Chronicle Editor
Tadious Manyepo, Harare Bureau
CHICKEN INN midfielder, Tichaona Chipunza, would have probably made the 2019 Soccer Stars of the Year list had selectors waited for the season to end.
However, the selection was done with two games before the end of the marathon when the Gamecocks were third on the log while Caps United, who finished third, led the race.
Chipunza, though, got a big consolation on Thursday night when he walked away with the team’s Player of the Year award when the Bulawayo club honoured their outstanding stars.
That Maritzburg United forward Clive Augusto, who powered his way to the Soccer Stars’ calendar despite having played only 17 games for Chicken Inn, wasn’t even on the shortlist for the club’s top gong, puts Chipunza’s case for inclusion in the country’s finest 11, into perspective.
Chipunza, who was born in Masvingo, only missed two games through suspension having carried three yellow cards preceding each of those missed matches.
If anything, his coach, Joey Antipas, who regularly called the midfielder into the Warriors team when he was in temporary charge, was surprised Chipunza didn’t make the Soccer Stars list.
“Ticha (Chipunza) had a great season. I thought he would ease onto that calendar but it didn’t happen,’’ said Antipas.
‘’He was our best player at Chicken Inn, scoring, assisting, blocking and intercepting crucial balls for us.
‘’He is a very good player.’’
Yet, Chipunza wouldn’t have been a footballer in the first place.
As soon as the midfielder moved from Zaka, where he was staying with his paternal grandmother to join his parents in Chitungwiza when he was 10, his mother, Alice Mugabe, made it a point that he should never play football.
Unlike other kids his age, Chipunza couldn’t be afforded any room to sneak and play the game.
“It could have been a totally different story,” said Chipunza.
“My mother didn’t like to see me playing football. She hated that with a passion. I tried to disregard her but then all my overtures would be met with disdain.
“I ended up stopping, just to make my mother happy. But, you know, my heart was aching to play. And, somehow, I ended up playing but still she didn’t like it.”
She only softened her stance after Chipunza joined DC Academy in 2011 and, now, she is actually her son’s biggest supporter.
Chipunza though, hasn’t been lucky in his career with all the clubs he has featured for, always coming close, but failing to win any accolades.
The former Triangle midfielder has now seen action at three different clubs.
In 2010, he was the pulse of Dynamos who were bridesmaids to FC Platinum before he was taken on board at Ngezi Platinum Stars by their then coach Tonderai Ndiraya.
Again, Ngezi Platinum, finished second to the same Zvishavane club who wrapped the title for the second time in a row.
And this year, after moving to Chicken Inn, FC Platinum — for the third season running – retained the title.
“It has always been FC Platinum,’’ he said.
‘’This year, again at Chicken Inn, we were leading at some point of the marathon but, we didn’t do enough and the same team (FC Platinum) are the champions.
“It gives me the energy to keep on working hard. I hope one day, maybe next year, I will be able to win the league.
“On being the Player of the Year at Chicken Inn, I would like to thank the coach (Antipas) and my teammates for the accolade. I owe it to everyone at Chicken Inn.”
Online Reporter