Future bright for Zim football clubs

ZIMBABWEAN club football is on an upward curve with more and more sponsors coming on board and clubs now in a position to survive on their own rather than relying on gate takings.

Evidence to that e ect is there in plain sight as almost 70% of clubs in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League are now fully corporate sponsored with only a handful still in the hands of individuals.

Word doing rounds is to the e ect that the sponsor for Dynamos and Highlanders is even willing to go even further by negotiating leases for the clubs for Rufaro and Barbour elds stadiums.

This was even further buttressed by the hive of activity during the transfer window period which was because more clubs had the nances to spend unlike in the past when the market was the preserve of FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum Stars.

In fact, only Caps United, Hwahwa, Tenax, and Yadah, seem to be lacking in serious sponsorship but not the other 14 teams that make up the PSL assembly.

Gone are the days when every day the story was about players refusing to train because they had not received their salaries or allowances for over three or so months.

Or those days when clubs failed to ful l their distant away xtures because their team bus had either broken down or had no fuel to take them to their destination.

The ultimate goal is to have a Zimba

LEGEND has it that Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland in the 14th century, after being defeated heavily by the English, cowered in a cave and contemplated his situation. While doing so, it is believed, he became inspired by, of all things, a spider which he watched spinning its web even though time after time it fell and had to start again. Many people see this as the inspiration behind the saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”, allegedly coined by Thomas H Palmer in 1840.

There are numerous wonderful anecdotes or adages about failure, many starting with the phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed”. One has warned us that, “If at first you don’t succeed, you’ll get a lot of free advice from other folks who didn’t succeed either.”

Then others have argued, “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success”, “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you”, “If at first you don’t succeed, try drinking a beer while you do it. You’ll be amazed at how much less you care.” However, W. C. Fields took a different stance: “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.”

Other less helpful alternatives include the advice to “Blame your parents” or “Find out if the loser gets anything” or “Lie, lie again”. These are all people who offer their ten cents’ worth of advice on how to handle failure but do we know how to handle failure, as coaches and parents? We will not know until we have failed and by then it may too late. bwean game that will in future be able to pay its players good salaries that will stop them from moving to Tanzania, Zambia, or other lowly ranked African football leagues.

Truly, Zimbabwean football has suffered from this never ending exodus of its nest players and in this age of change, the country should not continue as a talent breeder for other leagues.

Instead, Zimbabwe should have a game of football that should attract talent from neighbouring countries because of its nancial power as was the case in the past when the best from Malawi and Zambia ocked to the domestic Premiership.

Those were the days when the likes of Derby Makinka, Francis Kasanda, Sandros Kumwenda, Laughter Chilembe, Ferdinand Mwachindalo, Kelvin Kaindu, and of course, Joseph Kamwendo the Malawian who won the Zimbabwe Soccer Star of the Year Award in 2005 graced the Zimbabwean elds.

All these players and those from other African countries were attracted to this country not only by the high standards of our football but also by the huge nancial incentives which were on o er then.

So far, Zimbabwe seems to be walking on the right path back to the good days with a number of clubs now paying salaries worth the profession in Zimbabwe and others like Dynamos, Highlanders, and Bulawayo Chiefs, rumoured to be paying out very huge incentives.

That the change is coming during the time of the Fifa ban is merely coin

There are many wonderful examples of people coming back from (apparent) failure by following the advice “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. That sounds like good advice and it is certainly advice that Melina Robert-Michon (pictured), a French discus thrower who first appeared in the Olympic Games in Sydney aged

21, finishing in 29th place, seemed to take to heart.

Four years later in Athens, while she threw the discus further than in Sydney, she came in 31st. cidence but Zimbabwe football should take advantage of this isolation so that its teams come back stronger and different when the country nally gets readmission to international football.

The occupation during this period of isolation should be building a strong league that will in turn produce strong teams for the Caf Champions League and the Caf Confederation Cup when the time comes.

The truth is that there has been a huge improvement in as far as club sponsorship is concerned but at national level, things have remained stagnant with only the Chibuku Super Cup

Many budding athletes might have been tempted to step away from the sport at such a stage but she continued, finishing 8th in 2008 in Beijing, 5th in London in 2012 and 2nd in Rio in 2016. Her persistence paid off as she finally, at the age of 37, stepped onto the medal poand the Castle Lager Championship to talk of.

We await, that with the exciting football that is coming out from the eld of play, and the sanity that is prevailing in football administration, that very soon, sponsors will be knocking on the door to bankroll other knockout tournaments and possibly at national level and not only in the PSL.

Zimbabweans miss the days when in one season, there was the Chibuku Trophy, the Rothmans Shield, the BAT Rosebowl, and the Zifa Cup which was the biggest of them all.

All these tournaments brought dium. Incredibly, 21 years after her first Olympic Games, she appeared in her fifth one, this time in Tokyo, and finished in 15th place, with a throw that bettered her 8th place finish in 2008. Her attitude was to believe that “I will persist until I succeed”. While persistence is a vital quality in handling failure, so too is perspective. Perspective helps us see things correctly. Failure comes to us all at some stage. Far more people fail than succeed. Not everyone can be successful. Failure is never final nor need it be fatal. Failure will ultimately pass. Failure does not define us or give us worth. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin (heads and tails) but the value of the coin stays the same, no matter which side it lands.

The most important perspective of failure to pass on to our youngsters is for them to recognise that failure can be extremely positive and beneficial for us. It teaches us; it questions us (how important is this activity?); it motivates us (be it through the guilt, shame, anger that we experience); it strengthens us (bones and muscles are stronger after being broken); it redirects us (to do different things or to do things differently); it releases us (from the presentertainment to the fans and also helped greatly in the nancial co ers of the clubs and the earnings of the players.

The sponsors are there OK Zimbabwe, CBC, FBC Holdings, Banc ABC, Econet, and NetOne, and they are willing to be associated with the game of football.

The only thing that is missing is a grandmaster who can lure them to the game with a package that is attractive to their product or products.

For your comments, views, and suggestions mkariati@gmail.com or WhatsApp on 0773 266 779 sure of always having to succeed); it proves us and it warns us (failure is not pleasant so we will do everything we can to avoid it).

We tell our children to dream big, to aim high, to reach for the stars. That all sounds well and good. Of course, we want them to go far, to succeed. One big question remains though: what happens if they do not fulfil those dreams, if they do not reach the heights, if they do not hit the stars?

The reality is that ninety-nine percent of people do not succeed in the areas they are wanting. In effect, by exhorting our youngsters to have such aims, we are actually setting our children up to fail yet we rarely do anything to prepare them for the ensuing failure. And if that is the case, we are being highly irresponsible, blind and negligent (negligence is, let us remember, one form of abuse).

If at first we do not succeed, we are not the first or only one. We must allow children to fail, especially in a safe, caring environment in order to prepare them for future failure (when the community may not be so safe or caring) and we must teach them how to handle failure. In short, we fail to win. If we do not, then we as coaches and parents have failed – and who will help us?

Tim Middleton is a former international hockey player and headmaster, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Association of Trust Schools Email: ceo@atschisz.co.zw