Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
as there was no girls’ football at her school, Egness Tumbare walked more than 10 kilometres every day after classes just to chase a dream.
The journey from Ziki Primary School to Checheni Primary School cut through the thorny, sparsely forested landscape of Bikita.
In worn-out black “Tomy” canvas shoes, she made the trip every afternoon because that was the only place where girls’ football existed.
The walk was long. The path was unforgiving. But turning back was never an option.
About a decade ago, Tumbare was just another village girl carrying a football and a dream bigger than her circumstances.
Playing with boys in Togarawani village first sparked her love for the game before she discovered organised girls’ football at Checheni.
The same battered pair of “Tomy” shoes carried her to school and became her football boots.
Thorn pricks became part of everyday life until her feet hardened to the terrain beneath them.
“That same pair of worn-out ‘Tomy’ shoes were my football boots, covered in patches, but I was unstoppable in them on the pitch,” recalls Tumbare.
“I had to walk long distances daily because that is where I could get women’s football. I knew the game from playing with boys in Togarawani village and I loved it.
“I could see that the distance I had to walk every day was overwhelming for my mother. She felt it was too much for my age, but my love for football kept me going.”
Life at home was equally demanding.
The family survived on occasional farm work and whatever small jobs her mother could find around the community.
Missing meals was not unusual and raising school fees remained a constant struggle.
Watching her mother shoulder that burden alone planted a determination in Tumbare to change the family’s fortunes.
Extra hours on the training ground soon helped her develop into a prolific striker, earning a place at Masvori Secondary School where girls’ football had just been introduced.
But even there, football went through an uphill battle.
Limited resources slowed the team’s progress while many promising players disappeared from the game because of poverty, social pressures and early marriages.
Tumbare almost became one of them.
Growing up in a community where some believed a woman’s place was in the kitchen rather than the classroom or football pitch, she came close to an arranged marriage at just 15.
“A relative who understood my family’s poverty had arranged the marriage in the name of rescuing us,” she said.
“However, I was more focused on developing into a professional player, so I spent my time playing football, trying to perfect my goalscoring skills.
“Eventually, the potential groom gave up pursuing it after realising that I was fully focused on football.
“Looking back, I believe football saved me.”
After completing school, Tumbare moved to Harare, hoping to secure employment in one of the country’s security services companies.
While waiting for responses to her applications, football opened another door.
Silver Queens became the first club to recognise her potential.
Seven goals in nine matches during the 2016 season quickly attracted attention before Morris Depot Queens signed her the following year as they chased promotion.
She arrived as a striker, but left as a defender.
With Morris Depot searching for answers at the back, the coaching staff asked her to fill the gap.
It was a gamble; however, it transformed her career.
Tumbare adapted quickly and soon became a commanding presence in defence.
She never returned to leading the line.
The decision became the turning point that shaped the rest of her career.
Stints with Harare Queens, Black Rhinos, Zambia’s ZISD Women FC and Harare City followed, before she joined Correctional Queens, where she also became a prison officer.
A first Mighty Warriors call-up arrived in 2019 and she has remained a regular ever since, representing Zimbabwe at COSAFA tournaments, Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and CAF competitions.
Her performances have earned her four CAF Player of the Match awards, recognition during Herentals’ CAF Women’s Champions League campaign and a string of domestic honours, including the Norton Times Player of the Year, Zimbabwe Women’s Premier Soccer League (ZWPSL) Player of the Year, a place in the Footballers Union Best XI, second runner-up in the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ) Soccer Star of the Year awards and a treble at the Golden Footprints Football Awards.
Yet the medals have never been the point.
Correctional Queens remain firmly in the hunt for a maiden ZWPSL title, sitting sixth with 17 points, just three behind leaders Black Rhinos after eight matches.
Tumbare hopes to help the Mighty Warriors in their quest for a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games when Zimbabwe face Malawi in the qualifiers later this year.
But whenever she walks onto a football pitch, her mind often drifts back to the dusty paths of Bikita.
The girl who once crossed thorn-filled trails in patched-up shoes now dreams of creating opportunities for others.
She hopes to establish a football foundation that will support girls from rural communities with football boots, toiletries and other basic necessities.
“I am living proof to young girls in the village that with focus and determination they can also rise from a vulnerable village girl to become a professional athlete on the international stage,” she said.
“I am always grateful that my mother supported my dream. Whenever I step onto the pitch, I do it for her and for every girl growing up in communities like the one I came from.”
