Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT was 1979, and Rufaro Stadium was packed to the rafters. The Barbourfields replay loomed. Tensions were sky high in a final between Zimbabwe Saints and rising side Caps Rovers. In the thick of it all was Gibson Homela, already known for his short fuse on the pitch, who ended that day not just sent off, but banned from football for life.
“I went to the referee as the team captain to ask why he was issuing a yellow card to one player,” Homela recalled at his 79th birthday celebration on Sunday, publicly opening up for the first time in 46 years.
“He was carrying a yellow card, then he pulled out a red one, meaning I was being given marching orders just for asking. As he raised the red card, I hit him hard with my fist.”
Homela’s outburst came during a Chibuku Trophy final that ended 3-3, a dramatic draw that set the stage for a replay in Bulawayo. Saints had flown in the late Onias Musana, hoping his touch could tilt the result. He scored, but Caps, led by the unstoppable Shaky Tauro, ran riot in the replay, winning 5-2.
“While we were playing, it must have been 1-1. There was a clash between my teammate Max Tshuma and the Caps Rovers one, Tobias Moyo,” said Homela.
“The referee blew the whistle and rushed in. There was a scuffle and he booked Max. Max could be rough, but I thought it was a 50-50 tussle.”
Homela, as captain, approached referee Paul Williams for an explanation. That’s when it all spiralled.
“As he raised the red card, I hit him. He ran along the touchline, trying to escape. I chased him. As we got to an exit point, I sat on his heels. A cop chasing me caught up, another joined, but then let me loose, and I hit him too,” said Homela.
“A sergeant who was watching ordered that they let me go. I then went to sit on the terraces as a player who had been sent off.”
The fallout was swift and severe. Homela was slapped with a lifetime ban, just as Zimbabwe was preparing to re-join the Fifa family after its 1970 suspension. He eventually appealed and was reinstated the following year.
That wasn’t the only time his temper got the better of him. In an earlier cup tie against Mangula (now Mhangura), Homela lashed out again, this time at a “muti man” suspected of switching allegiances.
According to Homela, the man, known as Hove, had been dispatched to Harare’s Rufaro Stadium ahead of the Saints’ final. He was expected to cast a winning spell for Bulawayo’s side. But on match day, Hove emerged from the Mangula dressing room instead, celebrating their goals.
After the game, he taunted Saints players, and Homela, along with his defensive partner, the late Emmanuel Sibanda, responded with fists.
“I gave him a thorough beating,” Homela admitted.
Despite these fiery moments, Homela remains one of Zimbabwe Saints’ and the national team’s greatest players. Originally a lethal left wing striker, he later converted to defence in frustration with the porous backline of the early 1970s. His legacy is complex, equal parts brilliance, passion, and volatility.
And yet, on that Sunday afternoon, surrounded by friends and family, Homela sat calmly, almost amused, reliving the chaos that once threatened to end his career.
