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Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
AFTER a seven-year sabbatical from football, former CAPS United and Premier Soccer League chairman Twine Phiri has made a rebound into the game.
However, the ex-CAPS United president is not entering the top-flight arena as he has decided to go the developmental route after discovering yawning gaps within the local football landscape.
Phiri, who acquired the CAPS United franchise from CAPS Pharmaceuticals in 1999, built his reputation after transforming the Green Machine into a huge force in the early 2000s.
Under his stewardship, Makepekepe, won their first and only back-to-back league titles in 2004 and 2005, with the impressive class of 2004 which consisted of such players as Cephas Chimedza, Ian Bakala, Brian Badza, Raymond Undi, Leonard Tsipa and Artwell Mabhiza losing just a single match in 30 games.
On both occasions, Makepekepe provided the Soccer Star of the Year with Chimedza and Malawian import Joseph Kamwendo winning the accolades in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Goalkeeper Energy Murambadoro also won the gong in 2003 as the Harare giants started the revival trajectory under Phiri’s leadership.
And after seven years on the side-lines in which he tried his hand in playing golf and even became a rugby fan so much that he flew to Cape Town, South Africa for the Rugby Sevens World Cup last year, Phiri has decided to come back to the game he loves most.
He has since launched his Twinmat Sports Academy at Bethel High School in Gwanda where he has recruited more than 100 boys and girls between the ages of eight and 19.
The 55-year-old Harare businessman, who has already engaged ZIFA for the requisite conformity paperwork will also set up another centre in Binga on May 27.
He is planning to have at least four centres in Zimbabwe as well as one each in Malawi and Zambia.
In fact, he had set up one in Malawi in early 2020 but it was swept away by the Covid-19 tide over the past two years which saw the pandemic wreaking havoc across the globe.
“As you might be aware, I announced my departure from football in 2016. During the past seven years, I have been watching from the sidelines and I also tried to engage a lot in other sports.
“I have played golf a lot and I have been following rugby as well. I was even part of the spectators during the Rugby 7s World Cup in South Africa last year,” said Phiri.
“I have tried all the sports but I can tell you, my heart is still in football and that is the reason I have decided to make a rebound.
“I can tell you that during the seven years I have been sitting out of football, I have been meeting a lot of people who always stopped me and pleaded with me to consider coming back into football.
“So I have decided to heed that call. But this time around I have decided to take the developmental path.
I want to change the face of junior football in the country.
“In Zimbabwe, we have this problem of recycling players because there is nothing happening in the grassroots.
“That is the gap that I want to help plug. I have also decided to give rural kids an equal opportunity to display their talent. We have both girls and boys in my academy.
“We will have several centres across the country with at least four centres expected to be up in different provinces by the end of this year.
“I want to change the face of grassroots football in this country. I remember in the past, we used to have a vibrant feeder system and it was easy for elite teams to get good footballers in their clubs and our football used to attract sponsorship because it was exciting.”
Phiri said he is going to pour in resources into his project which he has roped in qualified administrators and technical staff members.
He is also expected to spearhead, through ZIFA, the holding of coaching clinics in areas where he would pitch the Twinmat Sports Academy Centres.
In Gwanda, he was aided by ZIFA official Nkosilathi Dube to establish the academy.
Online Reporter