Lovemore Dube
GIBSON Homela says he was pleasantly surprised by what he witnessed in Inyathi last weekend when he took Zimbabwe Saints juniors there for friendly matches.
His remarks come three weeks after another football personality, Lewis Muzhara, was left in awe by what he witnessed in Zaka.
There is abundant soccer talent in rural areas. What is needed is a well-co-ordinated and structured pathway to identify, nurture and develop the talent for professional football.
A more organised approach could see stars emerge from these communities, establishing themselves as role models and sources of inspiration.
Homela, who remains part of efforts to get Zimbabwe Saints back on its feet, said the talent he witnessed in Inyathi left him convinced that Zimbabwean football has a bright future.
“I was actually amazed with what I saw there. Very good players of all ages and they are backed up by a passionate community that loves the game and will come in hundreds to watch at any given moment. Football is our number one sport, no matter where you go in Zimbabwe, soccer is the deal,” said Homela.
He said the technical and tactical levels were beyond what he had expected.
“At all ages, I was surprised to see some good football, the boys showed they have talent, commitment and an idea about tactical play. If we have many places like Inyathi with such efforts feeding deliberately into the football ecosystem, we are on the right path, but it would appear those guys are doing their own thing,” said Homela.
When he was national director of coaching after his training in Germany in the 1980s, Homela advocated for a broader player-development pathway that would expose children to national football structures from an early age.
His argument was that national recognition should not happen by chance, but should be a deliberate process beginning at grassroots level, with the football association overseeing the promotion, retention and release of players as they grow older.
He proposed inter-cluster competitions feeding into district championships, followed by inter-district and inter-provincial competitions, with the latter serving as the final stage for selecting a wider pool of players for national teams at different age levels.
His idea was to ensure that talent from remote rural areas also had an opportunity to be shortlisted for district, provincial and national finals.
“We have an opportunity for an even wider selection base for national teams if we activate these programmes that are running but informally, outside the Zifa eyes,” said Homela.
Ishmael Sibanda of the Inyathi Football Association said they were running three development age-group leagues and one senior league.
He said they had not yet been incorporated into the province’s football structures and were eagerly awaiting recognition.
“We have not been incorporated into football structures in our province, hopefully with Homela and Zimbabwe Saints having been here, it will now be known that we exist,” said Sibanda.
Muzhara sponsored a women’s football tournament in Zaka last month and was equally impressed by the talent on display.
“All went well and we had MWOS impressed by five players who need technical assistance and polishing up. Scottland showed interest in some of the talent with Correctional Queens saying t5hey will give eight girls a trial at the end of the season. In all we had a number of coaches expressing interest in the rural talent,” said Muzhara.
