Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOOTBALL can be so cruel at times.
The sight of a soaked Marvellous Chigumira wearing a TelOne shirt after a 2-2 draw at Highlanders on Sunday was more than enduring.
It was a reminder of how things can change so quickly in football.
This was the Premiership penultimate round and TelOne stepped onto the Barbourfields turf already demoted and they were merely playing for pride.
But just a year ago, the same Chigumira, walked onto the Ascot pitch in the same penultimate fixture with his team Scottland facing Kwekwe United and the picture in the aftermath was almost the same but the mood was totally different.
Chigumira, subbed off for Mafious Chihweta nine minutes after the hour mark in that match, was also soaked because the heavens, just like on Sunday at BF, had opened during the game.
But after beating Kwekwe United 5-1, Scottland were confirmed champions and the mood was totally different with the players from the Mabvuku team rolling with joy on that muddy pitch.
Who could stop them? They had reached the Promised Land on the first time of asking.
But on Sunday, Chigumira’s story was painfully different.
He finds himself relegated from the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League with TelOne — just 12 months after lifting the title with Scottland.
It is a fall that has left the defender heartbroken, but also determined to rise again.
“I am feeling sad, I won’t lie,” said Chigumira.
“Last year I was a champion. I was celebrating with Scottland. We worked so hard to win the league. It was the best moment of my career.
“To be relegated a year later is very painful. It hurts. As a player, you never want to be relegated.
You want to win, you want to fight for honours, you don’t want to go down.”
“But that is football. Football can lift you up and football can bring you down. One year you are a champion, the next year you are fighting relegation. It is painful, but I have to accept it.”
For Chigumira, this is not the first time he has tasted the bitter pill of relegation with TelOne.
He was also part of the TelOne team that played only one season in the top-flight back in 2019 before being relegated.
That experience, he says, taught him a lot about the game — and about life.
“In 2019, we were also relegated with TelOne after just one season in the Premier League. It was also painful. I was young then, I didn’t understand many things,” said Chigumira.
“Now it has happened again. It hurts more because I know what it means to be a champion. I know what it feels like to win. To go from that to relegation is difficult to explain.”
But despite the pain, Chigumira is refusing to be broken.
Instead, he says the relegation has strengthened him as a player — and as a man.
“It strengthens me as a player to also be mature,” said Chigumira.
“When you win, everyone loves you. When you lose, you learn who you really are. Relegation teaches you to be strong. It teaches you to be mature. It teaches you to handle pressure, to handle disappointment, to handle failure.
“I am now more mature. I understand football better. I understand that you have to fight every day, you have to be consistent, you have to be disciplined. You cannot relax because you won last year.
“I have learned that in football, nothing is guaranteed. You have to earn everything, every season, every game.”
Chigumira says he will use the pain of relegation as fuel to come back stronger.
He still believes he has a lot to offer in the top-flight and he is determined to prove that he belongs among the best defenders in the country.
“I am not finished. I am still a good player. I still have a lot to give,” he said.
“Relegation is not the end. It is a lesson. I will work harder. I will train harder. I will come back stronger.”
“I want to thank the TelOne fans for their support throughout the season. They stood with us even when results were not coming. It was difficult for them too. I am sorry we could not keep the team in the Premier League.”
TelOne will wrap up their life in the top-flight with a date against Bulawayo Chiefs at Ascot next week, the same pitch he and his Scottland teammates were crowned after playing TelOne last year.
While Chigumira is feeling heartbroken, his teammates Jerry Chipangura and Innocent Mucheneka are downtrodden as this is their second straight season to see their team go down as they did so
with Yadah last year.
