Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
GIBSON Homela, undoubtedly one of the country’s biggest soccer personalities on and off the field, once played for Highlanders.
It is hard to conceive for many Highlanders supporters given the rivalry of him against Highlanders.
But he did, once.
While working for Bata Shoe Company in 1980, Homela facilitated a tour of this country by Bata Bullets of Malawi.
Their opponents in Zimbabwe included Highlanders.
Highlanders then asked him to be their guest player and Homela found himself in Black and White the club many believed he hated so much.
Douglas Mloyi, who was his defence partner on the afternoon, says he momentarily forgot that they were teammates when they went up for an aerial duel.
“I forgot we were playing for the same team and I head butted him,” said Mloyi amid a burst of laughter by fellow legends Madinda Ndlovu, Lawrence Phiri and Ephraim Moloi-Moyo.
The football legends had paid their former teammate Moloi-Moyo a courtesy call in Mzilikazi on Wednesday after word had spread that he was not in good health.
Moloi-Moyo was happy to meet his former teammates.
He started off as a Highlanders junior in the Under-12s and moved to West Coast a Division Two side in 1973 before returning to be a first team player in 1974.
Moloi-Moyo left Highlanders in 1977 to play for breakaway Olympics and later Zimbabwe Saints.
In 1978 he moved to Zisco then Risco and was in 1980 among some key players Sunday Chidzambwa, Ephert Lungu and Charles Sibanda considered for the first Zimbabwe senior national team.
He was capped in the first years of Independence and injury forced him out of the game in 1982.
