Online Reporter
Eddie Chikamhi
Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT feels less like a continuation and more like a return to the beginning for Munyaradzi Diro Nyenye.
More than a decade after stepping into Premiership football as a fresh-faced teenager, Diro Nyenye finds himself knocking on the same door again.
The difference is in the man doing the knocking.
At 31, he carries fewer illusions and far more certainty.
He is older, steadier and shaped by the long roads football sometimes forces its players to walk before giving anything back.
With newly promoted Hardrock, it feels as if the clock has been wound back, yet nothing about this moment is naive.
Diro Nyenye is no longer chasing a place.
He is leading others towards one.
There is a calm authority about him now.
He is a dependable centre-back who organises, motivates and grinds through games when legs are heavy and pressure tightens.
Accolades have followed him this season, but they sit lightly.
What matters more is the sense that he understands himself and his game in a way he did not when it all began.
That beginning came in 2011, when he was part of the Harare City side that earned promotion to the Premiership under Bigboy Mawiwi after winning the ZIFA Northern Region title.
Fourteen years later, the scene repeats itself, only this time the setting is Kwekwe and the colours are Hardrock’s.
As captain of the ambitious Central Region outfit, Diro Nyenye led from the front in a campaign that demanded nerve as much as talent.
Hardrock clinched the championship with 88 points, six clear of nearest rivals Sheasham in a season that never truly allowed anyone to relax.
“I think the team did very well. It was a difficult campaign. The competition was something else and I feel honoured to be leading this side to Premiership football,” said Diro Nyenye.
“I was the captain, so I had to lead by example. It’s exciting to lead a team to such success. I also want to thank the coaches for their support and the owners of the team for investing in football.”
Hardrock were not built quietly.
The squad blended hunger with experience, drawing on players who knew what was required when games turned awkward.
Donald Ngoma, who finished as the club’s Golden Boot winner, was one of several seasoned figures.
Lenox Mucheto brought presence after his time as a national team trialist, Johannes Sibanda added familiarity from their Yadah days, while former Ngezi Platinum Stars prodigy Tinashe Mashaireni and ex-FC Platinum duo Devon Chafa and Evidence Tendayi deepened the spine.
At the heart of it all was Diro Nyenye.
His season was so consistent that he stood out in a league that often rewards attackers more than defenders.
Rarely does a centre-back find himself among the top individual performers, yet Diro Nyenye finished as the Central Region Soccer League best runner-up, a reflection of how influential he had been over months rather than moments.
The club made its appreciation clear.
At the end-of-year awards ceremony, he was named Hardrock’s 2025 Player of the Year and also received the special Club President’s Award. Earlier in the season, in June, club owner Shepherd Magodora Chahwanda handed him a Nissan Note valued at US$6 000 in recognition of his performances in the opening months.
“I think what has made my performance remarkable is that I have been consistent throughout. I think I have put in a lot of hard work,” he said.
“I want to thank God for the strength to win the awards. It’s not easy but this recognition, coming from the other people who voted basing on what they saw in me, gives me strength to continue fighting on. I also want to thank my teammates and my coaches because football is about teamwork.”
Promotion always brings hard truths.
Not everyone who helps a club climb earns the chance to walk the next level.
Several members of the Hardrock squad may not taste Premiership football despite their contribution to the rise.
For Diro Nyenye, that uncertainty has been lifted.
He has already signed a contract extension and will be part of the club’s first Premiership season, a reward that feels earned rather than sentimental.
Mucheto and Alpha Dube have also been retained, each signing two-year extensions.
“Never give up on your dream. You do not succeed if you do not work. People may say bad things about you, but you have to keep focus,” says Diro Nyenye.
Football was never foreign to him.
He grew up in a household where the game was part of daily conversation and quiet ambition. His brothers chased it first, laying down markers that stirred something early.
“We were a family of footballers. My brothers used to play the game and one of them (Ngoni) was even awarded a scholarship at Agatha Sheneti and played Division One football at Harare United.
“So, it’s something that was motivating. I played from a young age and by the time I was in Form Four, I was already playing Division One football for Hunters,” he said.
By 17, he had already stepped where many never reach.
“Then I joined Harare City straight from school. We were promoted to the PSL with Harare City. From there, I went to play one season at Yadah.
“I returned to Harare City and then in 2020 I went to CAPS United. But due to Covid-19 there was no football that season.
“When my contract ended at CAPS United, I went to ZPC Kariba. From there, I went to GreenFuel; that was last year (2024). Then this year, I was at Hardrock and we got promotion. I am looking forward to PSL football again.”
The journey has looped back to where it began, but the man arriving is not the boy who first walked through those doors.
This return is quieter, heavier with meaning and anchored by experience.
For Diro Nyenye, it is not about proving he belongs.
It is about recognising that sometimes the game brings you back so you can finally understand how far you have come.
Tinaye Agere