PETER NDLOVU IS THE GOAT!
Coming down to the City of Kings has always been special for me. It’s like an escape from the chaos, and madness which Harare represents, a pilgrimage to an oasis of order, an adventure to the heart of serenity, a throwback to the values of serenity. A retreat to an island of tranquillity where the locals put a lot of attachment to the purity of being disciples of the values of orderliness, a people who are allergic to the madness of chaos. This is the home of Highlanders.
ON Wednesday I drove down from Harare to Bulawayo on assignment and it’s a road trip I have always enjoyed over the years, not least because it’s a very familiar highway for me.
It’s like a trip back home, from Harare to Chakari, which I have taken on a regular basis, ever since the Sunshine City became my adopted home in 1990.
That’s the year I arrived in the capital, in search of a better educational standard, in pursuit of my dreams to become a better man and, God willing, to earn a better living standard.
It’s been quite an adventure and along the way I met and dined with characters like Sir Wicknell Chivayo, long before he became this benefactor, who is splashing cars around as if they are just toys.
Coming down to the City of Kings has always been special for me.
It’s like an escape from the chaos, and madness, which Harare represents, a pilgrimage to an oasis of order, an adventure to the heart of serenity, a throwback to the values of serenity.
A retreat to an island of tranquillity where the locals put a lot of attachment to the purity of being disciples of the values of orderliness who are allergic to the madness of chaos.
It might sound incredible, to the residents of Harare who have become prisoners of chaos to such an extent they now don’t see its ugliness, to report that in the three days I have been here I have not seen even one kombi driving in the wrong direction.
In Harare, it’s something you now see on every street, here it’s something you barely see at all and you have to give credit to the people of Bulawayo for that.
You breathe a refreshing air of tranquillity when you are, you get some peace of mind, you get to love being here and, devoid of the relentless pressures that come with every hour spent in Harare, you even feel fresher if not younger.
You go to the Highlanders Club House and you are reminded about everything wrong about Dynamos — a giant without a home, a Goliath without even a bicycle, a tale told by a fool, pregnant with sound and fry yet signifying nothing at all.
Across the road you see the Bulawayo Chiefs Club House and you are reminded about everything wrong about CAPS United — another giant without a home which, somehow, finds itself lagging behind the Ninjas who have only been around for a dozen years.
In 2011, when Makepekepe turned 38, Bulawayo Chiefs were not yet established but today the Ninjas now have their own club house while CAPS United have none and still train on the rented grounds of Standard Chartered Sports Club in Harare.
There was a time when Raylton Sports Club was the home of CAPS United but, somehow, the management at the club didn’t see the long-term benefits of taking it over as their home.
Dynamos train at Alex Sports Club in Harare, just a stone’s throw away from Prince Edward High, which used to be their training base when Tonderai Ndiraya, a former student at this school, was their coach.
Alex Sports Club is in the Milton Park neighbourhood of Harare, not far away from Belgravia, where DeMbare used to train in the ‘80s, which means that in their homeless state, in search for a place to train, they have been wandering around this location for more than four decades.
Maybe, this cold comfort, where they have been training in beautiful surroundings, has been giving them a false sense of security that they are fine when they are not.
Maybe, if they trained on the hard surfaces of the grounds in Mbare or Highfield, they would get the reality that they have absolutely nothing and striving to secure their own training ground should be one of their biggest priorities.
EVEN SAINTS HAVE A CLUBHOUSE
It’s been years now since Zimbabwe Saints last played in the domestic Premiership but, to their credit, Chauya Chikwata have a club house they call their own in the Queens Park area of the City of Kings.
Of course, it has been neglected over the years and, in recent years, was turned into a place for tshisa nyama but the fact still remains that this immovable property belongs to Saints.
It’s something that neither Dynamos nor CAPS United can boast about.
And, when you consider that combined, the two giants have 111 years, it gives you a clear picture of why they have collectively hampered the development of our football.
Sometimes I wonder where our football would have been, in terms of being a better game, if the gods of the game rewarded the Bulawayo clubs for the sake of the spirited efforts they put in towards professionalism.
Barbourfields would be full week in and week out, if Bosso were winning the league championships, the Ninjas would probably have been building their stadium, if they were winning the league, and Chicken Inn would probably have been leasing Luveve.
Maybe, the football gods will argue that they have already rewarded these Bulawayo
clubs, in another BIG way, for their professionalism.
They will probably say but we have already ensured these clubs are the ones who always export players to the major European leagues — from Bruce Grobbelaar to Peter Ndlovu, from Benjani Mwaruwari to Marvelous Nakamba.
On Thursday, a friend of mine drove me to Makokoba, the oldest high density suburb in this city, the home of the famed Stanley Square and Stanley Hall, the home of Amakhosi Theatre and Siyaya. Of course, the home of Peter Ndlovu! I just wanted another emotional connection with the place where Peter Ndlovu grew up, which I felt was necessary, in the month that the Flying Elephant will start the second phase of his life journey. Peter turns 51 on February 25.
He will begin the second part of his life journey, exploring the other side of 50.
There are some who say he was born to be a football star because, as fate would have it, this is the month when a number of iconic footballers were born. Cristiano Ronaldo. Neymar, Ciro Immobile, Hristo Stoichkov, Radamel Falcao, Pique, Edison Cavani, Angel di Maria, Christian Eriksen, Casemiro, Diego Godin, Gianluigi Donnarumma were all born in February.
For me, Peter Ndlovu is the greatest footballer produced in Southern Africa.
He is also probably one of the best 10 footballers produced in Africa and, while I know scores of bricks will be thrown my way from those who argue otherwise, I am ready for them.
And, as Barry Manandi always says, that’s my story and I am sticking to it. I don’t think Peter received true recognition of his true value to football, great appreciation for the incredible talent that he was and the fair compliment he needed for his genius.
Part of that is because coverage of and interest in the English Premiership, especially on television, wasn’t as widespread, in the early ‘90s, when he was at the peak of his athletic powers, as it is right now.
If his astonishing hat-trick at Anfield in 1995 was shown to the same audience, around the world, which now religiously follow the Premiership, the profile of Peter Ndlovu, and appreciation of his genius, would have been on another level.
PETER IS OUR GOAT
For goodness sake, this was the first hattrick by a visiting footballer at Anfield in 33 years, since 1962 when Terry Allcock scored three times, in a losing cause for Norwich, in the old Second Division.
It’s a measure of how great this moment was, in the life and times of a footballer, that only two other players — Leandro Trossard for Brighton & Hove and Andrey Arshavin — have scored hat-tricks in the Premiership since.
Brazilian forward Julio Baptista scored all four goals for Arsenal at Anfield in January 2007 in a League Cup match.
But, Peter remains the ONLY one to score a hat-trick, for a visiting club at Anfield, and emerge as a winner in that game as
Coventry City won 3-2.
However, to relegate Peter’s genius into something that will only be defined by that hat-trick at Anfield will be unfair to a man whose talent was so pronounced some of the things he did with the ball had to be seen to be believed.
When Mo Salah scored a wonder goal for Liverpool against Chelsea in April 2019, the Daily Mail called it one of the finest goals ever scored in the Premiership.
And, in an era where Twitter quickly explodes, a raging online debate followed and Coventry City fans were quick to remind the world that on April 9, 1994, Peter scored a similar magical goal against Wimbledon.
It’s on YouTube and used by the Premier League to celebrate some of its finest moments and you can watch it if you want.
Peter runs to a pass down the right side of the Coventry attack, his searing pace helps him to keep the ball in play and, once he claims ownership, he turns to face the defender, eliminating him by cutting inside and into acres of space.
Another touch, without breaking strike and his head still down, helps him earn another yard and, as if he is being guided by the kind of instincts one only gets when you are a true genius, he charges towards the penalty area.
And, from a similar distance where Salah opened fire, Peter fires an unstoppable shot with his left foot and the Wimbledon ‘keeper has no chance, well beaten by pace, power, precision and placement and the rest is for historians like me to capture.
This year marks 20 years since Peter became the first Warriors captain to lead us at the AFCON finals.
In his first game he scored against the Pharaohs of Egypt and in his next game he scored twice against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, both in losing causes.
On February 3, 2004, he didn’t score against Algeria but led us to our first win at the AFCON finals in that 2-1 victory over Algeria in Sousse.
This year’s edition of AFCON, one of the finest, if not the first tournament, ends tomorrow in Abidjan.
It’s unfortunate that football politics bowled us out and ensured that we would not be there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our dance with the Nations Cup finals with a show in Cote d’Ivoire.
I’m pretty sure that we would have put on a good show given that even Bafana Bafana reached the semi-finals, after only winning two games in regulation time.
And even the DRC reached the semi-finals, after only winning one game, in regulation time.
It would have been good to see Peter in Abidjan providing inspiration for the latest generation of Warriors, on the occasion he would have been marking 20 years since he last led us to battles at the Nations Cup finals.
My brother Charles Mabika insists George Shaya is the GOAT, when it comes to the pecking order of Zimbabwean footballers.
There is a huge constituency that says Moses Chunga is the GOAT while others now say Grobbelaar is the GOAT.
My good money is on Peter.
He will probably rebuke me for saying that because he doesn’t like being hailed as the greatest because he feels that is divisive.
But, I’m okay with the rebuke and I will insist that Peter Ndlovu is the greatest Zimbabwean footballer of all-time.
He is also the greatest Southern African footballer of all-time and this week it has been my privilege and honour to spend days with his local people and in the city he calls home.
There is no city like Bulawayo as much as there is no football club like Highlanders.
And, there is no footballer like Peter Ndlovu.
To God Be The Glory!
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.
Come on Chegutu Pirates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Zaireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
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