Mercenaries

About Mercenaries

Mercenaries is a basketball club based in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Since 2006, the team has competed in the Manicaland Basketball Association (MBA), winning a league championship in each season.

Country: Zimbabwe

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Article

Mercenaries is a basketball club based in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Since 2006, the team has competed in the Manicaland Basketball Association (MBA), winning a league championship in each season.

Contents

History

Mercenaries was founded in 2004 by a group of friends from Mutare, led by Innocent Sithole, who hoped to make money playing together in basketball tournaments. In 2006, the club joined the Manicaland Basketball Association (MBA). Since then, it has won 13 consecutive league titles without losing a single game.

In 2019, Mercenaries won its first National Basketball Club Championship, becoming the first team from outside Harare and Bulawayo to do so.

Honours

Zimbabwe National Championship

Champions (1): 2019

Manicaland Basketball Association

Champions (13): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

In African competitions

BAL Qualifiers (1 appearance)

2020 – First Round

Personnel

Current roster

The following is the Mercenaries roster for the 2020 BAL Qualifying Tournaments:

Notable players

Tatenda Maturure

Article from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), where it is maintained by volunteer editors.

Notable quotes

“For the mercenary is a simplistic fellow. Not for him the strutting parades of West Point, the medals on the steps of the White House or perhaps a place at Arlington. He simply says: 'Pay me my wage and I'll kill the bastards for you.' And if he dies, they will bury him quickly and quietly in the red soil of Africa and we will never know.”
— Frederick Forsyth, "Send in the Mercenaries", originally printed in the Wall Street Journal on May 15, 2000. As quoted by Al J. Venter, War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars: The Modern Mercenary in Combat (2008), Philadelphia: Casemate, paperback, p. 25
“"Mercenaries?" I ventured. "Agh! Mercenaries!" Bob exclaimed, like I had stabbed him. "Now that's the worst thing you can be. Worse than a prostitute. Your life is the most valuable thing you got. Die for your own freedom, that's great, but kill and die for a buck? He looked at me again, shooting more wisdom out of his violently pointing finger. "Never do anything just for money!"”
— Paul Jury, States of Confusion: My 19,000-Mile Detour to Find Direction (2011), p. 168
“No international laws exist to regulate the mercenary industry. What we’re left with: If anyone with enough money can wage war for any reason they want to, then new superpowers will emerge: the ultra-rich and multinational corporations. Oil companies and oligarchs should not have armies.”
— Sean McFate, "America's Addiction to Mercenaries" The Atlantic, (12 August 2016)
“"Ah, but when the Queen proclaims one king and the Hand another, whose peace do they protect?" Lord Petyr flicked at the dagger with his finger, setting it spinning in place. When at last it slowed to a stop, the blade pointed at Littlefinger. "Why, there's your answer. They follow the man who pays them."”
— George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, chapter XII, as Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark and Lord Pyter "Littlefinger" Baelish discuss the loyalties of the "Gold Cloaks", the City Watch of King's Landing
“Listen, sister, I'm not in this for you, and I'm not in this for your revolution. I'm in it for the money. I expect to be well paid.”
— Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
“Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything. Or anybody.”
— Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.