Sundaymail Editor
Collin Matiza
Zimpapers Sports Hub
WHAT is an underrated player?
For Charles “CNN” Mabika, Zimbabwe’s football oracle, it is the kind of player who, though never the face on the billboard or the name in bold headlines, forms the pulse of a team. These are the men who carry the water, build the rhythm and win the ball, but are rarely sung about.
“They’re overshadowed,” Mabika says. “Not because they’re any less important, but because their greatness is subtle. Their play isn’t flashy. It’s consistent, dependable, often brilliant, but quiet.”
Ask Mabika for a name from local football who fits that bill, and his answer is immediate: Maxwell Magidi. To those who remember the 1980s local football with misty eyes and swelling pride, Magidi was the unsung midfield dynamo who kept the now-defunct Black Aces ticking.
He was not the most flamboyant, nor the most celebrated player, but to the discerning eye, he was indispensable.
“He was a very good player,” Mabika says. “Not as skilful as the late Joel ‘Jubilee’ Shambo or Stanford ‘Stix’ Mutizwa, but he made up for that with tremendous industry.
“He was tough as nails, and one of the finest defensive midfielders I’ve ever watched. Think of him as a local Gianfranco Zola, small, sharp and full of heart.”
Fellow pundit Innocent Mupatsi agrees.
“Max was a brilliant box-to-box midfielder,” he says. “He could walk into any team. The late Black Aces coach, Steve ‘The Dude’ Kwashi, once said Magidi was the first name on his team sheet. That says everything. He reminded me of N’Golo Kante. A machine.”
Now 59 and working as a fitter and turner at Bahrain Sugar Refinery, Magidi is far removed from the roaring Gwanzura crowds.
But the memories remain fresh.
He traces his football journey back to 1986 playing for Smirnoff Tigers after a stint with State House Tornados’ Under-18 side.
“At Tigers, I was under coaches like Cremio Mapfumo, Francis Zimunya and Zumu Rambai,” Magidi says.
Then came the fateful call from Kwashi in 1988 to join Black Aces, a club in disarray following internal power struggles, but poised for rebirth.
“Aces needed rebuilding,” Magidi says. “They brought me in, Kuni Matambanadzo, Paddington Zhanje and we gelled. By 1989, we had a solid, reformed side that made real noise in the league.”
That side boasted names like Emmanuel “Shumba” Nyahuma in goal, the tough centre-back pair of Charles “Star Black” Kaseke and Absolom Nyabinde, and the gifted Francis “Fra” Paketh anchoring midfield.
Flanked by wingers like Wilfred “Silver Fox” Mugeyi and supported by strikers Percy “Master” Mwase and Stanley “Zero my hero” Mashezha, it was a team built to dazzle.
But behind that flair was Magidi doing the dirty work, linking the lines, recovering possession and building attacks.
“We were the first Premier League team to fly to matches in Bulawayo and Hwange. For road trips, we used Express Motorways’ luxury coaches. Our pre-match camps were at Cresta Oasis Hotel,” Magidi recalls with a warm chuckle.
“It felt professional. Big time.”
Magidi credits much of his development to the late, great Kwashi.
“Training was tough, almost military-like. Every Wednesday we trained at Harare Kopje, running up and down that hill. But we grew to love it. Steve made me a star,” he says.
His closest ally on the pitch was the late Shadreck “Waga Waga” Dzvairo, a wizard on the ball, whose dribbling remains legendary.
Shadreck played alongside his younger brother, Magarika “Maga Dog” Dzvairo, another flamboyant gem of the Aces midfield.
Magidi left Aces in 1990 to begin an apprenticeship at Triangle Sugar Estates.
“I had to think beyond football. I trained as a fitter and turner and kept playing for Triangle FC until 2009. That’s when I left Zimbabwe for Tanzania, and later Bahrain,” he says.
Even as work took him across borders, the love for the game never left.
“I still played for Triangle while working, but eventually, work became the priority. Football gave me everything, but I had to move on,” he says.
Back in Zimbabwe, his home is in Masvingo, though he continues to travel on contract work. He is now a seasoned specialist in sugar industry machinery maintenance.
Magidi names the late Titus Majola of Highlanders as one of his heroes.
“Titus encouraged me. His death, the way he was stabbed . . . it hurt deeply,” he says,
“Clayton Munemo of Dynamos. Every time we faced DeMbare, I had to fall back deep to shadow him. He was a menace.”
Magidi also paid tribute to mentors who shaped his path from coach Arthur Tutani to schoolmate Kenneth Kwashi, with whom he shared positions and dreams.
“I started out as a number 7. Kenneth was number 8. At Aces, Steve flipped that. We grew together,” he says. He remembers the man who first gave him his break — Ernest Kamba — who pulled him from school into Blue Line Aces, and the Aces executive, led by Newton Nyamupingidza, that made it all possible.
“John Njerere, Manjoro, Charles Katemba . . . I owe them all. And coach John Garatsa, too. Most of all, the Aces fans, they made Gwanzura a fortress,” he says.
Magidi may never have had the biggest name. He may not have filled newspapers with dazzling stats. But for those who know, those who watched and those who played beside him, he was everything a footballer should be.
He was the engine, the shield and the link. He was the loyal soldier in a game of giants.
And sometimes, that is all the greatness one needs.
Online Reporter