This boy needs help

01 Jul, 2018 - 00:07 0 Views
This boy needs help

The Sunday Mail

THERE are days in this job when you carry the emotions of the story home with you.

At journalism school, they teach you to divorce your feelings from the story and that is why the first thing we do when we hear of an accident is ask if there were deaths.

However, there are some stories that find their way into one’s heart and stay there.

On April 3, 2011, at the Stade Omar Hamadi in Algeria, I cried along with Lloyd Mutasa and his youthful Dynamos side after they were victims of refereeing witchcraft in a Caf Champions League tie.

DeMbare went into the match carrying a 4-1 lead but were beaten 3-0 and bowed out of Africa’s premier club competition on away goal’s rule.

Even the devil must have felt pity for a Dynamos side that had the real Denver Mukamba, David Kutyauripo, Guthrie Zhokinyi and an Archford Gutu who played with grace.

The story I wrote for The Herald the next day was once used as the perfect or imperfect example of what can happen when feelings spill into copy at some workshop organised for sports journalists.

Over seven years have passed since that Algerian lesson but the story of Ronald Chitiyo got me all emotional.

Is it me or it’s just difficult to comprehend how $12 000 can stand between Chitiyo and his career? There are times when the Caps United midfielder just drifted into his own zone when we spoke last week, possibly searching for answers as to why his life did such a biblical Job turn – from sunshine to hailstorms in a matter flash.

Chitiyo needs help, Caps owes him that, the nation owes him that.

Yes, Cuthbert Chitima, the Caps United chief executive, is being honest when he says their coffers have seen better days but that is no excuse, really.

Makepekepe should get Chitiyo operated on, they need to stand by him in the same manner they stood with Hardlife Zvirekwi earlier this year. The longer they churn out the “we are broke” line, the longer Chitiyo continues being in limbo.

The current state of affairs paints Caps United in bad light, it also makes one ask questions about club owner Farai Jere and his board.

Have they exhausted all the options available to them?

If things are that bad, why didn’t they organise a fundraising match with Dynamos during this midseason break?

How about presenting their case to NetOne, the mobile company paying the player salaries?

Chitiyo’s help can also come from the Caps United supporters’ bays and not just the boardroom.

While their figure is nowhere near DeMbare’s mythical seven million souls, the Green Machine faithful are quite a number and they can lend a hand to this cause.

Desmond Maringwa and his Footballers Union of Zimbabwe have worked with Chitiyo in some of their programmes and they ought to step up.

One for their own is down.

What happens to Chitiyo and his left knee from here on only the Heavens know but the question is will we be able to live with ourselves if we let $12 000 bring the curtains down on such a promising career?

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