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EDDIE “Mboma” Nyatanga will be remembered as one of the greatest friends of our football and one of the best supporters of the Warriors.
The businessman died in Harare this week.
He was 63.
A larger-than-life character, Mboma was probably born to be a football fan.
At club level, he was known as a CAPS United fan and, during the ‘80s, when the Green Machine were at their very best, he was a regular at all their matches — whether at home or away from home.
This was the vintage CAPS United of Joel Shambo, Friday Phiri, Duncan Ellison, William Chikauro, Clever Muzuva, Shacky Tauro, Stix Mutizwa and Stanley Nduduma.
Mboma was always there for his team and was even there to cheer for them when they travelled outside the country to play in the CAF inter-club tournaments.
He became very close to some of the CAPS United players, including Shambo, and they accepted him as one of them.
He was also a passionate fan of the Warriors and, despite the team’s struggles in the first decade of Independence, he stuck with the senior national team.
The arrival of Reinhard Fabisch and his Dream Team in the early part of the ‘90s took his romance with the Warriors to another level.
Then, after the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe finally secured its maiden ticket to the AFCON finals in Tunisia, provoking an incredible outpouring of emotion and support for the Warriors throughout the country.
That was when Mboma’s qualities, as a leader of the fans, came to the fore.
Thanks to his superb co-ordination and facilitation, a chartered plane was arranged for fans to go and support the Warriors on this historic assignment in Tunisia in 2004.
Amid the commotion at RGMI Airport, as thousands of fans tried to squeeze into the Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767 for the trip to Tunisia, Mboma displayed his leadership skills to control a rowdy crowd and get as many genuine fans, as possible, into, the plane.
That night, he won a lot of respect from his fellow fans and even administrators.
From that day, he was regarded as the godfather of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association, an organisation he formed to represent the interest of the supporters.
On Tuesday, Mboma died.
“He developed some clots in his lungs and this caused the suffocation,” his son Bruce told Zimpapers Sport.
As expected, Mboma’s death has caused tremors across the football fraternity.
And, as Chris “Romario” Musekiwa, another cheerleader of the Warriors noted, Mboma was a man of the people.
That is why even the likes of Prophet Walter Magaya, who runs Yadah FC, have paid glowing tributes to him.
We have lost a true football fan and the game has lost one of its best friends.
It’s sad that we have lost Mboma at a time when our national game is at the crossroads and in need of good leaders.
There will never be another Mboma.
Online Reporter