IT’S an historic night today when the country’s football community will celebrate the 55th year since the first Soccer Stars of the Year award night was held.
The prestigious awards started in 1969 when the late George Shaya was crowned the best player in the country.
The Dynamos legend went on to win the gong five times.
Peter Ndlovu, who won it twice, and Moses Chunga, are considered together with Shaya to be the three best footballers to emerge from this country.
They all won the award.
Like every award, the Soccer Stars of the Year has always been controversial and there was a time, towards the end of the ‘90s, when sponsors Delta Beverages even pulled out of the awards in protest.
We saw the outpouring of anger around the world this year when Spanish midfielder Rodri won the Ballon d’Or.
The majority of football fans around the world believed that Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior had done enough to win the prestigious award.
His club Real Madrid also believed that their star forward deserved the award and when they learnt that he had not won it, they boycotted the awards ceremony.
The Spanish giants were criticised around the world for their decision to boycott the awards with many commentators saying that this was wrong in a game which prides itself on losing players shaking hands with the winners after a game.
This year the selectors — sports journalists, coaches and captains of the Premiership clubs – came up with 11 stars in a selection process that has courted a lot of controversy.
The main bone of contention is the number of Simba Bhora players among the 11 Soccer Stars of the Year.
While many expected the Shamva side to be rewarded for making history as the first club from Mashonaland Central to win the league championship, they didn’t expect five players from the club to be on the Soccer Stars of the Year list.
It’s the first time in the 55-year history of the awards that a single club has provided five players to the calendar.
The whole Simba Bhora back three — Isheanesu Mauchi, Blessing Moyo and Webster Tafa — made it onto the calendar but many analysts say they did not deserve it.
Many of the analysts have pointed out that Simba Bhora did not have the best defence in the league while ZPC Kariba, who had the best defence, were not rewarded for that.
Maybe, the time has come for the organisers to bring only a few selected sports writers to choose the award.
Those who are selecting the stars should be reminded that they have a moral responsibility to ensure that they protect the integrity of this award.
This is what those who chose the likes of Shaya, Chunga and Peter Ndlovu did — they put the integrity of the award ahead of their own interests.
It’s sad that is not the case today and we are seeing some footballers being chosen who do not deserve to be part of the calendar.