Make hay while the sun still shines, footballers told

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Black Rhinos defender Gift Saunyama has made an impassioned plea to footballers to prepare for life after football by making full use of their popularity during their playing days.

Writing on his Facebook timeline, the gangly Saunyama, who also played for Dynamos, said inactivity in the past couple of months due to Covid-19 must be a wake up call for footballers to invest wisely.

He said footballers’ lives must inspire young ones to take up sport as a career that is viable even though returns on the local scene are not that good but opportunities to pursue other ventures are plenty.

“My clarion call to fellow local players is that we must plan our lives post football now while we are still generating some income and have this level of attention and interest. If we learnt nothing from those who played the game before us, let us draw lessons from these last few months.

“Footballers are role models and how we manage the opportunities our careers present to us during and after football should inspire the next generation of footballers. It should inspire young people to take up sport as a career that is viable, even if they are to spend their entire career locally.

“They should be aware that whilst the returns from the local game are not good enough at the moment, football also presents you with opportunities to pursue other worthwhile ventures,” wrote Saunyama, who is now a free agent after being released by the army side.

He pleaded with team administrators to honour contractual obligations for the local game to positively move forward. He said only professionalism will take the local game forward.

Saunyama confessed that he misses playing football as the game provided them with an opportunity to escape from their day to day problems.

“We all miss football a lot. We miss the feeling that comes with competing. Football gives many of us an escape route from our problems, a feeling of utopia. However, the Coronavirus pandemic has taken all that away.

“Instead, it has presented a lot of challenges for footballers in general, especially local players. There are lessons players need to draw from this phase. If we do not, it would be a classic case of shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Saunyama.

He said players have had a hint of what life post football will be like and they had now learnt it first hand.

“For a local footballer, it’s almost impossible to save some money as one’s earnings are never enough to make ends meet. This is the sad reality of an average professional footballer in Zimbabwe. This then means that most of the players who spend the greater part of their playing careers locally, will most likely find themselves struggling by the time they decide to retire from the game. That is the reality and plight of the local footballer.

“While I may not have the perfect solution to the challenges faced by the average footballer locally, I feel the first step involves being candid and accepting that we need some form of help,” he said.