Infrastructure is a critical component in modern day society, it simply refers to the basic systems and services a country or an organization needs and requires in order for it to function properly. Now I emphasize needs and requires, which clearly paints the picture that it’s something you cannot do without.
The absence thereof or the poor infrastructure there is, can largely be a result of a number of factors chief among them poverty and can exacerbate the poverty plight.
Sports infrastructure is a critical aspect in the socioeconomic development of a nation as it opens up quite a number of avenues for the generality of the populace. In this case football infrastructure, since it is the most loved sport between the land the lies between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers Zimbabwe and the entire African continent at large.
An example can be neighbors South Africa whose hosting of the 2010 FIFA world cup brought with it not just modern football infrastructure but socioeconomic benefits to the immediate communities where this infrastructure was put up. For Zimbabwe the last investment in sports infrastructure with football included, was when the country hosted the 1995 all Africa games in the capital Harare. The giant national sports stadium is one piece of infrastructure inherited in the aftermath of hosting the continental games. And it is fair to also note that no other mega investment was and has been made into such a gigantic piece of football infrastructure since.
Ever since its erection it has hosted some memorable international matches for the national team, the putting to the sword of football heavyweights in the indomitable Lions of Cameroun, the Pharaohs of Egypt to mention but a few. For those who fondly remember the Dream team years under the late Reinhard Fabisch it was a fortress, an abattoir were heavyweights were slaughtered. Years have gone by decades in fact and the national sports is still the only venue with questionable fitness levels and standards to host international matches. For a country of more than 14 million people with football purportedly being the number one sport it is rather a sad tale of events.
How can the game’s popularity and development of it thereof thrive in other areas of the nation when everything is in a state of centralization. Every international match the national team hosts the national sports stadium in Harare is the host venue. How can the next best thing after the great Peter Ndlovu be scouted when everything always has a bias towards the capital.
You look at regional neighbors to the north in Zambia it is not just the National Heroes stadium in the capital Lusaka, but they also have the Levy Mwanawasa stadium in Ndola. The just ended FIFA world cup in Qatar football leaders argued that it was an effort to spread the game’s popularity to the middle east and what a tournament with Saudi Arabia beating eventual winners Argentina in the opening match.
That alone left a mark on the Arab world and the game has grown in popularity in the aftermath of the global showpiece.
Now for a country of ten provinces with only one stadium fit enough to play host to international matches you ask yourself how can and will the game transcend to other places of the country and will the football fans feel attached to the national team in such a scenario. In a recent premier league match pitting Highlanders and FC Platinum in Bulawayo the atmosphere at Barbourfields stadium was electric with a crowd that says a lot about the loyalty soccer fans have towards local football. Such blockbuster encounters, other fans get turned away now if they had been another investment of a gigantic football infrastructure like the national sports stadium such crowd numbers as the one for the Highlanders and FC Platinum match would be decimated.
The sheer crowd size clearly depicts how much in love people are with the game and imagine the atmosphere if it would be the nation’s number one team the national team, the crowd size would triple so would the atmosphere. Not to talk of the commercial returns, all service providers would be smiling to the bank.
With the passion and loyalty to the game not to mention how the city of kings and queens Bulawayo has given back to the local game through the enormous talents in Zimbabwe’s history to date in Peter Ndlovu and the Jungle man Bruce Grobbelaar surely an investment of the stature even more as that of the National sports stadium should have been made decades ago. Moreso Bulawayo being the second largest city in Zimbabwe, is it not only natural and fitting enough.
With visionary football administrators in place this should call for more investment into the game of football the infrastructure side of it in particular. The existing infrastructure does not match international standards neither is it well looked after you look at Rufaro stadium, Gwanzura stadium which has literally been turned into a white elephant, the national sports stadium is in a sorry state. In February 2020 the national sports stadium almost had its license to host international matches revoked as standards had plummeted drastically.
Rufaro stadium in the capital Harare is currently said to be going through a face lift but you wonder what face lift it is when it does not meet standards of the continental mother body CAF (Confederation of African Football) and the overall football governing body of FIFA. What kind of upgrade is it that does not feed into or align to the requirements of the football authorities at both continental level and global level.
And for all the bias towards the capital city Harare you wonder what authorities at local government level are doing or have been doing to rescue the situation and the government at large through the ministry of sport to see the situation regards football infrastructure is alleviated.
As Steve Vickers a football analyst in 2021 put it “it is embarrassing” that Zimbabwe has to play international assignments in a neutral venue for the simple reason that the football infrastructure is so much deplorable to meet set standards. And imagine the financial repercussions of fulfilling international assignments on neutral venues for football authorities that have always cried foul of deficits and lack of resources.
And where is their shame the football authorities that is, even the government of Zimbabwe, that we host matches playing against teams from neighbors South Africa on match venues of a primitive standard as compared to the ones in South Africa.
FC Platinum had their CAF Champions league match against Orlando Pirates moved to Barbourfields in Bulawayo because Mandava stadium in Zvishavane could not meet the standards in January of 2019. Again, in February of 2016 then champions Chicken Inn had to host South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns at Barbourfields stadium because Luveve stadium their home ground was going through some renovations to meet the expected standards.
All these incidences point to the deplorable state of football infrastructure and the lack of political will to invest in the maintenance and putting up of new infrastructure.
In 2002 the country won the rights to host the Africa Cup of Nations, and this would have been the opportunity to invest in infrastructure with assured quick returns from hosting 15 countries for a football fiesta. However, the government of the day came out last minute to say they had no budget in place to host the tournament, and the rights were awarded to eventual hosts Mali. Yet the government had committed more in financial and human resources in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo which came to be known as Operation Sovereign Legitimacy.
So much so for the literate society we are that many at times these so-called leaders always brag about.
