My colleague Pilirani Kachinziri—also known by his clan name Kazilimani—shared with me a funny tale about what happened sometime back when he was at a boarding primary school at Nkhoma in Lilongwe where an elder fella who was simply known as ‘Ninja’ gave him a tough time and bullied him time and again.
According to Pilirani, ‘Ninja’ was the most feared fella on campus, but there came a time when Pilirani thought enough was enough and reported him to another chap called Bunaya who vowed to take ‘Ninja’ head on—it was a David versus Goliath affair. The stage was set and in no time, Bunaya got it right and used a tactic mostly used by women when fighting their hubbies—he pressed ‘Ninja’ ‘jewels so hard and the poor fella screamed and then fell embarrassingly headlong as Bunaya complemented his quick act with some fast jabs. Bunaya turned into an instant hero and his name rolled off the tongues of his peers so sweetly.
Everyone loves an underdog and I found Bunaya’s tale having an appeal of the underdog. And this Saturday, my beloved Flames will take on African Champions Nigeria in a swim-or-sink 2014 World Cup qualifier in the fortress of Calabar. Now and again, the world has backed an underdog — which suddenly finds itself facing the might of the heavyweight — hoping for that shock victory that will cheer the spirits of the globe and also prove that, for all the talent that nature can give an individual, we are all human. And while the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against my beloved Flames, the world of sport, by its nature, has always been fascinated by feel-good stories of little David bringing down the giant that was called Goliath.
Sports journalism has always feasted on the appeal of the charming story of Cameroon somehow finding the inspiration to beat the then world champions Argentina 1-0 in the opening game of the World Cup finals in Italy in 1990. And what about our own charming story of little Flames shocking the then African champions Egypt with a 1-0 win in 2008 to end the Pharaohs two-year unbeaten run?
We are the minnows, as far as the world believes and the fact that we’ll be playing without the likes of ‘Black Mamba’ [Esau Kanyenda] and ‘JK’ [Joseph Kamwendo] makes it even worse. We have to understand that player-for-player, we are miles behind the Super Eagles, but while the odds are stacked against our boys, sport has given us countless examples of teams and athletes who went into battle with odds heavily stacked against them, but emerged out of it all bruised, but triumphant. So, maybe the Flames can add their name to the list of the world’s Cinderella tales. Who said it can’t happen? AOB: Koma Sturridge abale, kodi anakhala bwanji? Uloliwe.. uloliwe wayidudula hi..nang’esiza! [the train is pushing!]
