Pele: The power of greatness

LET me start off by saying Pele won the last of his three World Cup titles four years before I was born, and, as such, I barely got the chance to see him at his prime.

I was actually born nine days after the 1974 World Cup final, which the then West Germany hosted and won by beating the famous “Total Football” Netherlands team fronted by Johann Cruyff 2-1.

Brazil, without Pele in their ranks, could only finish fourth after losing the bronze medal match to Poland.

Fast-forward five or six years later, and my father — a teacher at the time — could afford to buy a black-and-white television set.

It was around this time that I actually finally got to see Pele in action.

A soft drinks manufacturer that had recently set up shop in Zimbabwe had a long-running partnership with Pele.

They ran an advert with the star juggling a football in different locations, after which he eventually launched it in a spectacular bicycle kick.

The advert ended with “Come on, Come, Have a . . . day!” Many people nursed back injuries sustained from imitating the Pele overhead kick on assorted surfaces, including concrete, tarred roads and even rocky outcrops.

Even when I was old enough to play street games, I encountered Pele daily.

Most teenagers would draw the number 10 on their apparel and consider themselves as “Pele”. Youngsters would often have their toes stomped by older players.

Once this happened, the other boys would say: “Pele haacheme mupfanha; anotokuvadzwa kupfuura ipapa . . .” (Pele doesn’t cry; he gets hurt worse than this).

To a young mind, this seemed practical. My next encounter with Pele was in a Shona textbook called “Rurimi Rwaamai” by Thompson Kumbirai Tsodzo.

There was a comprehension passage simply titled “Pele, mambo webhora (Pele, the king of football).”

Each time I read the passage, images of the player they called the king became more vivid.

During the 1966 World Cup match between Brazil and Portugal, Pele was fouled often, but each time, he got up and continued to play.

He missed parts of the tournament as teams figured out that the best way to stop him was to “cut his legs off ”, which they did, repeatedly.

England went on to win it by beating West Germany.

In the early 1980s, Pele also featured in a film called “Escape to Victory”.

It starred Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine.

It also featured a host of football players, including England legend Bobby Moore.

The film was about prisoners of war in a German prison who play a match against their captors.

The prisoners, however, plan an escape during the game.

Pele’s acting was not at par with his football skills but the film was highly anticipated because of the football stars and the rising star that was Stallone.

The highlight for football fans was another bicycle kick by Pele.

Cue more injuries!

Pele won three World Cups as a player in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

The 1958 title was Brazil’s first ever, and Pele was only 17 years old.

He played and scored in the final, setting the tone for what would be a legendary career.

At 17, when I was agonising over my Lower Six performance, Pele was leading Brazil to history. By then, I knew a lot more about Pele from magazines and various football programmes.

The rise of Argentine Diego Maradona in 1986 led to more details about Pele being revealed, as debate about who was greater swirled. We knew a lot about Pele without any of today’s quick access tools.

The internet was still under development and there was no YouTube to talk about. Social media was also non-existent. We only had access to some articles, which we read and passed around. Some grainy TV clips were also available.

Pele’s legend grew despite these technological and geographical limitations.

Pele never played in Europe because his government declared him a “national treasure” that could not be allowed to leave the country.

Regardless, he secured multi-million-dollar endorsement deals from European companies, chief among them German sportswear maker Puma.

It is reported that Puma once paid Pele US$120 000 to tie his laces before a match against Peru at the World Cup.

The company even paid the cameraman to zoom in on the incident.

It was a moment of classical marketing opportunism. The crazy part is that Puma had agreed with their rivals Adidas not to go after Pele, as they both feared a bidding war would ruin both companies.

Puma spectacularly binned the “Pele pact” and created marketing folklore.

Pele was named the Footballer of the Century by FIFA. He was also named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee. When you consider that this was a century in which athletes such as Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Florence Griffith Joyner, Carl Lewis, Mike Tyson, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and others graced their respective arenas, you realise how great this man was. His fame and reach transcended football, and he was the first truly global sports star.

Rest in peace, Pele.