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Phillip Zulu in LEEDS, England
THE sad news of the passing on of our football legend, David “Yogi” Mandigora, has shocked the nation at large and all those passionate fans of this beloved sport in Zimbabwe.
We have all witnessed the ravages of cancer on our legend as he had one of his leg amputated, just a few days ago friends and well-wishers had embarked on soliciting financial help to support his medical bills of the pending amputation of the second leg.
When few pledges had been announced, the dreadful news of his death deeply shocked everyone out there and by looking at his painful cancer stricken life that was ravaging the very legs that made him the icon of our local football, we all felt touched with his strong mental character as he fought hard to cope with his daily life under such life threatening illness.
So many good friends out there came out in full support of “Blah Yogi”, the football fraternity has been exposed to the harsh realities that most people face and endure when life threatening medical related issues cause havoc in our communities.
Football in Zimbabwe has lost a great servant of the game, a stalwart whose journey from the juniors of Dynamos and to the senior national team ranks, rubbing shoulders with some of the best talents in the early 80s that included, Bruce Grobbelaar, Charles “Raw Meat” Sibanda, Joseph Zulu, Sunday Chidzambwa, Byron “Piri Piri” Manuel, Stanford “Stix” Mutizwa and the late David Muchineripi, Oliver Kateya, Steven Chuma, Majid Dhana and Shacky Tauro.
As Black Aces fans, it used to haunt us every time when we host Dynamos at Gwanzura in derby games and we lose, Yogi being the architect of the midfield duels with Clever Hunda, the late David Muchineripi and Archieford “Chehuchi” Chimutanda.
He was raised in Highfield but fell in love with Dynamos, that alone was a huge sign of his strong mentality when he came to fully packed Gwanzura with its passionate fans singing their favourite Shaisa Mufaro anthem.
David Mandigora is a product of proper junior development structures that existed then, he rose to stardom through hardwork, commitment and determination, and he personified all these special attributes of the game when he sets his foot on the pitch.
Here is a legend of the game who epitomized a great technical midfield style of play that combined well with the late Shaw “Kojak” Handriade, Kuda Muchemeyi, Hamid “Mids Muzukuru” Dhana and Kenneth “Computer” Jere.
These are some of the finest footballers ever, to come from our ghettos, who popularised this beautiful game of football.
“Blah Yogi’s” hard running box-to-box midfield style, was a marvel to watch when he helped Zimbabwe beat the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in a World Cup qualifier fixture at Rufaro in 1981.
As a youngster who had been part of the Zororo Youth Centre squad that faced Lloyd Mutasa’s KTS team as curtain-raisers of this World Cup fixture, it was one of the greatest days of my football journey to watch our local stars coming out of the changing rooms, lining up against Roger Milla, Emmanuel Kunde, Thomas Nkono and Stephen Tataw, that was the hallmark that we witnessed when we beat such a colossal giant of African football.
Online Reporter