Playing the race card

ONCE again, Zimbabwe cricket finds itself in the middle of a war zone. In the blue corner is the management team and in the red corner is the third force team! This war began in the mid-1990s. At the time, this was a simple matter of whites against blacks. Today the war has diversified into different areas, but the race issue continues to play a major role in this never-ending conflict.

This war broke out when the black members of the cricket community felt that they were being excluded from full participation in cricket. Rules and regulations were continually changed or added as a way of frustrating and excluding them from participation in the sport. In 2001, a task force was formed and the purpose of this was to restructure the sport in such a way that it would be an all-inclusive sport. 

One of the ways the task force attempted to restructure the sport was by transferring administrative power from the red corner to the blue corner.  This caused a ripple effect within the sport and cricket in Zimbabwe has never been the same since then.

In 2003, the Zimbabwe Cricket co-hosted the ODI Cricket World Cup with South Africa. Those in the red corner saw this international event as an opportunity to fight back.  Firstly, there was the black armband worn in protest by Andy Flower and Henry Olonga.

This was followed by the international media campaign to discredit the management capabilities of those in the blue corner.  Finally, this rebellion of the then senior players, led to the fast tracking of most of the present players into the national team. The blue corner retaliated by saying that this was a racially motivated act by people who were resisting change. 

Generally, we have accepted that the actions of those in the red corner are racially motivated; but our concern has got to be for the blue corner.  They have been in charge of the sport for close to 12–13 years. In that time, the blue corner has done nothing but validate the concerns from the red corner.

Administration has been the blue corner’s downfall and there is no hiding from that fact. Whichever way you look at it, the buck stops in the blue corner! Instead of manning up and fulfilling the original mandate, the blue corner has tended to play the race card.  At some point in time, the blue corner discovered how powerful and beneficial the race card was.

We cannot hide from the fact that when the blue corner took control of the sport, the sport was financially healthy and the game was improving nationwide.  As we speak, the facts on the ground speak of a reversal of fortunes.

If we cannot continue to use the race card as an excuse for our mismanagement of the sport, it has to be said that had the blue corner fulfilled its mandate right from the start, with an element of transparency; most of the actions of the red corner would have been nullified and the red corner would have found less reason to engage in the third force activities.