adminLillian Sibanda Sports Reporter
TO a multitude of fans as well as soccer followers he is known as the player who removed his shorts in celebration of his first goal at one of the biggest clubs in Zimbabwe.
Owing to the bizarre celebration, he has earned many nicknames that include Mabhurugwe, Skhindi (pants), Angel (Gabriel) and Granvia owing to his speed.
But there is more than meets the eye in what many see as a tiny speed merchant in Highlanders FC striker, Gabriel Nyoni, who has dreams to rise above mountains.
Humble, modest and God-fearing are some of the qualities that strike me as soon I begin my interview with the man who has won the hearts of the hard to please Soweto fans.
I asked him to describe what went through his head when he did what has been described by some as the unthinkable.
Though the celebratory trademark dance which prompted the Tshilamoya fans across Emagumeni to remove their shorts in unison got him a yellow card, Nyoni admits that he is living his dream.
“You know before you achieve, you dream and I had pondered alone on what I will ever do if ever I scored a goal for a team of such magnitude. A team that I grew up supporting but never imagined I would play for one day. I concluded I would do that act and when I scored that goal it came to me like a flash and I did it without even thinking twice.
“Watching the Soweto fans copy the act inspired me and I will never forget the feeling of joy that overcame me that day. I could not believe I was playing before all those people who love Bosso with all their hearts and it’s still sounding too good to be true that I am playing for such a big team,” Nyoni said.
The speedy Bosso forward has a lot of praises for the 12th man.
“The supporters are very important to me and if I had my way they would pay a dollar a match so that the stadia can be filled to capacity all the time. Zimbabwean sport has grown to be a powerful brand and for us to afford the low gate charges the corporate sector has to come into play,” he said.
What began as child’s play, chasing a plastic ball around the dusty streets of Yeukai and at Burombo Primary School in Masvingo with no spectators, has evolved into a magnificent dream before thousands of fans across the local stadia.
At a tender age, Nyoni did not appreciate the big leather soccer ball but preferred the plastic version of it. He would practically be absorbed in it for the whole day. It was in Grade Five that he was spotted by a coach he remembers only as Chinosangwa who kept pestering him to join the school team.
“To be honest, I preferred the plastic ball and I would constantly sneak away to go back to my joy though I would be consistently called back to come and train with the school team,” he said.
After a while, he started growing interest and got used to the real soccer ball and in Grade 7 he was made school team captain. They beat Mufakose Primary School in the finals of the National Association of Primary School Heads (Naph) championships.
The first two years of high school at Masvingo’s Mucheke were very dormant for the Tshilamoya forward as he buried his head in his books as well as other extra curriculla activities like poetry, drama and music.
“During my first years in high school I was an all- rounder. My parents were happy about the fact that I was concentrating on other things other than football and for two years I never touched a ball and it seemed like I would never play again,” he sighed.
The following year in Form Three, fate was to catch up with the young Bosso supporter who was the odd one out among most of his friends who supported Bosso’s nemesis Dynamos. For him it has always been Highlanders, Chelsea and Real Madrid. His dreams were stimulated by some boys in the school team who had light training sessions during the first term though it was not the stipulated time for ball games.
“I joined other guys who had light training sessions and the coach encouraged me to come and train with the team more often. During the second term since it was time for ball games I intensified my training sessions with the school team and after a lot of encouragement from the coach and the recognition and the respect I received from others I felt I had to relive my childhood dream,” Nyoni recalls.
His hard work came to fruition earlier than expected and he was made captain of both the Under-17 and the Under-20 school teams. Under his captainship the school qualified for the provincial Chigoyi tournament for the first time and they finished third.
The tournament was to be a stepping stone for a great career as the soccer star got spotted by Pamushana High School coach Alfonso Jaka who offered him an academic and football scholarship for the third term of his Form Three studies.
Though he did not hide it from the coach that his father was not going to be his cheerleader in this move, he did not reveal the news to his father the entire holiday. A master plan was however brewing in the future soccer star’s mind and he secretly saved money to buy his own uniform for his new school.
“I was immature but I was sure of one thing. I wanted to play football and I was not about to blow a chance to do just that. The logistics about my parents I would later on worry about but what I did on the day before opening of schools, I just carried my satchel armed with only my uniform no groceries whatsoever and was ready to begin my new journey without the knowledge of my parents,” he said.
His parents, however, had to find out the hard way two days later where their eldest son had disappeared to. He had forgotten his birth certificate at home which was needed for registration at the new school. It dawned on him that he had to deal with his father and the coach could not believe that the youngster had left home without his parents’ consent.
“The coach wanted that document urgently and I had no choice but to give him my father’s number. My father was dumbfounded but I apologised and after that we buried the hatchet and I focused on my career,” he adds with a chuckle.
Football is a big brand at Pamushana High School and a lot had to change in Nyoni’s life. At the beginning of his fourth form he had to quit the more demanding sciences classes and switch to commercials. As a building block to his career he captained the Under-18 and the Under-20 teams to the National Youth Games in 2010 and 2011 in Harare and Gwanda respectively where his team took home bronze medals in both years. It was in the same sporting fiesta that he was selected for the Under-20 Young Warriors squad that went to represent the country at the Cosafa Games in Botswana later that year.
He also won the Copa Coca-Cola tournament with Pamushana in 2011.
As a firm believer in utilising time and not letting an opportunity pass by, the vibrant dreamer joined the Caps United Juniors while waiting for his ‘O’ Level results. After putting up a sterling performance he captured the attention of a former Premier League outfit Shooting Stars scout under the tutelage of Moses Chunga. He was then registered at the now defunct club where he played alongside Dynamos player Simba Sithole. His stint at the club was however short-lived as he had to go back to Pamushana High School to proceed with his studies. The then Chunga-coached outfit made arrangements for the player to travel to Harare during weekends but academic pressure caught up with him and he did not renew the contract when the season ended.
At the beginning of the 2012 season Nyoni signed for Masvingo United where he scored 19 goals before moving to Bulawayo in August last year to pursue a Marketing Honours Degree at Nust.
At the City of Kings and Queens he got another mentor in the form of lecturer Joseph Sibindi who after spotting him during the Vice-Chancellor’s Games with the school team encouraged him to try his luck with Premier League outfit Chicken Inn FC. The technical team was however not impressed with his play and being turned down was a low moment in the promising player’s life.
Sibindi, however, did not belong to the quitters club like what Nyoni almost did and insisted he try again at Highlanders. The suggestion did not go down well with Nyoni who did not even imagine himself good enough to impress at Bosso after failing to cut the grade at the less fashionable Gamecocks.
“I thought the idea was ridiculous. Trying my luck at an institution of such magnitude after being let down at Chicken Inn was beyond my imagination,” he said.
After several persuasive strategies and confidence boosting by Sibindi, Nyoni cast his hook at Highlanders and after training for close to three months he got his big break. He admits however that the training at Bosso was definitely not for the faint hearted.
“We were about 50 players when we began training and when I say training I do not mean you are given a chance to show your skill on the pitch but you are just running and training with a lot of experienced players while you do not know what will come out of it. As time went on a lot of people gave up and some were even rejected. It is not easy when sometimes the coach just looks at you and you do not know what is going on in his mind,” Nyoni confesses.
Clearly an optimist who does not allow hurdles to slow his pace down, Nyoni says he did not come out of the waiting experience empty-handed.
“It taught me patience, long suffering patience and that hard work as well as discipline bring results,” he said.
He speaks highly of coach Kelvin Kaindu and though he acknowledges the impact by other mentors in his life he singles out the Zambian whom he describes as a multiplier.
“Kaindu is a multiplier. He has taught the players and the Highlanders family at large through his great faith that God is real and anything is possible in his name. I think we should finish the season with at least something to make him proud after all he teaches us. That man has done everything in his will power except of course to play for us.
“To me I have to admit he has been a true father figure and it touches me that he takes his time to worry even about my academic life which he describes as very important,” he said.
After he was signed by Bosso he was loaned to then Division One pacesetters and eventual winners of the sole ticket to the Premiership, Bulawayo Chiefs FC only to be recalled to Bosso during the mid season transfer-window period.
He confesses that getting a jersey at Chiefs was not easy as the Thulani “Thutsy” Sibanda coached side boasts of a number of outstanding players.
“During my early days at Chiefs I did not play and when an opportunity presented itself through a player who got injured one day I played my heart out and then Gumbo (Rahman) asked me to come again. I got my first game time at a friendly game in Plumtree where I rose from the bench to score a brace and from then on I took my tally to seven goals for Chiefs before I was recalled to Highlanders,” said Mabhurugwe.
He, however, admits that his journey has not been a bed of roses as he did not have it easy when growing up.
“Now to play for one of the biggest clubs in the country and being at university one would think that it has always been easy and opportunities presenting themselves on a silver platter but it has not been like that.
“I still vividly remember being called by a certain coach at high school to come and train and I did not even have a decent pair of shoes to train and I had to get into the field in my uniform. Some of the senior players actually mocked me and I still recall one of them actually coming up to me and asking me what kind of player comes to training dressed like that. Though he might have said it jokingly I still remember his words and how it made me feel. I felt momentarily angry at my parents for not affording to buy me proper training regalia,” he reveals.
His parents did not make it any easier.
“I would get beaten every time I went to play soccer but one day I had had enough and I told my father that he could beat me for 30 minutes but I would still play the whole day.”
He however never got used to the idea of Nyoni playing soccer and he discouraged him at all costs.
The soccer bug has struck again in the Nyoni family as his 19-year-old brother Mild recently got an academic and football scholarship at Mashoko High School. The two brothers have a nine-year-old younger sister Rumbidzai who is the last born.
The 21-year-old Bosso forward is a Seventh Day Adventist and says he wishes to get married one day when the right person comes along.
“God has been wonderful to me and I don’t know what he has in store for me but I know he has big plans for me and I have been highly favoured by Him in my life. I wish to get married one day and have children but now I want to play as I understand that football has a short span.
“If an opportunity presents itself to play abroad I will jump at it because like any other player I dream of playing in Europe some day but I am flexible and wherever God throws me I will go because I know he has big plans for me. I did not dream of being at Highlanders one day but I am here now and you never know what might happen tomorrow,” he said.
Nyoni refuses to throw in the towel on their hopes for the championship and says the race is still open.
“Yes we suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Harare City at the most crucial time of the league but we still believe and there is hope that we will not finish the season empty handed.” Nyoni said.
His dream to win the title as well as to lift the Mbada Cup will require Highlanders, who last won the title in 2006, to throw all they have to dislodge Harare City and Dynamos.
As a parting shot to the aspiring players Nyoni said: “Believe in God, leave room for advice, believe in yourself, have discipline and endurance. It begins here you cannot say I cannot make it in Zimbabwe because there are no opportunities.
“A crocodile in Zimbabwe cannot be a lizard in America,” he said.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter