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Fungai Muderere
WATCH the end of any World Cup match and you will see players exchanging their sweaty, stinky, game-worn jerseys in a time-honoured tradition, one of several that sets soccer apart from other sports.
In that regard, football players can amass quite a jersey collection during their careers and many say they hang on to every single shirt they collect.
Former Warriors and AmaZulu midfield enforcer Esrom Nyandoro among other players has a drawer filled with jerseys and has framed some of his best gets.
England’s Michael Owen reportedly displays his in a “lad’s room” at his house.
But not everyone hangs onto them for there is a boy from Entumbane whose passion for football tells a story that aptly embodies what the legendary Pele had seen when he said it’s The world’s most beautiful game.
The 11-year-old Simphiwe Moyo saw that beauty the day he received as a gift the original jersey worn by former Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana midfield genius Siphiwe “Shabba” Tshabalala.
Moyo turns out for Entumbane Academy Under-12 team where he plays as a right link midfielder.
Having been a staunch fan of his namesake since his early childhood, the young Moyo would put on his yellow T-Shirt inscribed with a mighty marker “S Tshabalala 14” at the back.
A picture of the young boy, taken by former Bantu Rovers and Hwange midfielder Fortune “Fokoza” Ncube, at a match at the popular Esikwakweni ground in Entumbane, confidently wearing the T-Shirt went viral online until it caught Tshabalala’s attention in South Africa.
After being contacted, Shabba did not hesitate to forward an original Amakhosi jersey to possibly one of his youngest fans ever. While this story is quite rare, it is a norm in football that players are such nice fellas; they will even give opponents the shirts off their backs. A million young football players would have recently loved to be in Moyo’s shoes when Warriors defender Teenage Hadebe, a former teammate to Shabba at Kaizer Chiefs, made a rare visit to Mthombowesizwe Primary School to hand over one of the gold and black Kaizer Chiefs jerseys that the dreadlocked ex Bafana Bafana midfield maestro put on during his days at Amakhosi before he made a move to Turkey.
“I could not just believe my eyes. I am so happy to receive that jersey from Siphiwe Tshabalala. I have been his fan for so long. I admire his fancy footwork.
“The jersey is my most prized possession and I keep it in my mother’s bedroom. While at the moment the jersey is rather too big for me, I’m always tempted to put it on,” said the young Moyo.
Interestingly, Moyo was two years old when Johannesburg nearly erupted courtesy of that blistering Tshabalala 2010 World Cup scoring opener against Mexico.
Midfield general Teko Modise had played a one-two with a teammate in the middle of the park and upon receiving the ball just inside the Mexico half, sprayed a defence-splitting ball through to the galloping Tshabalala down the left.
There was no way Mexico were catching the ex Kaizer Chiefs speedster and after arriving in the box, Tshabalala smashed the ball into the far corner with his sweet left foot, leaving Oscar Perez with absolutely no chance.
The scenes were just incredible and we wonder if Moyo, just like his role model Tshabalala, will one day score a goal for Zimbabwe and all of Africa?
Only time will tell!
derick.khumalo