Late Mwinyi: Tanzania no longer madman’s head

TANZANIA: FORMER president, the late Ali Hassan Mwinyi used to describe the soccer team as the “head of a mad man,” where any amateur barber could learn shaving skills.” Mzee Mwinyi who was promoted to glory on Thursday will be remembered by sports fraternity for being transparent when it came to football.

Fondly nicknamed ‘Mzee Rukhsa’ for his liberal approach during his tenure, the fallen former Head of State pushed for professionalism in football and sports in general. He described the soccer as the ‘head of mad man’ following the unpredictability in Tanzanian soccer.

This expression persisted for years during which the success in football and national teams, in general, was far from convincing. Despite the truth, poor performance in soccer was something that troubled him personally, and he did not want to leave the bad legacy.

Years later, Mzee Mwinyi erased his words during the Simba ‘Mo Awards’ ceremony held in Dar es Salaam in June 2018. He said the statement was no longer valid since he was among those who had witnessed major changes in the country’s soccer.

He therefore erased his 1993 statement ‘the head of a madman.’ In 1993, Mzee Mwinyi who was the Head of State by then said Tanzania soccer was a head of mad man after Simba SC lost 2-0 to Stella Abidjan of Ivory Coast at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Simba SC missed CAF Winners’ Cup. But 25 years later, President Mwinyi dropped the statement during Simba ‘Mo Awards’. He said Tanzania soccer had changed and that it was no longer the ‘head of a mad man’. Mwinyi was quoted as saying: “Brothers, from today I am erasing my statement, I know you remember it very well, so I am dropping it from today.” During the same ceremony, several Simba players received awards.

They were Aishi Manula (Best Goalkeeper), Erasto Nyoni (Best Defender), Shiza Kichuya (Best Midfielder), Emmanuel Okwi (Best Striker), Zainab Rashid Pazi (Best Female Player), Rashid Juma (Best Young Player), Best Goal of the Year (John Bocco), Masoud Djuma, Piere Lechantre, Abbas Seleman, and Mohammed Habib (Technical Bench Award). Others were John Bocco (Best Player of the Year), Saleh Kambi (Best Fan), Hamis Mwinjuma ‘Mwana FA,’ the current Deputy Minister for Culture, Arts and Sports (Internet Motivator), Haji Manara (Motivator), Seleman Matola (Honorary Award), Ubungo Terminal (Best Branch Award) and the top officer Award went to Salim Abdallah.

In a special interview on April 6, 2019, with BBC journalist Zuhura Yunus, who is currently the Tanzania State House Director of Information, Mwinyi repeated his words.

Zuhura asked Mwinyi what he wanted Tanzanians to remember him for. Mwinyi smiled and replied: “There is something true and funny; it is funny to say that Tanzanian football is like the head of a madman. “That is, everyone can learn how to shave through the head of a madman, every team that came to play with us whether it was national or club competition, we tasted defeat. “But people came to ask me now, you see old man, look at this, Tanzania is still the head of a madman?

And I said to them, I deleted my statement.” This clearly shows that it is a statement that also touched him and wanted to be remembered in good statement certainly when he leaves.

Since 2019 Tanzania football from national men and women’s teams and club level have registered tremendous success which means are no longer ‘head of a madman.’ To prove this, in 2019 Tanzania qualified to participate in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals for the second time after waiting for 39 years.

Tanzania qualified for the first timed in 1980. They qualified for a third tournament in 2023 at the event held in Ivory Coast in January this year. We are also cherishing Young Africans and Simba’s roles in the county’s sporting excellence under President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Among the most notable include the women’s football senior team ‘Twiga Stars’ that has qualified for the WAFCON finals.