Barry Daka will be sorely missed
I LEARNT about the passing on of Barry Daka via a post on the Southern Region sportswriters’ WhatsApp group while still in bed on Thursday morning, and I was left numb with shock and rightly so.
Barry, as I affectionately called him, and he had no qualms about that, was always a regular presence in my small cubicle at the Sunday News, where I was Sports Editor, and we always shared worthwhile tips on football matters. We also always met at Barbourfields Stadium during Premier League matches, with our last association being barely at the end of last season.
Barry was undoubtedly one of the football legends and fundis in this country. Hidden behind a quiet and unassuming demeanour, those who have known him both as a player, a Bulawayo City Council employee and coach can also testify that the man was a vessel of knowledge and that his passion for the game was without doubt.
The former Highlanders son had an unending story, for his generation Barry was arguably miles ahead in terms of documenting and implementing his plans. For the uninitiated Barry’s love for football excellence took his art to neighbouring Botswana where he coached top flight sides Notwane, Mochudi Centre Chiefs, Police XI (all in Gaborone) and Francistown-based Tafic, the latter he won the championship with.
He was also involved with a youth development programme with Happy Hearts Academy, a club that was playing in the League but had shifted focus to development in that country. It was a well-funded and ambitious programme for nurturing talent, he would later confide in me.
Back home Barry initially played at both school and youth clubs level that participated in the Bulawayo Amateur League, before donning the famous Highlanders shirt in 1965 at a difficult time before the team was promoted into the First Division.
Highlanders then played in small venues in Matshobana, Sizinda and all around the City of Bulawayo. He then went on to play for Wankie which went on to win the 1973 Castle Cup while in the First Division.
He returned to Bosso but the times were challenging and all the football in the then Rhodesia was in turmoil. In 1976, the RNFL (Rhodesia National Football League) championship had to be decided between Highlanders and Dynamos because they were equal on points. Barry and others went on to found Olympics where he became the first ever player-coach after undergoing coach training under experienced expatriates like Billy Asbury. That is the group that had the likes of Peter Nyama and Shepherd Murape.
Barry went on to coach Highlanders, the national team and national Under-23 side as well as Railstars. He won silver at the All-Africa Games Zimbabwe hosted alongside Wieslaw Grabowski in 1995 with the Under-23 side. He was later to admit to me that his has been a satisfying football journey in 2015. Barry was fully committed to the game and his sense of humour and all-round great respect was of highest order.
I remember in 2015 when he came to our newsroom,
I asked him how he felt about the problems then at Highlanders at which he shot back: “I am here to talk to you about football. And Highlanders is just one of the football teams in Zimbabwe.’’
I was not embarrassed by his response, so principled was Barry that he only left me with much more than awe and admiration of him.
Barry thought the modern game had become too scientific though it was an art, that it had become philosophical.
“Usually, people say PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, which is wrong. PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT and it becomes permanent damage if done wrongly. This is why I think youth programmes must be revisited like when we had youth clubs back then. At this rate football is going down but there is hope. We have the material. Yes, we have human resources and the facilities. All that is needed is the money. Youth developmental programmes such as the one at Barcelona and Real Madrid are the backbone of former world champions, Spain,’’ he once said.
Barry believed that football could only evolve if junior development was seriously embraced, and there was realisation of involvement of former players. After all, he believed the football greats had experience, and that (experience) could not be bought.
“Remember that experience is attained after long periods of playing football. (But) it is common everywhere that people who did not play football have found themselves at the helm. And that former footballers are not always eager to assume new roles in the sport once they leave the game. They (former players) are now spectators, in a game that gave them fame, and in some instances, fortune. Many people think football is easy, that’s why you get many chancers in football nowadays. The results are there for everyone to see, the standards are on a free-fall, period,’’ he told me in one of the interviews I had with him.
I then asked him about the antidote to that free fall.
“For example, at school and in the early stages of the development of the child in the school’s system we need pre-school teachers taking charge of early learning. They have got the knowledge earned over the years. Just as in football, one should have played it early in order for one to successfully pass on that knowledge, learned over the years. Football development starts from the grassroots, but we have been ignoring that, and now we are paying the price at both club and national levels. Former players should be encouraged to get into football and arrest that situation, if we are to catch them young. Catching them young should be the concept, the idea, the trick, and the ultimate yardstick for success. Ask any successful player current and past, they will tell you that they started playing the sport when they were still young.’’
Barry, who was once employed by the Bulawayo City Council as an assistant sports officer, was for the revival of the council’s oncefamed vibrant sporting amenities and facilities such as Tshaka Youth Centre in Makokoba, Thabiso Youth Centre and a lot others in Matshobana, Sizinda and so forth which were similar to so-called Academies of Excellence in other parts of the world.
The facilities were credited with nurturing talent in Bulawayo and for Highlanders in particular.
Many of the players that graced Highlanders and represented the greater Bulawayo with pride and honour, one way or the other came from these structures. Names such as Makheyi Nyathi (late), Gift Lunga Senior, Adam Ndlovu (late), Nkululeko Dlodlo, and many others, spring to mind.
And yet Barry died with no regrets. “One cannot live a life of regrets, no matter the mistakes you may make. I have always tried to be very positive and learn from the wrong decisions I have made. Otherwise, I could not be where I am. There are so many things I could have done differently but I have enjoyed reasonable success as a player and a coach.’’
A good idea that is not shared with others will gradually fade away and bear no fruit, but when it is shared it lives forever as it is passed on from one person to another and grows as it goes.
Barry believed in a collective effort, in order to produce results, and was always proud of those he worked with.
“I worked with a lot of fantastic guys. I worked with Roy Barretto, Rahman Gumbo and Cosmas ‘Tsano’ Zulu. They were all different. Tsano was a physical condition specialist; Roy came from a different background and was a motivator, while Rahman had his playing experience. So, it has always been learning from everyone and getting to use each other’s experience for the good of the game”.
Barry, who is survived by a wife, four children and 10 grandchildren, passed away on Thursday morning after a short illness at the age of 71. At the time of his death he was a member of the Bulawayo City FC panel of football advisors.
We mourn not only a great man, but a truly football visionary. But we will take solace in his exemplary life story as we celebrate the life of one of our true football heroes. We will forever cherish his vision for Zimbabwe, realise its dream of becoming a big footballing nation. His spirit will forever stay in our heavy hearts.
May his dear soul rest in peace.