Nyerere's Sporting Legacy Still Unrivalled

A Man For All Seasons

Feet not that big but tell that to his successors!

                                         

It may seem unfair to other leaders who have had a more passionate love for sports but Nyerere’s shoes remain too big even in sports fourteen years after his demise and over twenty five years after he stepped down from the presidency. A quick check on Tanzanian sports’ annals would reveal that the nation scaled its highest sports’ heights during Nyerere’s regime. For a statesman perceived by many not to have been so much into sports it seems ironic that Tanzania little success internationally  was achieved under his reign.

During his regime, the state played a very big role in funding sports activities nationwide. The state had a big hand in almost every game and little wonder the country could afford to send a large contingent to continental and global events such as the Olympics, The Commonwealth games and the All African Games. The considerable large funding enabled Tanzania to participate in different disciplines as compared with other regimes whereby our teams are often composed of boxers, runners and footballers. For instance, the nation’s first ever medal in international sports, was won by a javelin contestant in 1965, during the All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo, by Theresia Dismas.

The founding father may arguably not have been very passionate about sports but it is during his era that Tanzanian schools were exposed to a wide variety of games, from football to javelin. The nation’s won its first international medal through javelin but ironically you will be hard pressed to find someone from the young generation who has ever participated in a javelin competition at any level. When was the last time the nation sent a javelin participant to an international event? Once again, the founding father scores big against his successors.

As the nation’s football fortunes keep on dwindling, the older generation has nostalgia memories of when Taifa Stars secured qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 1980, Abuja, Nigeria during his regime. It was the country first and last appearance in the continental crème de la crème football tournament. Surprisingly though he did not publicly identify with the either, Simba and Yanga fared better in continental club championships in his reign.  Again it was under his regime that Simba reached the semi-final stage of the African club championship today’s equivalent of the African Champions league in 1974.  Simba were denied a final appearance by Mehalla El Kubra of Egypt having won the first leg in Dar only to succumb to defeat in the notorious Egyptian atmosphere. To date it remains a milestone our clubs are yet to achieve again.

The famous Yanga battle with Ghanaian football powerhouse, Asante Kotoko that caught the attention of the entire continent also happened during the first statesman era.  The 1969 epic battle was decided by a toss of the coin after two 1-1 stalemates in Dar and Ghana. Interestingly, the two met in the subsequent year, 1970, where Yanga only lost after a three-match marathon that involved a third match being played in a neutral ground in Ethiopia after the first two ended in a stalemate. Those were golden years when our clubs could match the best that the continent could offer.

Although Tanzania is football-crazy, the nation's most memorable moments on the international scene came from athletics during Nyerere's regime. Filbert Bayi, Suleiman Nyambui and Juma Ikangaa were household names in the international athletics scenes in the 70’s and 80’s where they routinely finished in the medals bracket at global events. Filbert Bayi went on to set up a world record that lasted seven years.  Tanzania has won only two Olympic medals, won by the duo of Nyambui and Bayi in the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow, these were the sunset years of Mwalimu’s reign. Thirty two years later, the feat is yet to be equaled. 1980, is the greatest Tanzanian sports year having won her first and last Olympics medals and making a debut appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations. Our success pinnacle, our nation’s sports zenith. Perhaps that was Nyerere’s final goodbye to the sporting fraternity. His signature exit, a year that extended his shoes length that remain too big for his successors twenty eight years after he stepped down and fourteen years since his untimely death.