A time for solidarity

So, I belong to a football fan club and the last two seasons have a been a heady whirlwind of sweeping all before us to within one point of winning the league, actually lifting the Champions league, the Super Cup, Club World Cup, a 42 match unbeaten run and, now, poised to win the premiership title for the first time in 30 years.  All of this has been in the company of a raucous, joyful, singing crowd of a pub family, at, yes you guessed it, the Liverpool Fan Club, Johannesburg North meeting every match day at what I call the number one pub in the country, Off The Grid aka OTG.

In my last post, I spoke about a disease with a small name, COVID 19, which has humbled mankind in to shutting down his cities, towns and villages, literally confining him to his home. Today, I want to evoke a big word, solidarity.

A story is told about how Liverpool fans, further afield in Liverpool city itself, discovered a couple of immigrants hidden under their coach when they returned from a Champions League fixture and the warm response they gave the pair. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-fans-respond-brilliantly-finding-15483024 Their reaction to the discovery embodies what Liverpool fans and Liverpool City are known for: Solidarity. Why am I telling you this? You see, at OTG the waiters also dress in Liverpool shirts, the owners are on board and the entire place is permanently draped in Liverpool colours.  It is our home. Those waiters are paid on tips and you can imagine the loss of income as government instituted new, and earlier, closing times for pubs and restaurants as well as limiting the number of customers who can go in to a pub at a time.  I checked on the owner to see how business was going and she indicated a drastic drop in business before adding, their major concern was the staff. Upon hearing this, I took it upon myself last week to go and buy 10 packets of rice and quietly handed them over the management so that each waiter could, at least, have a couple of weeks’ or a month’s worth of rice depending on family size. I figured there could be no harm in drinking a few beers less that week and make better use of my limited funds than to have the beers and only give a 10% tip to one waiter.

This donation was going to remain private until the President, last night, announced a countrywide lockdown from midnight Thursday this week. As part of the measures, the President announced to cushion the effects on the economy and mindful of the fact that South Africa vies with Brazil for the status of most unequal society in the world, the President also announced the creation of a solidarity fund designed to help the most vulnerable. This is what I really want to talk about but before I go there….

Such is the nature of Liverpool fans, including in our club, that an hour before midnight last night, one of the members sent a message to the whatsapp group of supporters. The message read, “We should all make the effort to give a food hamper to our local car guards and vendors over the next few days. It’s going to be a really tough 3 weeks for them”. This is Liverpool fans at their best!

Back to the solidarity fund: I know we are all hard pressed in these times of austerity, uncertainty and panic buying (something I strongly discourage to anyone who will listen). Perhaps, however, we could apply my formula. This appeal is going out to all pub crawlers. Drinking at home, probably means you will drink a few pints less (because a frowning missus plus no peer pressure J) and for some that I know, a whole lot of pints less! You do not have to give everything. How about taking the savings from two weekends’ worth of match fixtures and donating that to the solidarity fund announced by the President? You would have spent the money on expanding your waist line anyway right? If this simple logic appeals to you, I suggest you contribute to:

Standard bank current account 023070021, Sandton branch, account name Solidarity Fund or vitis the website https://www.solidarityfund.co.za/

Every amount counts and we can join hands in helping to lighten the load in these anxious times. I am challenging every member of LFCJhbNorth to put in R100 each (or more) because sometimes, it is simply about making the time to do the transaction, not because we don’t have the money. I also want to challenge every Liverpool Fan Club in South Africa to do the same. I dare Manchester united Fans to come to the party.

I am not done yet.

A friend of mine, a young businessman who unfortunately supports Manchester United, had a brain wave last night after President Ramaphosa’s speech and he set up a Go Fund Me page to support Zimbabwe. Part of his message to our Whatsapp group read, “Is it not a good idea that we in the diaspora come together, raise funds and buy equipment for Wlkins Hospital….This situation transcends all divides, racial, tribal, political if you call Zimbabwe home. I think we need to act before we lose the people we work so hard to support.”

So this is my second challenge. To all Zimbabweans in the diaspora (especially those at LFCJhbNorth) who read this and my South African friends, if this appeals to you, please visit https://gogetfunding.com/zim-diaspora-coronavirus-initiative/ and give what you can. If former  Manchester United players Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs can offer their hotels for coronavirus relief https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/coronavirus-gary-neville-hotel-ryan-giggs-manchester-nhs-hospital-staff-paid-leave-a9409961.html surely, we too can offer some small gesture within our means to help stop the virus from overwhelming Zimbabwe, no?

The first guest speech I ever gave in South Africa was to a graduation ceremony of the African Women Chartered Accountants, in March 2008, having been invited by AWCA President at the time, Sindi Koyana Mabaso. She had heard me speak at an Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimabwe conference in Victoria Falls, where she, too, was a guest speaker. As the guest, I sat with some very powerful ladies at the main table, among them Wendy Luhabe. The conversation was intelligent, stimulating and inspiring. One of the ladies, a formidable woman if I ever met one, Gloria Serobe, is chairing the Solidarity Fund. I can safely say, your donation is in good hands.

Back in the day, I used to watch Gillette World Sport Special and the intro would go something like “Welcome to Gillette World Special where you experience the thrilling taste of victory and the shattering reality of defeat”. We are all in competition for titles and trophies and I, for one, prefer the sweet taste of a win. Solidarity is one trophy that we can all share victory in because in doing so, we are lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness.

#LeadWhereYouAre