Stellenbosch beaten, but it’s Yanga that’s mocked!
What you need to know:
- It’d been a long period of pain for Simba SC fanatics as they continually remained the butt of bad jokes by supporters of their traditional arch-rivals, Young Africans aka Yanga aka Wana Jangwani aka Utopolo.
Dar City went agog in the early evening of Sunday, April 27. Or was it the whole of Bongo Republic? Simba SC have made it!
After 32 years of waiting, the Msimbazi Street boys beat a formidable South Africa side, Stellenbosch FC, to qualify for the African Confederation Cup (CAF) finals.
It’d been a long period of pain for Simba SC fanatics as they continually remained the butt of bad jokes by supporters of their traditional arch-rivals, Young Africans aka Yanga aka Wana Jangwani aka Utopolo.
It wasn’t easy to arrive at the this stage, having “played well all along” but failing to overcome the Quarter Final threshold numerous times, earning themselves a unflattering nickname “Mwaka-Robo” (those who are perennially kicked out at the Quarter Finals Stage).
“When we hammered Egypt’s Al Masry and effectively kicked them out of the semis race by way of penalty shootouts, we were most glad, because it meant Simbans had managed to shed the demeaning “Mwaka-Robo” tag, to the dismay of Wana-Utopolo,” said Ben, a leading Simba cheerleader at Family.
According to Ben, Simba SC are superior to Yanga who normally win by means of witchcraft (ha!) or bribing otherwise good Bongo teams to lose against them—ahem!
That’s soccer fanaticism in Bongo for you! More so when matters entail our two historical arch rivals.
According to “analyses” by many Yangans, Simba never win by fair means while “investigations” that obsessive Simbans subscribe to “clearly show” that Yanga beat other teams fraudulently!
Wild accusations of “bought” referees, juju and compromised opponents, etcetera, are thrown left, right and centre by both sides.
After beating South Africa’s Stellenbosch 1-0 at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar on April 20, the Msimbazi boys went on to hold their opponents on a 0-0 draw at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium last Sunday as we watched from TV screens in Bongo bars and ragtag theatres we call vibanda-umiza.
Hurrah! Simba roared into the finals and will face Moroccan side, RS Berkane, first in Morocco on May 17 and then, at Dar’s Kwa Mkapa on May 25!
At Family, following Simba’s qualification, shouts of jubilation filled the air; drinkers jumped up and down like madmen and everybody offered to buy everybody else a beer.
Claudia the Matron, a Simba fan per se, ran around the bar hugging anyone she bumped into, including “humiliated” Yanga adherents who had watched the match on TV while praying for a Simba defeat!
I soon leave Family and head to Forest Bar, the drinking joint nearest the place I call kwangu.
Forest is so much alive with celebrations. Even diehard Yangans, including this guy named Cholo, are dancing to Simba Haina Mpinzani by Ali Kiba, Angurumapo Simba Mcheza Nani? by Banza Stone and other songs that hail the “unbeatable” Simba and mock Yanga.
That, or they don’t partake of the free beers offered by the some crazed Wana-Simba!
Yaani, a South African team is eliminated from a continental race by Simba, but here we are: it’s Yanga fans in TZ that are being mocked. Trust Wabongo!
