Spare a thought for Norman Mapeza

CHEATED: Norman Mapeza disqualified from Coach of the Year Award

IN the next 24 hours, Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo will be named winner of the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) awarded to the outstanding player of the year by France Football magazine – only a day after picking up his THIRD red card in just over a year.

The award is merited after an outstanding 2007-08 season for the Portuguese player in the English Premier League. He scored an incredible 42 goals and was chosen by fellow professionals as the Players’ Player of the Year, on top of scooping the Player of the Year award given by a panel English football writers.

Ronaldo should count himself lucky, for had he had the misfortune of playing in Zimbabwe, he would have been disqualified from any individual award for a red card earned at Portsmouth in August, 2007.

Ronaldo was sent off for Manchester United after head-butting Richard Hughes. Violent conduct, the offence is called in football.

A player who can mesmerize and frustrate in equal measure, Ronaldo had in March of the same year been accused of cheating when he was booked for diving in the Champions League against French club, Lille.

UNSPORTING: Ronaldo throttles Brazil's Marcelo in Portugal's 6-2 defeat last month

It doesn’t end there. Last month, the volatile Portuguese skipper was sent off for his country after he was accused of trying to break Brazilian centre back Thiago Silva’s leg with a crude lunge as they slumped to a 6-2 defeat.

Then, on Sunday, in the Manchester derby, Ronaldo saw red after picking up two bookings – the first for hacking down Shaun Wright-Phillips from behind, and the second for deliberate handball.

With a progress report like that, for only the last 12 months, some in the football fraternity are up in arms, saying Ronaldo does not deserve the honour. Which is nonsense!

If we accept that Ronaldo was the most outstanding footballer last season, then he should be rewarded. It is that simple.

Which brings me to Zimbabwe, and the unreported scandal of selecting, or non-selection, of our outstanding players and coaches – a task which is correctly left to the country’s football writers as it happens the world over.

Here, if you pick up six yellow cards in a season, or the odd red card, you are disqualified from selection for the Soccer Star of the Year gong.

It is these rules — not even fit for a nunnery — which could see one of the country’s most incredible success stories go unnoticed, and unrewarded.

Norman Mapeza stands on the verge of winning the CBZ Premier Soccer League title with Monomotapa – a team that has punched above its weight all season and re-organised domestic football hierarchy.

Having lost the opening four games of the season, Monomotapa went on a 12-match unbeaten run, including eight wins. Along the way, they claimed some major scalps like Highlanders and Dynamos – the two big clubs whose supporters are convinced they are ordained to win titles until Jesus comes.

With meagre resources, a sparse following and steely resolve – Mapeza’s team have recovered from whipping boys early on in the season to firm favourites for the league title. With only five games to play before the end of the season, they lead nearest rivals Dynamos by three points. They can afford to lose one of the five and still walk away with the league title. Even a runners-up finish would be an awesome achievement by any measure.

Yet for all he has achieved, Mapeza has been overlooked for the Coach of the Year award. Why? Because he shoved a rogue fan before a CBZ Cup match with Eastern Lions last month! Yes. Crazy, isn’t it?

Did Zinedine Zidane not win the Golden Ball as the best player of the 2006 World Cup even after the controversy of the red card for ramming into Marco Materazzi’s abdomen in France’s final defeat to Italy?

It is no longer justifiable for our football writers to continue to reject the best football talent there is in the country based on rules that don’t apply anywhere else.

Any awards ceremony that fails to honour Norman Mapeza for what he has done this season is plainly not credible.

Soccer fans and sponsors should reject this celebration of mediocrity, where those who have excelled are sidelined for those who nearly excelled based on opaque rules.