Online Reporter
Sharuko on Saturday
KODE from Mabvuku!
It had a rhythm to it, just like the way the man, whose identity it represented, played his football.
His real name was Joe Mugabe.
It was a beautiful ringing tone.
The amazing sound track which used to accompany the motion picture which this diminutive fellow from Mabvuku used to dish out on our football fields.
Four years ago Joe died.
His final moments came at his base in Reading in England when he lost the biggest battle of his life in the early hours of August 7, 2021, when cancer triumphed and we all mourn our loss.
Joe didn’t win the Soccer Star of the Year award, something which Wilfred Mugeyi did, but it’s fair to say that throughout the ‘90s, he was the face of football in Mabvuku.
That’s quite a badge of honour to carry given this was also the time when the likes of the Mugeyi twins, Usman Misi, Oswin Kwaramba, Albert Mabika, to name but just a few, were also making huge impressions.
Mabvuku is smaller than the likes of Mbare and Highfield but it has punched way above its weight when it comes to producing its fair share of footballers who really caught the eye.
On Monday, one of its football sons, Marshall Munetsi made it into the big time when he completed his dream move to Premiership side Wolves.
The boy who grew up staying with his parents at ZRP Mabvuku police camp, where his father was a police officer, has just become the most expensive footballer in Zimbabwean football history.
The fellow who grew up playing football on the open spaces of Mabvuku, and had a stint with Desmond Ali’s Ali Sundowns nursery side, has just been traded for a cool US$20,5 million.
To try and put this into context, I checked the average prices of either one-bedroom or two-bedroom houses in Mabvuku on property.com.
I realised that with US$19 000 you can get a one-bedroom house and with US$25 000 you can get a two-bedroom house in Mabvuku.
What this means is that the club which bought Munetsi were convinced that he was worth an investment which would have seen them buy 1078 one-bedroom houses and 820 two-bedroom houses in Mabvuku.
Well, that’s huge.
To put this into context, you need to understand that the most expensive South African footballer ever is Lyle Foster when he moved to Burnley for US$7,28 million in January 2022.
Munetsi cost three times that value in his move to Wolves this week.
I have always felt that Munetsi, with his huge frame, impressive work rate, box-to-box action, strength and the occasional eye for goal was always made for the English Premiership.
I also felt that he should have gone there a little bit earlier than what has happened now.
But, I believe in God and I always tell myself that there is a time for everything and the Almighty had His programme for our Warrior and its time to pass was on Monday.
It’s such a beautiful story.
And, that is the reason why we gave it front page treatment at my other base at H-Metro, the little tabloid newspaper which is the little sister of this grand old newspaper.
It’s stories like these that convince me that, in terms of raw football talent, we are the most blessed nation in Southern Africa.
We do not have the best national football team in this part of the world and that has largely been the result of our DNA to always attract the worst possible administrators to lead our national game.
There is a feeling right now that all this will change with the coming on board of Nqobile Magwizi.
But, the self-induced weaknesses of our Warriors can’t overshadow the fact that we produce some gems of footballers and history will always remember that the first African star to play in the Premiership was a boy from our borders.
The latest is the Field Marshall who has just gone to the country which Joe used to call his adopted home.
THE TEAM FROM MABVUKU
I briefly stayed in Mabvuku, at a relative’s house, during my days when I was in college and every day I used to pass by the place, where Usman Misi’s father would be repairing bicycles, on my way to catch the bus.
For goodness sake, they even have a street called Chakari down there.
This is the street where Elton Chimedza, one of the suburb’s football golden boys, was mugged in March last year as he was walking home.
He was hit by an iron bar but, thank God, he managed to survive the attack.
I would also occasionally visit the Hunters Bar for a drink and, during the weekend, I would go and watch some football at Circle Cement or the Mabvuku Number One ground.
I knew the neighbourhood’s history of producing some fine football specimens.
But, never did it ever cross my mind that this would be the area that would get the badge of honour as the suburb which produced the most expensive Zimbabwean footballer in history.
Marshall was not yet born back then and I am not sure whether his father, by then, was already working and, if so, he had been posted to the Mabvuku Police Station.
This week I spent a good part of my time taking calls from an army of English football journalists who wanted to know more about Marshall and, in the process, also know about Mabvuku.
These are some of the miracles which God presents to us but, blinded by our sins and choked by our lack of faith, we just don’t see them or we pretend not to see them.
It’s a great time for football in Mabvuku – they now have their own Premiership side in the form of Scottland, they have the most expensive footballer in our history and even Ali Sundowns have been promoted into Division One.
Oh, by the way, they also have another Division One side, the fabulously named Mombeyaora, (The Cow is Rotten,) where Cuthbert Chitima is the chairman and Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera is the coach.
Scottland are in Zambia today for their 17-day pre-season training camp.
They are the first Premiership débutantes to have a pre-season training camp in a foreign country.
This is a tradition which many leading clubs in the world do in pre-season, moving away from their countries to find temporary refuge elsewhere and, far away from the madding crowd, deal only with the serious business of football.
I know Scottland are not popular with some local fans who feel the club have bullied their way into the top-flight league and are bullying the traditional giants by taking some of their players.
But, that’s normal in football, they can’t expect fans of their rival clubs to like what they are doing but that should not also deflect their focus in their mission to build a club which can transform itself into local champions.
They have done the right thing to invest in a proper pre-season training camp.
And, the professionalism in their camp, from their beautiful team bus, state-of-the-art training equipment and other things, will be a great advertisement for our domestic Premiership out there in Zambia.
It will send a very powerful message that for all our challenges we still have a domestic top-flight league which is still not only breathing but where there is considerable investment into our clubs.
Their team bus is probably the best coach, when it comes to football clubs, among those roaming the streets of Zambia right now and that’s a huge morale victory for our domestic Premiership.
Their training equipment, complete with drones and everything one can expect in a professional football club set-up, is the best among all such equipment in Zambia right now.
They are also the only football club, across the length and breadth of Zambia right now, who have their own custom-made ambulance, which they have taken along on this tour of duty, to deal with emergencies on the training fields.
They are the only football club in Zambia today, who have a coach who has just come back from a two-week attachment with a Turkish Super Lig club – that’s the league where, today, where you find the likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
They are the only football club in Zambia today, with a footballer who swept the board at the South African Premiership end-of-year awards show and came second in the race for the African Footballer of the Year for the stars based on the continent.
I saw the video of Khama Billiat being mobbed by some women at Lions Den on Thursday, when their coach stopped over on its way to Zambia, and it reminded me of the power of football.
Those people don’t care about the petty politics in our game and all that they love is seeing their heroes and, boy oh boy, they were so happy to see their Warriors star.
I don’t support Scottland, my team Chegutu Pirates is back in Division One and we now have Bambo as our coach, but that doesn’t blind me from seeing and appreciating all the good things these boys from Mabvuku are doing.
I’m not from Mabvuku, but I can understand why the people there are feeling some pride running through their veins.
They are the only neighbourhood with a football club, in the domestic Premiership, which has its own ambulance, custom-made and fully equipped to deal with the kind of emergencies which happen on a football pitch.
Considering that this year marks 63 years since the first domestic Premiership championship race was held, this is something which the people of Mabvuku should be very proud of.
Last week, they sent seven officials to Lubumbashi to exchange notes about the stadium they want to build at the Mabvuku Number 1 ground.
For me, that’s progress and, in the week that the Field Marshall completed his move to the Premiership, it can’t get any better for football lovers in Mabvuku.
They deserve it, they have played their part in the history of our game and they are the home of Kode from Mabvuku.
To God be the Glory!
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldhinoooooooooooooooooo!
Text feedback: 0772545199
WhatsApp: 0772545199
Email: [email protected]
