Online Reporter
Eddie Chikamhi-Zimpapers Sports Hub
CHITUNGWIZA has always been a football town.
The streets still echo the names that shaped generations, legends like Stewart Murisa, Callisto Pasuwa, Alois Bunjira, Norman Mapeza, Gift Muzadzi, Lloyd Chitembwe and Alois Godzi.
Kids here grow up chasing a football between blocks, not dreaming of straight drives or leg cutters.
This is why Gladiators Cricket Club feels almost impossible at first glance.
Tucked inside this sprawling dormitory town, far from the traditional cricket pathways, the club has quietly built a production line of stars and turned a sport once out of reach into a doorway for boys and girls who never imagined one.
Chitungwiza does not look like the place where future internationals are shaped. The grounds are “borrowed”, the gear is shared and money hardly stretches far enough.
Yet in this unlikely setting, Gladiators built something lasting.
What began as a small club run on sacrifice and stubborn belief has grown into one of the country’s most reliable cricket nurseries.
Tadiwa Marumani, Tony Munyonga, Wessly Madhevere, Clive Madande and Milton Shumba all passed through it as kids and rose to national colours.
For 20 years, the club has turned obstacles into openings, stepping in where families could not.
Cricket costs money that most people in Chitungwiza do not have, from equipment to transport, but Gladiators found ways to close the gap and became an essential partner in Zimbabwe Cricket’s efforts to bring the game to places the system rarely reached.
“The mission from the onset is to save talent lost when one finishes primary school because there is no cricket played in secondary schools after Grade Seven in Chitungwiza,” said former player turned coach Kuda Chigulupati.
“So, we realised there was a gap and Gladiators was formed for that purpose. We need to nurture the talent further.”
The club branched out of Northwinds Cricket Club, which also inspired other local development teams like Uprisings, Rainbow and Royals.
Gladiators climbed from the Harare provincial third-tier league into the top flight after lifting the 2018-2019 Vigne Cup.
Their debut National Premier League (NPL) campaign brought a respectable sixth place.
A few years later, they were no longer outsiders. They won the 2022-2023 NPL title, then repeated the feat in the 2024-2025 season.
That rise was built on grit rather than resources.
Chigulupati remembers seasons where the club scraped by. Prize money from small tournaments became the backbone of their operations. They used it to pay for transport, lunches, ground hire and officials — anything that kept the boys on the field.
“It was difficult but I am glad the young boys understood where we were coming from and where we are going. Our generation had it tough back then. We had to go into our pockets most of the times,” he said.
“But thank God we managed to boost our coffers from the prize money which we got from winning events. So, we don’t ask the boys to pay anything. We understand their backgrounds. It’s hard. Some that have made it to professional cricket are now the breadwinners in their families. So, we just provide them a platform. They come, enjoy their cricket and if they succeed in their careers, we are all happy.”
Gladiators now run a second men’s team to help young players climb into senior cricket. Their women’s side is heading into its second season.
It offers girls in the community a rare shot at structured, competitive cricket.
“Now that we have three teams, the responsibilities are even greater because all our teams need equal treatment. We just hope to continue winning in the NPL so that we boost the finances,” said Chigulupati.
Talent keeps arriving. Newman Nyamhuri has already earned his senior national cap.
The conveyor belt has produced Under-19 and Under-25 representatives like Leeroy Chiwaula, Kupakwashe Muradzi, Ben Zuze, Ambitious Mudoma, Aisha Chibanda, Ashley Mupandauya and Lenox Chitando.
Most of them once sat in classrooms at St Aidan’s and Zengeza 4 primary schools, where Chigulupati and fellow coach Malcom Chikuhwa have shaped hundreds of beginners.
Zimbabwe international Tony Munyonga remembers exactly how he got roped in.
“I joined Gladiators back in 2010 when I was still in primary school at St Aidan’s. I was about 11 years old by then. I remember coach Malcom (Chikuhwa) being the one to chase me to be a part of the club,” he said.
“Since then, I’ve been a member of the club and to be honest, they really developed me into the player I am today.
“The coaches and the captain at that time, Tatenda Matimbe, would encourage me to play the game and practise almost every day. I don’t think there was ever a time when I didn’t have any one of them at training. Absolute credit to them for helping me in my young career.”
The next big name may already be knocking.
Zimbabwe Under-19 batter Panashe Taruvinga, the recent highest run scorer in the NPL, has joined Southern Rocks for the Logan Cup and scored his third first class half century last week. On the women’s side, Lady Chevrons stars Kelis Ndhlovu and Beloved Biza came out of the Gladiators’ St Aidan’s project.
“Our vision is to provide the platform for talented youngsters to express themselves and get opportunities to blossom into full-time cricketers,” said Chigulupati.
“We want to uplift Chitungwiza to world-class status, the same way Takashinga is doing in Highfield. They are building a cricket empire. We just hope and pray we get a proper ground in Chitungwiza to realise the dream.”
For now, the team trains at St Aidan’s and hosts home games at Old Hararians because Chitungwiza is yet to have a standard cricket ground.
“We have to make do with what is available to us. But our dream is to have our own standard cricket ground in Chitungwiza; though funding is a major hindrance. We would need partners for this,” he said.
They have found at least one. A partnership with United Kingdom-based Rockingham Colliery Cricket Club has helped equip local schools and train their coaches.
It also birthed the Chitungwiza Junior Premier League, a 10-school competition running for five years.
St Aidan’s won this year’s title, and their all-rounder Nigel Bonyongwa received the Rockingham CCC scholarship that will see him enrol at Churchill School next year.
Gladiators remain a club built on “borrowed” spaces, prize money and hope, yet every season they find a way to create one more story, one more debut, one more dream.
For a club with almost nothing, they continue to produce everything that matters.
