Online Reporter
Langton Nyakwenda
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AT 40, Masimba Mambare is still chasing league titles.
Twenty years after making his Premier Soccer League (PSL) debut for Ziscosteel, the veteran midfielder is part of a Hardrock side challenging for the championship in its maiden top-flight season.
Success would give Mambare a third PSL crown with a third club, adding to the championships he won with Motor Action in 2010 and Dynamos four years later.
His journey has taken him through Ziscosteel, Motor Action, Highlanders, Dynamos, Black Rhinos, Bikita Minerals and now Hardrock.
His career has crossed several generations of players, but one word has followed him more closely than any trophy.
“Traitor!”
That was the word used by The Chronicle in a headline on January 7, 2014, after Mambare left Highlanders for Dynamos.
“Traitor! . . . Mambare signs for DeMbare,” read the headline.
Mambare had starred for Highlanders, who narrowly missed out on the league championship to Dynamos in 2012 and 2013.
His departure came only weeks after he scored the winner in Highlanders’ Mbada Diamonds Cup triumph.
Reports at the time said Mambare had promised to renew his Bosso contract, but wanted first to concentrate on the African Nations Championship finals in South Africa in January 2014.
The move angered Bosso supporters.
“To be honest, I didn’t know the impact of that move. To me, I thought it was just a normal move from one club to another.
“I was actually surprised the next morning when I read The Chronicle Sport and I was labelled a traitor. That is how I realised how much I meant to the Highlanders family.
“I was seeing myself as that small boy just enjoying playing in the PSL,” he said, before bursting into laughter.
Twelve years later, Mambare remains in the top-flight and is back in a title race.
Hardrock are second on the log with seven rounds remaining and are seeking to emulate Scottland by winning the championship in their debut season.
Mambare says he enjoyed every club he represented, but Motor Action gave him the freedom to develop.
“Every club I played for was different and had different goals and ambitions,” he said.
“In the PSL, I can say Motor Action was where I enjoyed playing.
“It was a small club crowd-wise. There was less pressure, meaning I had room to make mistakes and rectify them without anyone asking for my head.
“That is where I actually grew and developed into the player I later became.”
Mambare won his first championship with Motor Action in 2010 before repeating the feat with Dynamos in 2014.
At Motor Action, he shared the dressing room with players such as Clement Matawu, Allan Gahadzikwa and Charles Sibanda.
Matawu was crowned Soccer Star of the Year in 2006, while Sibanda won the award in 2010.
Mambare was runner-up to former Dynamos star Denver Mukamba for the 2012 Soccer Star of the Year award.
Having played alongside some of the leading players from different eras, Mambare finds it difficult to choose the best he has encountered.
“It’s quite a difficult question when you have been involved with more than three different generations of players,” he said.
“Each generation had its own best players. I met players like Matawu, Gahadzikwa, Devon Chafa, Sibanda and Mukamba. They were top players.”
He also rates former Highlanders teammates Peter “Rio” Moyo and Milton Ncube among the finest he played alongside.
Hardrock teammate Donald Mudadi, he believes, belongs among the best of the current generation.
“The list goes on,” Mambare said. “I can’t include myself because I think it’s for others to judge how I used to perform.”
With Hardrock still in the championship race, Mambare’s 20-year PSL journey is not yet over.
“We will just keep pushing and see what happens,” he said.
