Herbert Dick

From Robson Sharuko in CAIRO, Egypt EVER imagined an international football star arriving at such a grand tournament like the African Cup of Nations, in a foreign land, without his football boots? Well, that is the plight of Zimbabwe international soccer defender Hebert Dick. The big centreback arrived here on Wednesday night for the Nations Cup finals without his football boots. Drafted in as a late replacement for injured vice-captain Dumisani Mpofu, Dick found himself in a race against time that he never got the chance to pack his boots into his luggage.

Not that there is a lot to talk about a luggage that only included a few pieces of clothes to change the following day.

Dick, who is now unattached after the expiry of his contract with Amazulu, was in his hometown Kadoma when the call came through that he was wanted here in Egypt.

And, even then, that call did not come from the Zifa office or any of the association’s officials.It came from Dick’s friend, a CAPS United player, who happened to have been at the Warriors’ Fund-raising Committee Command Centre at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Harare when the call came through from here that the defender was urgently wanted to replace Mpofu.

It was late on Tuesday.

The CAPS United player traced Dick at his base in Kadoma and got in touch with the defender, informed him that he was urgently wanted in the capital for the trip to Egypt.

Dick was supposed to travel to Harare as quickly as possible to catch a flight the next morning to Egypt to link up with the Warriors.

The problem was that Dick did not have a visa to Egypt and the Air Zimbabwe flight was scheduled to leave at 7am the following morning.

And, since he had not been officially advised by the Zifa office, Dick believed that this could have been some kind of joke.

He had listened to the radio news all day and had read that day’s national papers and had not heard about Mpofu being ruled out the Nations Cup because of injury.

He remembered that he had read about Mpofu’s injury and his battle against time to be fit for the first match against Senegal in Port Said on Monday. But he never thought that it could come to the worst possible scenario and Mpofu would be ruled out of the entire tournament.

During the night, he told himself, he would certainly receive an official call from Zifa to confirm his friend’s story and they were going to tell him the official arrangements, where he would pick his visa, his ticket and the scheduled flight.

The main television news came and went and there was no report about Mpofu being ruled out of the Nations Cup finals.

The official call from Zifa did not come and by the early hours of Wednesday, Dick was beginning to have his doubts and to believe that this was just one of those elaborate jokes.

Fortunately, he decided he would lose nothing by just going to Harare early that morning and to his confirmation whether he was travelling to Egypt or staying at home.

Still, there were doubts.

Why didn’t any Zifa official call? Why didn’t he get a call from his Warriors’ management team who knew his mobile number?

Even if this was true, surely this was very late given that the flight was scheduled to leave at 7am — before he had even seen any official at the Command Centre in the capital.

What about the visa?

What about the air ticket?

He took some clothes to change overnight, in case he was to sleep in the capital, and he was so much in doubt he left his boots at home in Kadoma.

By 8am on Wednesday he was at the Crowne Plaza and went into the Command Centre where he introduced himself and told his story. He was told it was true that he was urgently wanted in Egypt and he was to catch a flight that was leaving that morning. They showed him the morning newspaper where there was a report confirming the late breaking story. There was no time to shop for replacement boots and no time for him to shop for more clothes. Luckily for him, the plane had been delayed and a ticket was arranged quickly and he was taken to the Harare International Airport where he joined scores of other Zimbabweans, including the Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, coming for the Nations Cup finals.

There was still one problem. Dick did not have a visa to enter Egypt.

Luckily, officials at the Zimbabwean Embassy here in Cairo had been informed the previous night and they contacted their Egyptian counterparts to facilitate the issuance of a visa for Dick upon arrival at Cairo International Airport. Dick was issued with a visa when he arrived here but did not proceed with the band of supporters who went straight to Port Said on arrival. He spent the night here in Cairo where he told his story.

Yesterday the embassy officials then organised for him to travel to Port Said where he joined his teammates. It was certainly not clear whether Dick had bought a new replacement pair of boots but, for all his troubles, he is just happy to be here with the national team. And there is a small fortune that goes with that, too.

Dick now qualifies for the apperance fees that the Warriors will get, in United States dollars, for their adventure at this Nations Cup finals. That is surely better than spending the next two or three weeks in Kadoma, answering phones from clubs and agents interested in his services and watching the Nations Cup finals on television.

Even if he came here without his boots. Please send us Feedback