adminDanai Chitakasha
Special Correspondent
EVERY other high-density suburb in Zimbabwe, the so-called “ghetto”, comes with its own baggage, a bad label which often influences perceptions about the area.
Some of the labels are true, others are well off the mark but are often difficult to shake off because they are well embedded. I listened to a street preacher Evangelist Muparinga reinforcing the often peddled label about Highfield.
“Ku Canaan (a section in Highfield ) kune matsotsi! Musatambe neCanaan! Pane vanhu vekuHighfiridzi here pano. . .Canaan!!” he concluded amid bursts of laughter. It is fair enough to say that many among his followers agreed that Canaan in Highfield is full of dodgy characters.
Popular cartoonist Tony Namate reinforced this perception with his ZATO (Zimbabwe African Thieves Organisation) cartoons about criminality and yes, in the 80’s there was Chanetsa, a notorious robber later gunned down by the Police in a shootout. This enhanced the infamy of “Fio” as its residents prefer to call it.
However, Highfield is not all doom and gloom, many good things have emerged from this old suburb. One of them was Lusaka Hotspurs Football Club. It is to this star-studded club that I dedicate this article.
When I was growing up in Highfield, I used to spend Saturday afternoons at the Zimbabwe Grounds. The young now call the place “Kuma Zigo”, it is a term of endearment for these four pitches situated a few metres from another great Highfield monument, Gwanzura Stadium. Many teams plied their trade at this venue and Lusaka Hotspurs was a star attraction.
Recently I went down memory lane with Billy Kembo, one of the members of this team.
“The team was the brainchild of mukoma Nathan Musowe in the 70’s. He started off with the juniors, the Under-12, 14, 16 and these teams competed with other junior teams like Swallows from CJ, Machembere from Old Highfield, Zororo, Canaan and Probation.
“By 1980 we had become a fully-fledged team and we started playing in the Makomva League based at the Zimbabwe Grounds,” he narrated.
I was fortunate enough to watch this team at its peak. The Makomva League had many great teams, teams such as Saltrama, Chipinge United, Cafenol and Ferco, among others. These teams had a strong fan base and Lusaka Hotspurs always commanded a reasonable crowd when they were playing.
Many players emerged from this team, the likes of Arthur Tutani who went on to play for Black Aces and Tornadoes and is now a veteran coach with many promotions under his belt. Others who were part of the junior set up and played briefly for the team include Mayor Erick, Mugove ‘Sugar’ Munyorovi and Emmanuel Nyahuma. All these went on to have an impact on the Zimbabwe football national scene.
In fact, Erick, who is now based in Sydney, Australia, later went on to make a name for himself at former Premiership side Zimbabwe Saints while Munyorovi featured for Black Aces, Darryn T, Dynamos and Black Rhinos.
Nyahuma also became one of the country’s best goalkeepers while playing for former Highfield-based Premiership side Black Aces in the 1990s.
Between 1982 and 1984, Lusaka Hotspurs was at its peak. It was a crowd-puller with players such as Gake, Pondo, Shambo (a nickname, he loved the late CAPS United skilful midfielder Joel Shambo), Allen Chibhanguza, Ezra and tough tackling defender China.
Most of these players were real heroes to the crowds who gathered to watch them play at the Zimbabwe Grounds. The football was really good but they did not always have it their way. Many teams had good players too, like Ferco with Noah and Itai Kapini and Miriro Bernard, father to Chicken Inn goalkeeper Donovan Bernard.
Chipinge United had Mukoma Chale, he was a deadly finisher, Saltrama had Bla Shakes, the one with bone crushing tackles, Allan Mapila and a young Silver ‘Bhonzo’ Chigwenje and yes Nyasha Kanogoiwa, who went on to play for Dynamos, emerged from this league. It was a league well worth its weight in gold.
It was sad to read that the Zimbabwe football pyramid has collapsed. Divisions Three, Four and Five have become dormant but the Area Zones still exist.
I think with enough support from ZIFA and the local communities, the league can again recapture its lost glory. It is such a shame that clubs like Lusaka Hotspurs, a community-based club, have folded. They had been relying on diaspora remittances but according to Billy Kembo “the boys started demanding a lot of money, so we stopped supporting the team”.
“When we played, we played for free because we took it as a platform but these boys do not see it that way!” he said.
How disappointing!
I feel that clubs like Lusaka Hotspurs, which are rooted in the community, play a vital role in the development of football in Zimbabwe.
The young will have somewhere to spend their time, not only as players but as fans. I have seen many videos from Highfield and other “ghettos” of young men high on all sorts of drugs. “Ku Sticker!” they call it. Well I cannot say we were angels when we were growing up, but football kept us away from some debilitating habits. Watching teams like Lusaka Hotspurs strutting their stuff at the Zimbabwe Grounds kept us from mischief.
Hopefully, our community and football leaders will rediscover that zeal for grassroots football again. They might just save a generation of young people by doing so.
Online Reporter