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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
CAPS United legend Stewart “Shutto” Murisa vividly recalls the first words he was told by the late iconic former Makepekepe coach Steve “The Dude” Kwashi on joining the Green Machine.
Murisa had spent a near-fruitful season with Blackpool who agonisingly lost out on the Premiership title to Dynamos on goals-fired in the 1995 season.
He had also sparkled for “Ndochi” in the CAF Africa Cup of Cup Winners tournament, helping them reach the semi-final of the second-tier of the continental club competition the same year.
At only 22, Murisa was certainly not the best player on that team.
But, then Makepekepe coach Kwashi, who passed away on Monday at the age of 67, recommended that the striker be signed.
“I was a confident player who could dribble and score goals. I had represented Zimbabwe at all levels but I wasn’t sure if I would make a significant impact at CAPS United,” said Murisa.
“But, I grew in confidence well before even making my debut for the team, thanks to the words I was given by Kwashi.
“I recall each word in that sentence. He said ‘Thank you for agreeing to join CAPS United. I know you are a confident young player. I want to make you the best player you can be. I know you are already one of the best players around, but I know you will be better than you are now’.
“Those words stuck in me. I learnt how to keep focus. By the time I made my debut for the team, I was already playing my best football.”
In a richly-assembled team which had some of the best players to ever don the famous green shirt, including Lloyd Chitembwe, Joe “Kode” Mugabe, Morgan Nkhatazo, Mpumelolo Dzowa, Frank “Dealer” Nyamukuta, Maxwell “Cheche” Billiat and Simon Dambaza, Murisa stood out.
The Green Machine won their first league title in Independent Zimbabwe and Murisa, with 21 goals and over 10 assists to his name, was duly voted the 1996 Soccer Star of the Year.
“I didn’t know that I was that good. Hear me correctly, I worked with very good coaches before I joined CAPS United but it was Kwashi who brought the best out of me.
“I think I made my Premiership debut in the early 1990s with Darryn T and I joined Blackpool in 1995.
“I also played briefly in Poland and after my stint with Makepekepe, I played in South Africa and also in Zimbabwe for Dynamos and Highlanders but I think I played my best football under Kwashi.
“He made the team fall in love with the game. He had the passion and the zeal as well as humour too. I still remember it was on a Friday ahead of our BP Cup semi-final against Dynamos. He said: ‘Shutto you know what you are supposed to do, dribble them and score’. Each one of us was given specific instructions ahead of that game.
“He knew how to unite a team and I know as much as we were talented, one of the standout characteristics we had as the Class of ’96 was unity on and off the field of play. That made us tick, we would play for each other. On a bad day if I had struggled to pass the ball to Alois (Bunjira), Nkathazo or Dambaza, I would go home a disappointed man. All that is attributable to Kwashi. We were one big family.
“I am gutted; this is a big loss to the Zimbabwean football fraternity. Kwashi is definitely one coach who managed to get the best out of me, he transformed an average player that was in me to a star that I became. I believe he did that to a lot of other players too.”
Online Reporter