By Chanda Chisala
After missing that important penalty against Angola that would have probably seen Zambia win the Cosafa Cup, I believe that Kalusha Bwalya has now convincingly established himself as arguably the greatest player that Africa has ever had! Seriously. Missing a penalty was the only thing left on his c.v. to qualify him as a true legend in global soccer. Why? Because all the really great heroes of modern football have had to miss a decisive penalty at a most critical moment in their nation’s aspirations. Think Roberto Baggio, Diego Maradona, David Beckham, … the list goes on - but we can not say “the list is endless” because there are very few such mortals thusly destined.
Someone might say that I am just trying to find an excuse for Kalu’s disappointing spot kick. I am not. I am simply putting him in the best light that Zambians should see him so that we do not lose our great admiration and support for the man. This is a truly great hero that should be worshipped no matter what he does, simply because everything he does, even when it is wrong, always comes in the context of him trying very hard to win. Kalu loves his game and his team so much that he will do anything to regain its glory, and sometimes this will mean making a mistake.
I think taking a penalty was a mistake for Kalu, but it was not a mistake like the one most politicians make when they do things for the sake of trying to dishonestly gain glory for themselves without earning it. Kalu took the kick because he passionately wanted to make his team win, and he needed to ensure that he took it himself instead of just leaving this responsibility to others. The error he made in his judgment was that the other younger players were probably in a better position to take penalties since he has obviously lost a bit of his speed now, even though his amazing I.Q. still shows whenever he touches the ball.
I can also say something, psychologically, about another motivation that drives Kalu. Apart from seeking glory for his team, he also passionately seeks glory for himself. Many people think this is a wrong thing to do, but I believe this is the greatest strength that great Kalu has. Many modernist moralists, philosophers, preachers and writers would like us to believe that a man who seeks glory for himself is immoral; that only those who sacrifice their own self interests should be praised and honoured in society. This is not only a wrong philosophy, it is also the one responsible for paralysing the dreams of many young people who could have become great had they not listened to such nonsense.
The truth is that every great legend actively and consciously sought to achieve great glory for himself or herself. One needs only to examine the minds of the most famous legends we have had in our time, like the great Muhammad Ali. Before Ali became known as “the greatest boxer of all time” he did not hide the fact that he wanted to become “the greatest boxer of all time”! Ali always used to say, “I want everyone everywhere to know that I am the greatest boxer of all time.” And he did indeed become the greatest. There is no boxer who has had more books written about him or films made of him than the great Muhammad Ali.
Someone does not have to be as boastful as Ali, but he can still have great dreams and goals for his own glory. Kalusha Bwalya is the most humble personality in Zambia, but he still has great dreams of glory for himself, like Ali. He knows that he was supposed to have been recognised a long time ago as arguably the greatest player or “free kicker” Africa has ever had, but circumstances beyond his control probably robed him of this glorious title. But he is not one to be defeated – he has continued his fight for honour, and sometimes this means that he will have to face some tough moments like the one he now faces after missing that penalty. This will not slow him down – it will simply give him more determination to continue his pursuit of such great glory until he achieves it, no matter how old he shall be.
Kalu wants to achieve the Zambian record of being the only coach to take the Zambian team to the world cup. He also wants to become the only player-coach at the world cup to play for his team and to score. And finally, he wants to take a page in the Guinness book of world records for becoming the oldest player to have scored at the world cup, thus dethroning Roger Miller. Besides this, he will probably be the only top official of a national soccer body administration to have played in the world cup (as FAZ Vice President), and he will also be the only official of FIFA to have scored or played in a world cup match (as a member of the technical committee of FIFA). This will put Kalu’s name at the level where even the great Pele could be caused to feel a bit of envy. But this is the kind of dream that all the greatest achievers of the world have had. They always sought their own glory above everything else, and everything else only followed naturally.
In other words, as Kalu achieves all these records, his nation will also gain something big. By achieving his own pride he shall grant all of us a sense of pride that could transform our lives in incalculable ways. We shall boast of being a part of his national family wherever we go so that even when people look down on our economy, they will at least recognise that we have a great spirit that can achieve great goals even on the highest level, given the right opportunities (perhaps this could even make it easier for Zambians to be given good jobs abroad!).
This is why Kalu should not listen to those critics who are now telling him that it is time to quit playing football. If he quits he will just become like them – armchair critics who never do anything important for themselves except to wait for someone to discourage. He will lose the chance of achieving great records for himself that could have even resulted in giving the rest of the nation the pride that comes from identifying with such a great hero.
Neither should he listen to those altruists who think that a man should never seek his glory but only the glory of others or only the glory of his nation. When he starts believing such hypocritical claptrap, he will lose the energy and creativity that always accompanied those who honestly sought their own personal glory even in difficult circumstances like Ali, Maradona, Michael Jordan, Bobby Fisher, and so many others. In fact, Kalu should probably teach this alternative philosophy and psychology (of putting one’s personal glory first) to his other national team players so that those “lads” could achieve so much more for themselves and thus end up achieving the same for the nation. He should motivate the goal scorers to think first of their own personal gain and glory, including the contracts they could get in rich European clubs, so that as they seek to achieve these personal goals, they will also end up scoring more goals for the nation!
When Kalu introduces this sort of individualism into the team, it does not mean that the players will lose the ability to play as a team. Real Madrid has some of the most individualistic players, each of whom seeks great glory unto himself, and yet they still manage to win many games as a team. The Brazillian national team is the best example of a team that is very individualistic, with each player thinking of the praise, honour and adoration he will receive back home in soccer-crazy Brazil if he plays very well, which is why most Brazillian players do not even change their nationality when they go to play in Europe. At the beginning of the last world cup, the Brazillian legend Ronaldo promised that he would be the top scorer at the World Cup and he did indeed become the top scorer – as an individual – and this ended up helping the team win the world cup.
Desire for personal glory is a very good and healthy thing and it is not something to be despised or be ashamed of. This powerful desire is always evident in the great Kalu and it supplies him with a level of energy, risk-taking propensity and determination that has never been common in the culture of Zambia and Africa in general. If all of us could shamelessly and passionately apply this desire for personal glory in every area of our lives and careers, by simply imitating the spirit of the Great Kalu, we could end up building a great culture of achievement and success such as has become the mark of all the great individualist nations of the world.
And on this long road to personal glory, someone might stumble at times and experience a setback – like missing a critical penalty. But when such great dreamers refuse to be discouraged, their small setbacks become destined to remain only small footnotes in their great biographies. This is because they tend to fight on and on and on, until their big dreams come true.
Or as we say in Zambian movie-ology, the “starring” never dies - he only faints!
THE END
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