Did We Let Down One Of Our Own In Mark Vermeulen?

By Perkins-Tino Bare

Last week controversial cricketer Mark Vermueulen was banned from all cricketing activity by Zimbabwe Cricket after posting racial cooments on facebook. Thsi was not the first time as he had involved inseveral other case but by their nature, weren`t they induced by that long forgotten career threatening injury he had and hiw far di he go in terms of recovery.

"Mark Vermeulen has been banned from participating in all cricket activities, after he owned up to repulsive remarks that reflect racism, prejudice and plain ignorance. We find Vermeulen's Facebook comment distasteful and unacceptable, particularly for a senior sportsman who should have learned from playing in Zimbabwe and abroad that there is no place for racism in sport." read the statement by Zimbabwe Cricket. ZC further empasised that there is no place for racism in Cricket.

Vermeulen however apologised to some of the teammates namely prosper Utseya “I apologised to Prosper personally about the issue and he accepted my apology,” he said. “I know my comments were over the top and I apologise to all that I have offended. But as a cricketer, it’s how our minds work.“It was not meant in a menacing way. It was just a chirp that often happens out on the field of play and as men, you take the blow on the chin and get on with the game.”

Vermeulen who was voted Top Ten Cricket Bad Boys by Espn also had some trouble in 2006 as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) banned him for ten years after a violent altercation with spectators in during a Central Lancashire League match. He also had an altercation with Zimbabwe Cricket when he thereatened to burn down the Zim Cricket offices but all weren`t all these rather insitigated psychological problems the man was suffering with all along.

Just rewind back in time, Zimbabwe`s tour of Australia in 2003-04 when he he was hit on the forehead and then fractured his skull, this seems like round about the time all these problems started but did we really get to know how much he was affected and how far he got with his recovery before we alos start churning out `anti-racial` statements at the guy.

Even when he was convicted he did not get to serve his sentence on that same basis because as he himself said, "Doctors found my personality was altered by abnormal misfiring in my brain's left hemisphere." Three psychiatric reports, including one ordered by the State, concluded he was suffering partial complex epilepsy and impulsive behaviour disorder, brought on by the injury he confessed.

In October 2006 he was Vermeulen was struggling with anger, depression and frustration which overwhelmed him. Ever since that incident he had lost control over his emotions as he could switch from smiling jane to Tyson Fury in a matter of secoonds. This is a guy who was struggling with rejection itself which is why he reacted, when hurled at by fans and when he wasa left out of the squad he somehow felt cricket did not want him anymore.

He once remarked that "The national squad guys were there training and they had totally discarded me. I'd expected to be in that squad," he recalls. "I just thought '------ this, I don't want anyone else to have the opportunity to play if they're not willing to give me the opportunity'." Vermuelen once said in an interview with a daily.

The delusional manner in which the crimes were comitted certainly do call us to hurl him as thta notorious hero but these seem to be purely psychological as he was going through torment. "I'll get back. I'll do my time and one day I'll play for my country again." Vermuelen once said after being sentenced and we than see that he was willing to get back up again after that career threatening injury but did we do enough as a nation to ensure that he got back to his usual self again. How much did Zimbabwe Cricket do on their in terms of the recovery of Mark Vermeulen? We hear numerous cases of players being neglected when injusred since they will no longer have that same value as a player anymore but how accountable are our institutions themselves in terms of sport induced injuries.

In the Vermeulen`s form slumped; in his next 13 one-day international innings that year, he averaged less than 10. In an interview thta he had with the Telegraph he admitted that, "It's true I would get upset when I was younger if I didn't perform the way I want and I did have temper tantrums." But arson? Violent attacks? "I definitely would never have dreamt of doing something like that," he said intha emotional interview.

Did we therefore as a nation let down one of own in Mark Vermeulen as though now he is banned how much support did he get, from the fans and to how far did Zimbabwe Cricket stretch their backs or their pockets to ensure that he got back to who he was and even in future what is the Zimbabwe Cricket`s policy in terms of dealing with carrer threatening injuries, how far doe they hold themselves accountable for these guys that are hurt on national duty.

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