IT has taken more than a dozen years of HURT, HORROR, HEARTBREAK, HUMILIATION and the HUNGER to battle for their HONOUR.
Tomorrow, it could all come to pass, in their little gold mining town they call home.
And, among their own people, the men and women who have borne the brunt of the pain that came with the way it all ended in tears, the last time around.
Shamva, Mashonaland Central, gold mining, Simba Bhora, Simba Ndoro!
It’s easy to be poetic when glory beckons – Shamva’s Super Saturday for Simba Stars.
That used to be their name, back in the days, when their adventure took them to the gates of paradise, in December 2009.
But, what was supposed to be a Christmas of endless celebrations turned into a holiday season of heartbreak after Simba were denied their place in the Premiership by boardroom politics.
Instead, rather than earning that ticket, into the top-flight, it was Douglas Warriors who took it, based on questionable decisions by the ZIFA judicial committees.
It was too big a burden for little Simba to carry and, as expected, they collapsed, selling their Division One franchise to La Liga, a club which was then owned by Renaissance Bank.
But, as they say, you can’t keep a good man down.
Once the scars healed, Ndoro recharged his batteries and started nursing his dream of pursuing his Premiership dreams, once more.
By 2019, exactly 10 years after their campaign was hijacked by the authorities, Simba Bhora were top of their Division Two league and targeting conquering Division One football, once again.
“We worked extra hard to get here, it’s never easy to get a point in Division Two but we have done it,” said Ndoro, back then.
“You can call us ambitious because we are determined to go all the way to the PSL.”
If they beat Commando Bullets at home tomorrow, they will win one of the toughest Northern Region Division One championship races in history.
They will also win a ticket into the domestic Premiership.
It’s something this community has been waiting for, and praying for, in the past 13 years.
One can understand why they have not chosen to celebrate prematurely, before they complete the mission, because they have been here before, and it didn’t end well.
They know Herentals Under-20 are waiting on the wings and hoping, and praying, for them to slip.
Source: H-Metro
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