Yona and his hype
Mighty Wanderers chief supporter Yona Malunga is a chirpy fella that even rival Big Bullets fans enjoy his escapades. Last week, Yona took it upon himself to set the hype for the derby boasting that his team would fly by Air Malawi to Lilongwe from Blantyre for last Saturday’s showdown. Now, we all know that Air Malawi no longer exists. Perhaps, Yona meant Africa’s own ‘Jumbo Jet’ otherwise known as lichelo or flying basket because Wanderers’ strong belief in juju is well-documented. Their recent encounter with the Mzuzu witch doctor is a good example.
Nomads’ jumbo jet should have crashed at Lizulu where they hired kabaza (bicycle taxis) to the capital and that probably explains their mediocre show against Bullets. But Yona still deserves a pat on the back for his juicy prematch talk because football is about rivalry, the bigger the rivalry the bigger the game and one of the biggest derbys in the world is definitely the one that captures the imagination of the entire football world, the one that features the globe’s two greatest players on either side of the Great Divide—Barcelona versus Real Madrid.
In Africa, we also have our own derbys Al-Ahly vs Zamalek in Egypt and in South Africa, they too have the Soweto derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. On the domestic scene, we have our own super Blantyre derby—Bullets and Wanderers and while the latest clash failed to stir the passions, as usual it was not short of appeal.
In those good ‘ole days the domestic flagship league was a playing ground for talented artists whose magical boots used to create lasting memories that would brighten our Saturday afternoons. It was so big that it had a bearing on families such that a lady who supported either of the giants could not give in to the hubby’s advances whenever her team lost and there would be no time for ‘bed play’—it would be sound sleep, nothing else. These are the sights and sounds that used to dominate the ‘Battle of Blantyre’ in the good ‘ole days and some of the classics can’t just fade from the memory bank.
A record K11 million was made in the capital, of course, not through the infamous cashgate from gate revenue, as thousands of fans that paid their way to get the glimpse of the latest episode of the battle of giants. Let the bulk of the proceeds go to those that deserve it most—the players. The loot should go into Dalitso Sailesi and Mike ‘Malouda’ Kaziputa’s pockets, it should not be used as capital for kitchen party top ups of greedy officials’ spouses. Glory be to God! Uloliwe.. Uloliwe wayidudula hi..Nang’esiza! [The train is pushing!]
