Online Reporter
Sharuko on Saturday
Baseball star Gabby Hartnett had a close friendship with Al Capone, the Scarface who is one of the most well-known American gangsters.
These Mafia bosses were not your kind of petty criminals, these were tough and ruthless criminals who killed or ordered the killing of thousands of people.
But, their criminal activities didn’t destroy the reputations of the sports stars they associated with and, for goodness sake, Hollywood even went on to make movies of Rocky as a superhero.
Sylvester Stallone didn’t refuse to star as Rocky, the great boxer, simply because the real Rocky had a questionable relationship with a Chicago mobster known as “one Ear.”
That is the real world out there and Chelsea did not return the trophies they won under Roman Abramovich when the source of his wealth was questioned and he was sanctioned and his assets frozen.
Chelsea fans still sing songs in honour of Abramovich because to them he is a man who transformed their club and that is all that matters.
For goodness sake, the 2034 World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia and when Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and many others decided to earn their living in that country, they considered what was in the best interest of their families.
They didn’t listen to all the noise from the West that Saudi Arabia has a questionable human rights record and all the controversy that followed the killing of journalist Jamal Kasshoggi.
PETER MADE HIS CHOICE
Against that background, I find it quite disappointing, if not amusing, that some people can gang up against Peter Ndlovu and spend the week hammering him for daring to accept a car gift from Wicknell Chivayo.
They argue that Peter should not have accepted that gift because doing so compromises him given they have concerns as to where Chivayo is getting the money to splash on these expensive gifts like cars.
I understand their concerns but I don’t agree with their argument that Peter has to turn down that gift because they have question marks over the source of Chivayo’s money.
Some even claim the businessman is using “their money,” implying it was taken from State enterprises, in one way or the other.
And even if that was the case, shouldn’t someone like Peter also feel that he has a stake in that money and deserves the gift that it buys?
What would they prefer – Chivayo splashing his money in buying prime real estate, and making more millions for himself and his family from renting it out, or sharing it with his chosen heroes like Peter Ndlovu and Alick Macheso?
When Peter told a South African court last year that he could not afford to pay £568 for the maintenance of two of his 11 children, many of us mocked him and no one came to his rescue, as our national hero, to ease his plight.
If we really care for him, why didn’t we come up with a fund raising initiative to help him meet these costs and ease the financial burden on his shoulders?
We can’t pick and choose when to expect Peter to be our moral compass, when it suits our interests, and abandon him, when he is dealing with his personal family challenges, as was the case last year.
When Peter’s BMW X5 crashed, in the accident where he lost his beloved brother Adam, he was in a very bad space but what did we do to help him, even with his rehabilitation – both mentally and physically – let alone helping him replace his car?
We did NOTHING because that is what we do best.
When Peter was playing for Black Mambas here at home, and life was hard, who was there among us to try and help him because he is our national hero?
No one, absolutely no one.
He was alone and all those people who are now trying to tell him how he should lie his life, which gifts he should receive and those which he should not receive, were aware of his plight.
It’s very likely many of them were mocking him and now they want to dress themselves in borrowed robes and tell him what he can do and what he cannot do with his life.
There is something very wrong with us as a people that we find everything wrong with an individual, Peter Ndlovu, accepting a car gift from Chivayo and we saw nothing with the same individual donating a car to ZIFA for Kalisto Pasuwa, the then national coach, to use.
What is worse – mere individual accepting such a gift or the national team coach, who represents everyone in this country, accepting a similar gift?
How was it okay that Chivayo can donate a car for Mighty Warriors coach Shadreck Mlauzi to use and it’s not okay that the same chap donates a car to Peter?
This is the same Mlauzi we celebrated as a hero when he made history by taking the Mighty Warriors to the Olympics in Rio in 2016.
Why didn’t we stop celebrating that success on the basis that the working conditions of that success story had been created by Chivayo’s money?
If Peter sees the whole football establishment, represented by ZIFA, at local level, and FIFA at global level, accepting such donations for our national teams, why should he think it’s wrong for him to accept such a gift?
There is this misconception that Peter should have lots of money, millions and millions, because he played in the English Premiership.
What isn’t said is that in the early days of the Premiership, the clubs didn’t have the kind of money which we are seeing today and Peter’s first pay cheque was just £800 a week.
The average annual salary in the Premiership during the ‘92/’93 season was £77 083, which translates to £1 482 a week for the footballers.
For goodness sake, this guy played for Coventry City, which isn’t one of the clubs which were paying its players a fortune.
We can try to taint his legacy, including exporting the fight and roping in foreign media outlets like KickOff to savagely attack him, but what we can never do is to erase his legacy.
The first African player to play in the Premiership, at the age of 19, the first foreigner to score a hat-trick at Anfield, the first player to do so in 24 years, the first captain to lead the Warriors at the AFCON finals, the first Warrior to score at the AFCON finals, the first Warrior to score a brace at the tournament.
Nothing can erase that – even if he decides to kiss the devil himself.
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 Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldhinoooooooooooooooooo!
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You can also interact with me on the ZTV football programme, Game Plan, where I join the legendary Charles “CNN” Mabika on Wednesdays
