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Collin Matiza
Sports Editor
THERE was a hive of activity at St Joseph’s Primary School in Chirumhanzi on Saturday where a number of primary schools from that area converged for the annual Chirozvani Football Tournament.
The tournament is the brainchild of former CAPS United and Blackpool tough tackling defender Timothy Chirozvani and his brothers as a way of giving back to the community of the rural area that they grew up in.
Chirozvani is now based in the United Kingdom but is currently back in the country for a brief vacation and on Saturday he made his way to Chirumhanzi to oversee the staging of the Chirozvani Football Tournament where he was also the guest of honour.
The tournament was supposed to feature four teams, namely St Joseph’s, Nyautongwe, Govere and Chapwanya primary schools but, unfortunately, Chapwanya failed to participate, therefore leaving only three teams to participate in the one-day event.
The tournament was then reduced to a round-robin competition and St Joseph’s beat Nyautongwe 1-0 in their first match before dispatching Govere 2-0 to top the log standings.
In the other match pitting Govere and Nyautongwe, it ended in a goalless draw, meaning Nyautongwe finished on second position with a superior goal difference.
St Joseph’s then went on to win the tournament and retained the title they won last year during the inauguration of the competition.
They were given winners’ medals, a floating trophy and US$250 cash. The first runners- up got silver medals and US$150 while the third placed team walked away with US $100.
There was also a challenge match played between Hama Secondary School and Charandura Social Club in which the former beat their rivals in a fiercely contested match which ended 2-1 and they walked away with US$50.
There were also individual awards with St Joseph’s Rolen Gwatiringa scooping both the Player of the Tournament and Top Goal Scorer awards with his team mate Kudzi taking the man of the match award while the goalkeeper’s award went to Govere’s shot stopper.
The organisers promised that the tournament will be bigger and better next year.
Wilfred Chirwa, one of the tournament’s organisers, said everything went on smoothly on Saturday.
“The tournament was well organised and all the logistics were put in place way before it started.
“We were only let down by Chapwanya school who failed turn up but we managed to handle the situation in a professional way and everything went according to plan.
“There was some entertaining football and everyone who participated in this event went back home happy.
“This was only the second edition of the tournament but we promise that next year’s competition will be bigger and far much better,” Chirwa said.
Timothy Chirozvani, who bankrolls the tournament, also promised to pour in more resources into next year’s competition.
“As you know I have this passion of developing football as grassroots level and that’s why I came up with this idea of hosting this tournament.
“I could have had it staged in Harare but I decided to take it to the once neglected folks in the rural area of Chirumhanzi where I grew up herding cattle there.
“There is a lot of untapped talent in these rural areas and it needs to be fished out and be given the much-needed exposure from primary school level.
“Our junior national coaches also need to visit these areas . . . they need to cast their nets wide and I’m quite convinced they will identify a lot of gifted football players in these areas.
“Who knows, the next generation of talented players such as the Moses “Bambo” Chungas, Stanley “Sinyo” Ndundumas, Stanford “Stix” Mutizwas, Joel “Jubilee” Shambos, Shacky Tauros, Peter Ndlovus, Madinda Ndlovus, Agent ‘Ajira’ Sawus and Joseph Machinguras of our local football world might be unearthed in these rural areas, “Chirozvani said after Saturday’s tournament.
He is scheduled to return to his base in the UK today.
Online Reporter