THE BIGGER THEY COME, THE HARDER THEY FALL

My dearest readers ... The bigger they come, the harder they fall – and the magical Ingwenyama Cup just loves them.

In its third edition, having been launched on the distinctively warm Tuesday evening of November 10 2015 at Lozitha Palace by a person of no less stature than its patron, His Majesty King Mswati III, who in his own words: “Mine ke ngitawuveta kutsi ngumalini lesizumbulu semali,” has lived up to the romantic biblical storyline of David versus Goliath. Here is a tournament that uniquely embraces football, the people’s game, with the inimitable Swazi culture like never before.

This past weekend, results from the different stadia once again proved this tournament has all the attributes of a knockout tournament that can stand its ground with all other knockout tournaments in the world including the oldest football knockout tournament, the 146-year-old English FA Cup.

Well, the football might not have been scintillating to give this grandson of Mlonyeni a f*&*$% hard on, in the words of Manchester United legend, Eric Cantona in paying tribute to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, but neither did it feel like “I am being served a good Rooibos Tea without putting the sugar inside”, in the words of Orlando Pirates Football Club Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojevic.
But for a knockout tournament, in its own right, the Ingwenyama Cup has reincarnated the romantic story-line where the little Davids landed a precious blow to the lardy Goliaths of local football.

A total of 48 goals were scored in the last 32 stages of the tournament, which is eight goals less than the goal fest recorded in the opening round in the second edition of the annual tournament. The goal phobia is not just Swaziland’s problem but it is proving to be a malaise that is afflicting the game of the billions the world over. Not more than the over-sponsored and poor South Africa’s Absa premiership where standards have plummeted to residual lows. Believe it or not, even abysmal Wits University, rock-bottom can still win the league championship.

I digress.

The third edition of the Ingwenyama Cup, a ‘Hat-trick’ as the sponsors billboards rightly articulate, has given us back all that we love about football – the idealism, the glut of wondrous goals, heart-warming football, the incredible saves, joyous and palpable crowd reaction. Yes, sadly, some irritating dose of violence. I will address this later.

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