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Tadious Manyepo in YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon
HE could have grown to become a footballer himself.
Or a football scribe, at least.
But Chris “Romario” Musekiwa found out, he was too short to make it as a player way back when he was still at Dombwe Secondary School in Murehwa.
He has grown to become one of the most passionate Warriors fans instead and has been to all the five African Cup of Nations tournaments which Zimbabwe have taken part in.
Along the way, despite his key role updating the school’s notice board with facts and figures on the institution’s football teams, he also realised journalism wasn’t his passion.
Yet he never missed a copy of The Herald growing up in this Mashonaland East District.
Together with Olympiad, Abel Chimukoko, who was a grade-mate at the same school, the two would team-up, everyday to the bus stop where the drivers would give them a copy of the popular daily newspaper.
That’s how Musekiwa would attract attention from all and sundry in the village as he authoritatively explained football issues.
“There is one incident that quickly comes into my mind. It was in 1990 when I was in Form Four at Dombwe.
“We would go for several kilometres as village boys and other men to watch the FIFA World Cup.
“So one of Africa’s representatives, Cameroon, beat Argentina in their first group match. We celebrated as fellow Africans but little did I know my peers and almost everyone was thinking Cameroon had made it to the World Cup final,” said Musekiwa.
“As someone, who always had access to news, I had to sit them down and explain the whole matrix.”
In a way, the then young Musekiwa became an authority and that even pushed him to seek for more as he enjoyed the popularity.
Meanwhile, before he was transferred to a rural school, Musekiwa had been to the stadium a couple of times with his father, Misheck, who supported Dynamos.
And even when he moved to Murehwa, one of his brothers, who was a teacher, would occasionally take him to Rufaro to watch the Glamour Boys.
“I spent part of my early days in Highfield and it was during that period my father would take me to Gwanzura to watch matches featuring Dynamos. I grew so passionate about the club.
“It is because of my hunger to know what was happening at the club that I would go out of my way to have the newspaper. We (together with Chimukoko) had a deal with certain bus drivers. We would bring anything from the village, be it mangoes, fresh maize cobs, guavas and anything to barter with the newspaper.
“Unlike Chimukoko, who wanted to pursue athletics news and was also a good athlete, I wasn’t able to make it into the school team as a footballer. The coaches kept on saying I was too short and I eventually gave up. So I decided to become the school teams’ number one supporter. That’s how I would record statistics and put them on the notice board.”
On completing his Ordinary Levels, Musekiwa relocated to Harare to join his parents who had moved to Glen View.
His passion for football grew into a habit.
“I would do menial jobs just to make sure I had money for the next match. It was on December 20, 1992, when I attended my first Warriors game against Egypt in a World Cup qualifier.
“I always carried my drums and would beat those for the entire match. From then I rarely missed a Warriors’ home game. That period was one of the most unforgettable in the history of Zimbabwean football. That was the time of the Dream Team.”
But unsurprisingly, especially given the general passion towards the game then, Musekiwa, who along the way picked the nickname “Romario” after the Brazilian superstar, was rarely noticeable.
Every corner had drum-beating fans as the Dream Team mesmerised the fans with their sleak passing football.
But eventually he stood out, together with his late friend Stanford “Taribo West” Nhau who he would share a room with when the Warriors made their maiden Africa Cup of Nations appearance in Tunisia back in 2004.
It’s unfortunate Nhau, who Musekiwa said complained of chest pains during the Tunisia adventure, passed on the same year.
But from then, Musekiwa has never missed the AFCON jamboree in which the Warriors have participated.
After making it to Tunisia, Musekiwa was again on the plane to Egypt when Zimbabwe made it for the second consecutive time in 2006.
It wasn’t until 2017 when the Warriors remembered how to make it to the fiesta again and Musekiwa also found himself in Gabon.
Two years later he was in Egypt when the team made it to the AFCON finals again.
And currently, the Warriors are in Cameroon where the 46-year-old is attending as well.
What makes his presence here now unique is that this time around there was no sponsorship for the fans to fly to the west African country.
The Warriors left Zimbabwe on December 29 last year without both fans and the media.
Musekiwa had to look for sponsorship and when he was about to give up, South Africa-based funeral services company, Zororo Phumulani, came to his rescue.
Still visa application complications meant he missed Zimbabwe’s opening match against Senegal which the Warriors lost 1-0 right at the death.
But he was there, on the terraces in the second game against Malawi and after leading the charmed crowd from the host country and traveling Senegalese fans for the better part of the first round, Musekiwa cut a dejected figure after the Warriors allowed Malawi to post a 2-1 come-from-behind win.
That result condemned the misfiring Norman Mapeza’s charges to an early exit from the tournament, becoming the first crop to be eliminated with a game to play, making them probably the worst generation of the national team.
After those two games in Bafoussam, Zimbabwe took a 45-minute flight to the capital Yaoundé on Saturday where they will play their dead-rubber tie against Guinea tomorrow.
“I have kept all my match-day tickets from every AFCON game that I have attended.
“I have been to every AFCON finals which Zimbabwe have played. I am depressed and disappointed as a fan that the team got eliminated in the second game but that’s football. We will win our next game against Guinea and go back home with our pride still intact.
“I almost failed to make it here but I would like to thank Zororo Phumulani who made sure I eventually made the trip. I am on national duty and to have some corporate see to it that the Warriors have the 12th-man is something commentable.”
Besides being at every AFCON jamboree where the Warriors have taken part, Musekiwa has rarely missed some other tournaments as well including Cosafa and Chan as well as other regular games.
Online Reporter