, are unlikely to win the league, even with Billiat in their ranks.
But, they are likely to provide the league with its star attraction which, if everything goes well, could help the PSL win back some of the fans it lost along the way.
Not bad for the only Harare PSL club with their own stadium.