How legends remember derbies

DAR ES SALAAM: FORMER Simba and Young Africans players have shared their memorable experiences when they played for either side in past Dar es Salaam derby encounters.

Their reminisces comes just one day before witnessing the first 2024/25 Premier League Dar Derby clash between the duo, slated at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in the city tomorrow.

Simba will host the game, welcoming their long-term traditional rivals, with each focusing to take home the essential three points hanging by thread.

Briefing the ‘Daily News’ on Thursday in separate interviews, the former players were excited to share their derby memories, insisting that it reminds them of the good old days. In his remarks, former Simba player, Idd Pazi remembers a Dar Derby Premier League clash played in 1984 on the last day of the season, when all teams were playing at the same time in different venues.

“On that day, Simba had to win in order to be declared champions and were on level on points with Pamba FC who were playing against Pan African in Mwanza, only goal difference separated us. “We were the first to score against Yanga and I am the one who netted for Simba through a spot-kick in the 12th minute but Yanga levelled the scoreboard in the 20th minute through Omary Hussein.

“In the second half, nothing was produced to separate us, hence the game ended 1-1 and interestingly, even the Pamba against Pan African match also ended goalless meaning that we both accumulated the same points which unfortunately I have forgotten.

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“As such, we won the championship on goal difference because if Pamba had emerged winners, they could have been crowned champions hence Yanga who finished on third place did not let us win the title over them,” Pazi said. On his part, former Yanga centre-back, Bakari Malima, remembers two back-to-back derby matches played in 1996 with the first encounter held at CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza.

“After losing two straight league games in Dar es Salaam, Yanga leaders opted to take the first-round league match in 1996 to Mwanza and prior to the game, Simba’s player, Dula Said, was boasting that he would score again, having scored in two previous games against us.

“On the match day, I was shifted from centre-back to right back, purposely to mark him (Said) and almost 20 minutes into the match, in an attempt to clear an aerial ball, I collided with him and he fainted instantly. “He was rushed to the hospital for further treatment… the game proceeded and we won 2-0, but afterwards we could not celebrate much because we received reports that Said was still unconscious.

“At around 2:00 am is when we heard that he was out of comma and this is the moment I was relieved, because I was worried following the incident,” Malima recalled.