The belief in juju practices in football is not partying ways with Malawian teams. Juju practices have characterized the game with teams undertaking hilarious actions in the sole belief magic will hand them wins.
Such scenes were yet again witnessed today prior to a TNM Super League match involving Azam Tigers and rookies TN Stars at Kasungu Stadium.
Tigers players were today seen jumping the fence into the stadium ahead of kickoff in what was rumoured as not taking chances on feared charms their opponents had cast across the dressing room paths.
It is said that the Blantyre based side was tipped off by some people at Kasungu that the newcomers TN Stars planned to charm them as they pass through the main fence into the stadium and as such they avoided taking that path.
In a trending video, the players, both those selected in the first eleven and those meant to share the cold at the bench were seen jumping the fence- an action that drew mixed reactions from the stands.
Some people held the view juju works while others opposed arguing there is nothing vital in football than a proper coordination and having skilled and committed players as well as a smoothly executed game plan.
In February this year during a game between Nyasa Big Bullets and Karonga United, such scenes also came alive.
Bullets players refused to enter the dressing room over juju fears opting instead to change in their team bus.
Actions that teams take such as ferrying their team buses into the stadiums, jumping fences and casting of fetish materials on the pitch are causing a great harm to the facilities.
For example, the management of the facility complained to Super League of Malawi (Sulom) after discovering foreign materials placed on the pitch.
According to a statement made available to Malawi24 and signed by the Stadium’s Operations Manager Eric Ning’ang’a, the foreign materials were observed after both teams had trained on the ground prior to the much anticipated derby.
According to the letter, kitchen salt, sweet potato vine leaves, charcoal, pork and pork oil were found on the pitch with much concentration on the centre mark.
“On Friday, 27th October 2017 both teams were allocated time to feel the pitch. Be Forward Wanderers at 10am to 11am and Nyasa Big Bullets from 2:30pm to 3:30pm after both teams had trained on ground, we observed the following items on the pitch; kitchen salt, sweet potato vine leaves, charcoal, pork and pork oil all over the pitch with much concentration on the center mark.
“We observed that the soil on the center of the pitch had been disturbed, when the hole at the center of the pitch was dug a piece of pork wrapped in a black plastic paper was found,” read part of statement.
The juju practices are swiftly becoming centre of mayhem in the game of football.
Poverty and underdevelopment almost always comes with myths and beliefs of of generational nature.dont get me wrong. .even medieval europe had to relinguish those mental strongholds before the industrial revolution of rhe mid centuries.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world let alone africa for that matter.and you ask yourself why?