Author: BENJAMIN BEN
AfricaPress-Tanzania: USUAL business in Dar es Salaam came to a standstill yesterday morning as champions Simba SC paraded their 21st Mainland Premier League throne in a fascinating style.
The parade began from Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) where the champions landed from Lindi after being presented with the glittering silverware for the third season in a row.
Backed by motorcyclists (Bodaboda), the convoy proceeded all the way to the club’s training facility ‘Mo Simba Arena’ located at Bunju where huge crowd of Simba fans who coated themselves in red and white traditional colours of the club congregated.
It was simply a sea of red and white as fans of all age groups were loudly chanting ‘Bado Yanga’ while escorting their team which, without doubt, had a marvellous season hence deserved to clinch the trophy.
However, those people who were physically present at the scene of celebrations were few in comparison with those who watched the ceremony on Television and social media platforms from all over the world.
In his reaction, Simba Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senzo Mazingiza dedicated the title to all fans of the club while insisting that it was not easy to win it.
“We faced many challenges to reach this far like the league being congested and the other challenge was the Covid-19 which nobody expected and led the league to be suspended for at least two months. “So, it was a challenging season for me as I had to keep players motivated and everybody excited to win the league we have done,” said him.
He then congratulated the players for keeping focus while also pointing out injuries as well as defeats and draws as some of the setbacks they have had to go through until they lifted up the trophy.
Also, the team’s Assistant Captain Mohamed Hussein said dedication and unity among the players are ingredients which made them to reach this far.
“We faced many challenges as a team with the opponents we faced especially bearing in mind that we were fighting to clinch the title for the third time as such, the level of competition was very hard,” he said.
According to the club’s Information Officer Haji Manara, they are ready to lift other upcoming five top flight league titles back to back saying they want to make seven-title wins consecutively.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that the champions have since entered into camp preparing for their Sunday’s stand up Azam Sports Federation Cup (ASFC) quarterfinals encounter against Young Africans at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
It will be the third time this term for the oldest clubs in the country to meet whereby the first meeting elapsed 2-2 and the second clash ended 1-0 in favour of Yanga hence the good team will venture into the ASFC finals on Sunday.
