Vusumuzi Dube“YOUNGMAN do you see NaThoko on the terraces, she is here to collect my winning bonus, so up your game, we are not here for fun,” said the late Gweru and Hwange FC left back to a terrified teenage striker Mandla Mpofu at Ziscosteel FC before a home tie in 1993.
Mpofu was one of the three boys who had just joined the Super League founding club from Bulawayo.
In an interview with Sunday Life on Friday, Mpofu said the senior players had a workmanlike approach to every game and wanted the best from every member of the matchday squad.
Mpofu had been signed from Kenny Banda’s Blackpool side of Tshabalala who played in the Bulawayo Province Division Two League. He was still wet behind the ears with two options at his disposal, a career as a sprinter or as a footballer.
Back then organisations and mines like Zisco, employed many talented youths as fulltime or parttime athletes and played a very significant role in developing the discipline while at the same time providing careers for football.
Mpofu was just fresh from Ihlathi High School where from Form One in 1989 he scooped prizes for the best all-round sportsperson for his age-groups up to Form Four.
Unknown to him he had been identified by former Highlanders, Zimbabwe Saints, Zisco and Zimbabwe Centre back Ephraim Moloi at a cluster competition.
“So, in December after writing my ‘O’ Levels examinations, I was invited for a trial by Moloi who had seen me at a school match and was impressed. I did enough to earn an invite to join the side when preparations for the inaugural Premier Soccer League season started in January. I trained as an athlete for about a week but I then decided to concentrate on football,” said Mpofu who had won sprint events from primary school and represented Bulawayo and Matabeleland Provinces in the national finals.
At both school levels, football was an afterthought, his primary love was athletics in which he reigned supreme in the 100 and 200m sprints earning himself a place in the Zimbabwe Under-20 team.
“We were supposed to travel to Namibia for a regional competition but could not after the association could not raise enough. That denied me a chance to represent my country in athletics, but I am perennially grateful to God that he made it possible for me to coach Zimbabwe national teams,” said the football gaffer who is among a few to have been involved from Under-17 to the senior national team.
Mpofu says teachers at Mahlabezulu Primary School in Tshabalala, Bulawayo, pushed him to play as a striker having started off as a goalkeeper.
“They advocated that I should use one strength of speed in my football and they made me play as a striker though I would later on change to midfield,” he said.
After catching the eyes of CB Mpofu and Albert Ali Dube of Highlanders, Mpofu found himself at the Highlanders juniors in 1990-1991.
“It was a tough call for me to play for Highlanders and Blackpool who were in Division Five back then owned by Kenney Banda who assisted me with fees and all my other needs as a school boy. There were times where I would miss Bosso Juniors’ games and Ali would be mad about it and take Melusi Ndebele to task for not coming with me.
With pressure on my own I decided to leave Highlanders Juniors where I was with the likes of Lenny Gwata, Master Masiku and Melusi Ndebele for Blackpool and I continued to rise until I got the Zisco opportunity. I was just 18 and unaware of the football industry other than idolising some of the great names football offered back then like Jimmy Phiri, Madinda Ndlovu, Willard Khumalo, Mercedes Sibanda, Joseph Machingura,” said the man many got to call Lulu or Diego.
He was also a victim of the Mzilikazi bullying for out of suburb players. “Some days we would walk up to Nguboyenja bus stop and meet some of our colleagues who would say there is no training. The next day we turn up and we get taken to task by Ali Dube for absenteeism, but it was friendly fire, we never gave up with my walking from Tshabalala partner,” said Mpofu.
He said both nicknames came from supporters when he was a young player at school and Blackpool.
Lulu was the nickname of Lazarus Mwambopo, a Bulawayo Wanderers and Wankie great, a midfielder of immense talent whose magic moments could tilt any game to his team’s favour.
Diego was derived from one of the greatest players the game of football ever had.
“Lulu, I got it from supporters of both school and club. They said I played like Lazarus in midfield who was at that time a hit with Highlanders and Zimbabwe football. I played as a second striker, the traditional Number 10, many felt I was as skillful and industrious like the Argentinian legend.
“It was an honour to be named after those two players who during my secondary school last three years were influential in their different clubs,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu says he enjoyed his stay at Zisco and recalls that getting into the first team was not easy as there were some great players like Kennedy Nagoli, Knight Mathe, Godfrey Tamirepi, Sando Phiri and Newman Bizeki who pushed the boys to the limit.
His first Premier League goal was in an away win at Tanganda, a shot from outside the box that gave the goalkeeper no chance.
“Some of the senior players drank beer but come match day, they would lead the training sessions with so much intensity and commitment which made us younger players Batsi Dliwayo and Thamsanqa Thambo two guys I had joined Zisco with want to work harder,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu spoke highly of Mulenga Chewe his teammate at Zisco and Railstars, a Zambian who is respected as having been one of the best finishers in the land.
“He was the ultimate professional, a great finisher, who put so much to the game. It was great re-uniting with him at Railstars in 1998. He worked hard every day. Something about Chewe, he would celebrate all his goals even at training as if it’s a league game. He loved his job and was very committed and so much of a professional,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu’s 1994 season was blighted by injury. It forced him to return to Bulawayo and by mid-season he was much better and begun training with Shu-Shine who had relocated to Bulawayo. He came close to a transfer but it was blocked after Zisco demanded $8 000.
“Shu-Shine paid $7 000 for Willard Khumalo and could not pay $8 000 for me and the deal fell through,” said Mpofu who returned to Zisco in the Division One campaign the following season.
Lulu recalls scoring a winner against Highlanders in a 3-2 victory at home, a game in which he says he probably watched the best ever Premiership goal by a defender at Torwood Stadium.
“Lenny scored with a blistering shot from the centre circle, what a goal!!! What a cracker!!! I rate that goal as one of the best ever in the league and at Redcliff,” said Diego.
Lulu with homesickness troubling him and some of his colleagues having left Zisco found himself at Railstars.
“Back then any team that provided employment was good. I got a chance to get a job at Works Yard where I gained experience in maintenance fitting and later on worked as a supplies/procurement clerk for 10 years,” said Mpofu who has over the last 12 years lived as fulltime football coach.
He says he was able to re-unite with his former teammates Mulenga, Dliwayo, Thambo and Akim Muganyi. This he says made settling in easier.
Diego regards the 2000 season as the best for him as a player as he was part of the Railstars team that finished third in the league race.
“Chewe was on fire, he was the top goal scorer, grabbing a brace against AmaZulu in the last day of the season to eclipse Zenzo Moyo who had left for Cyprus months earlier,” said Mpofu.
He played alongside Wisdom Sibanda, Thabani Sibanda, Morgan Chenga, Pare Zivira, Tirivaviri Sithole, Vusa Tshabalala and Derek Phili.
Mpofu quit the club in 2004 to turn out for Thorngrove and that is when he ventured into coaching as Ali invited him to work with him at Railstars Juniors where at some stage he was carving the careers of Tendai and Tafadzwa Ndoro and Danny Phiri.
In 2008, Mpofu was invited to take over Kujatana and turned the club into a top four finisher having found them 12th on the log with Tendai among his top stars there. Mpofu would return to Bulawayo to work as an assistant at Highlanders for a number of coaches before taking over from Mark Harrison.
A Caf Level A coach, Mpofu is married with two children having lost his daughter recently and boasts two grandchildren.
He was born in Hwange on 28 July 1974 and of his family only his nephew Maqhawe Mpofu played football starring as a midfielder for Hwange FC a decade ago.
Mpofu who recently parted ways with Highlanders regards Lenny as the toughest defender he ever faced.
“I was having a field day against Simon Sibanda in 1996 until they assigned Lenny Gwata to deal with me. He kicked me from the onset, I believe he is the toughest I ever faced as a striker while in midfield the likes of Desmond Maringwa, Ronald Sibanda and Chingumbe Masuku were tough to deal with,” said Lulu.
Mpofu in his parting shot said he was taking a breather but remained available for football.
Online Reporter