daniel chigunwe
Danai Chitakasha-Special Correspondent
THE late midfield maestro, Archieford “Chehuchi” Chimutanda, was loved by many.
My friend Charles Makuwerere, who used to live in the same “line” with the midfield magician in Old Canaan, Highfield, always declares: “There was and will always be only one Archie, there was and there will be none better on the local scene!”
In one interview, veteran coach Sunday Chidzambwa, who played against and with Archie at Dynamos, was also misty eyed as he recalled this great talent. “Archie!,” he paused wistfully, “Murume aigona zvake bhora, aiita kunge ane maziso four! (Archie was very good, he played as if he had four eyes).’’
It is therefore not a hyperbole to declare that in terms of talent, Zimbabwe will struggle to produce a player as good as Archie. And yet we will never know how far he would have gone because we all accept that he was a flawed genius.
Archieford Chimutanda’s football journey is engrossing. There is little information about his junior day’s but he came to the nation’s attention during his days at Glens Strikers in the late 1970s. There, he formed a deadly midfield trio with defensive linkman Dixon Ngwanya (often mispelt Ngwenya) and another young magician Stanford “Stix” Mutizwa. Those who watched the trio declare that this was one of the best midfield combinations we ever had in this country. The team was under the tutalage of the late affable Ashton ‘’Papa’’ Nyazika.
In 1979, Nyazika moved from Glens Strikers to coach CAPS United. He moved with Mutizwa and Ngwanya. Chimutanda did not move with them? Why? Why did he decide to follow his own path when a move to CAPS United would have secured him employment as a bonus? CAPS United were sponsored by CAPS Pharmaceuticals and employment was guaranteed for any player who joined the club.
But Chimutanda did not function like that. He was not the type to go with the flow and to think about employment as an extra bonus for playing football. Did this indicate a trait to go against the grain, a man prepared to chart his own course? He decided to join a community team, Black Aces. I think this was a way of asserting his own independence. Maybe joining CAPS United (Rovers then) would have tied him to an eight to four job before training commenced at 5pm. This used to be the norm, most players were employed and only played football after hours.
Chimutanda was a free spirit and could not be tied down to an 8 to 4 job. Maybe he did some odd jobs but I don’t think he was ever fully employed. All he did was play football and even that, he did when he made up his mind to.
Many tales are told about this great player. Tales about how he would turn up at the training ground on Friday cognisant of the fact that he would be picked for the Saturday or Sunday match. Turning up was just a way of reminding the coaches that he was available for selection despite not putting a shift on the training ground.
The coaches had no choice but to select him. They knew his quality. His teammates gladly welcomed him, they knew the gold dust he would bring with his passes, vision and goals. So all in all, it worked out well for everyone.
Archie was good, very good. Ball control was his food, passing was his drink and the goals he scored were the icing on the cake. I remember the goal he scored for Dynamos in one cup final, a chest and thigh control before lobbing Duncan “Zico” Ellison, in goals for CAPS United. Dynamos won the match 3-1 with Archie’s goal, the talk of the town.
Then there was another move which was captured in three photographs as he made a mockery of the Hwange defence before scoring a beauty. He was a special player and coaches loved him. He was a game changer. He was an entertainer. Fans loved Archie and they flocked to Gwanzura Stadium, Black Aces’ hunting ground, to watch Archie.
We have to accept; he was a rare talent!
But did we indulge him too much? Did we cheer him to his demise? Was there need for a firm hand to take hold of the flawed genius and keep it on the narrow and straight?
I think as a society now, as a society then, we have this habit of cheering a genius to the graveyard. We did it with (the late author) Dambudzo Marechera, we saw him live in parks and drink himself to the grave and we cheered him on. When he died at the age of 33 we suddenly felt the big hole he had left.
Yes, Archie was a flawed genius but I think a firmer hand would have helped him fulfill his great potential.
I remember watching Black Aces training sessions at St. Peter’s Kubatana High School football pitch in Highfield. Archie would come in a tracksuit and all and just stand with the coaches watching the others sweat it out. He would be cracking jokes, sometimes dissing the poor ball control of his teammates. None among the coaches was brave enough to tell Archie to train. No one did, they all indulged him and allowed him to crack jokes. He did not carry a kit bag to training, his boots always tucked in the pockets of his jeans.
The tale was the same wherever he went, Dynamos, Arcadia United and Bata Power (he did not stay long and he disappeared soon after joining). Did he try Kismet? Yes, Archie was a rolling stone and as they say, a rolling stone gathers no moss.
It is interesting that Archie, despite his immense talent, only played sparingly for the
senior national team. How many caps did he earn? I think less than 10.
Of course, part of his failure to play long for the national team was because of his disputes with the powers that be. He demanded to be insured against injuries and when ZIFA dragged their feet, he boycotted playing for Zimbabwe. For this he was banned and it became known as “The Chimutanda Saga”.
I applaud him for raising the issue of insurance but I still believe that he would have earned more caps if he had pursued his career to its logical conclusion.
His endless brushes with the law also cost his career.
I strongly believe that Archie would have established himself as one of the best players in our football history but his flaw of character derailed his career. We were his cheerleaders, the fans, the media and coaches. What he needed was tough love, but we did not offer it to him. Ultimately we will always wonder how far would Archie have gone? For a man with “four football eyes” as suggested by coach Sunday Chidzambwa, the sky was not even the limit.
What a shame!
Online Reporter