Dynamos Splashes US$1,000 on Sangoma Ahead of Highlanders Match
In a surprising development, Zimbabwean football club Dynamos spent US$1,000 to hire a sangoma (traditional healer) before their league match against rivals Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday. This decision was made despite the club’s players boycotting training due to outstanding salary payments.
According to a source, not everyone within the club’s administration was in favour of hiring the sangoma, as they felt it was not the right move given the ongoing issues with the players. However, the club’s owners insisted that this was a long-standing tradition at Dynamos and would not be abandoned simply because of the player boycott.
“Given the issues that were happening with the boys (the players), who were boycotting training, there was a feeling that such a payment was not the right thing to do for the club at the moment. However, the owners of the club said that this was a tradition at Dynamos and it was not going to be changed simply because the players were boycotting training. They said these player boycotts have been happening as long as they can remember and they come and go and this cannot be used as an excuse to stop payments to the sangoma,” a source told H-Metro.
The source explained that the club’s message was that as long as the sangoma was paid, they would still be able to get the desired result against Highlanders, even if the players had not been training. The implication was that the ritual payment was deemed more important for securing victory than the team’s actual preparation on the training ground.
Unfortunately for Dynamos, the plan did not work as they went on to lose the match 2-0. The poor performance on the pitch was seen as a reflection of the disruptions caused by the player boycott.
“It was like they were saying that paying the sangoma was more important, in terms of getting the result which we wanted from the game against Highlanders, than the training itself. The message was like as long as we satisfied the sangoma then we did not need to worry about the issues that had happened at training because the club would still be in a position to compete against Highlanders. Of course, it didn’t happen like that because we lost that game 2-0 and the performance of the boys showed that they had been affected by the issues which had happened on the training field,” the source explained.
Adding to the controversy, the sangoma is now reportedly demanding an additional US$2,000 to come and cleanse the club’s facilities, despite Dynamos’ failure to even score a goal in the match against Highlanders.
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