The Sunday News
LAST week we promised to give you a last instalment on Silas Ndlovu in which he would have spoken about his Highlanders Destruction Squad of 1972-1976 but because of a pressing business engagement on his part we were unable to press him down to an interview slot.
However, next week Sunday News will continue the interview with one of the club’s most successful sons, Ndlovu who made a mark as a coach and manager in the 1970s. He was to lead Bosso to a cup and league double in 1990.
Nonetheless, we were able to track one of the stalwarts of the 1970s era Lawrence “Lofty” Phiri who is based in Botswana.
In an interview on Thursday, Phiri heaped Ndlovu with praises. He said the former club player, coach, manager and chairman had modernised Highlanders in many respects leading to the birth of a brand that has stood its test of time.
Highlanders are celebrating 90 years in the game this year and Phiri is rated among the club’s real legends.
“Silas Ndlovu came in at the right time to change the way things were done at the club. He brought a new approach to training, engaging modern training methods and thinking.
“It was not limited to the field but administration as well where with us players we were able to influence that we introduce a leaner executive. We cut from 15 to five and made the coach the overall man in charge of all technical and welfare matters of the club. That was the birth of Highlanders in 1972,” said Phiri who was part of the first Bosso team that was promoted to the national league at the end of 1970.
Following the disastrous campaign in 1971 when the team ended with just seven points, he was at the heart of the team in 1972 as they won promotion back to the elite division.
Phiri was part of the 1973 team that won the Chibuku Trophy, the first in the club’s history. Prior to that the team had the Livingstone and Townshend and Butcher Trophies as major successes while playing in the Bulawayo African Football Association League.
Phiri also praised Ndlovu for opening avenues for players from outside Bulawayo especially those from the Northern Region. In last week’s interview Ndlovu said he had asked the executive to allow him total control for the result and recruitment which had seen him open doors to non-city players.
Itai Chieza, George Chieza, Isaac Mafaro and Stanley Nyika were among some of the club’s acquisitions from outside Bulawayo. Prior to that Phiri said the players that played for Highlanders tended to be from the Bafa League and lower division clubs.
“He brought so many changes to the club that made it easy for us to go out and tell members and supporters that this was the way to go. Even when it came to the crux at the end of the 1976 season with some of our colleagues going to Olympics, we felt we owed it to him as well to stick to the club.
“We had come a long way together and there was everything to stick around for and rebuild Highlanders when others left. He even took players from outside Bulawayo, he was the first to introduce that policy. Many great players came to join us and they bolstered the team leading to us winning several pieces of silverware,” said Phiri.
He said to him money was never any issue to lure him to follow his teammates who included Ananias Dube, Mafaro, Nyika and Chieza to Olympics. He admitted that maybe for those from out of Bulawayo it mattered most but he just was content with playing football for Highlanders and the love of the game.
“I joined Highlanders as an Under-14 in 1964 at the invitation of Barry Daka. He was to leave me for Eastern Brothers though he came back and we got the team promoted to the top league in 1970 and we had a successful stint together 1973-1976 at Highlanders.
“I was content with being a one club player. I liked being part of the Highlanders brand as it is the team that groomed me to be the player I got to be. I felt I was still needed to grow the club,” said Phiri.
Phiri said the formation of Olympics had allowed new talent to blossom at the club. The club had to go to its juniors to tap some talent to fill the void left by defectors and Douglas Mloyi, Builder Nyaruwata, Peter Nkomo, Msitheli Sikhosana and Yonah Malunga were among some of the players who became regulars.
He said going down to play in the South Zone League after being cheated of the 1976 league title presented them with a new challenge.
“We were coming from the top division and we were now in a position to play in Gwanda and towns like Plumtree. It was a new challenge, we found motivating to other clubs we were playing against. We had fun really but at the same time encouraging them to up their game in order to be at par with us,” said Phiri who was among the stars of the league in 1977 and 1978 to earn caps in the South Zone Select with the likes of Philemon Muriyengwe, Onias Musana, Harry Chitsa, Alfred Ngedla Phiri, Tymon Mabaleka, Vincent Levin, Majuta Mpofu, Danny Mahaso and Mactavish Dube.
Their sojourn in the South Zone Soccer League saw them dominate the league and cup tournaments but at the end of 1978 Dynamos led a revolt which saw Bosso return to the top flight. The National Professional Soccer League was formed with two leagues in the two regions.
Phiri won the 1973 Castle Cup, was a runner up in the Castle Cup in 1973, the Southern Region crowns 1973-75, South Zone 1977, Pelandaba Trophy, National Foods, Chibuku Trophy and 1980 Heroes Plate as a player,
He was to sweep every piece of silverware contested in the country by Super League clubs between 1984 and 1991.
He could not be drawn to comparing the 1970s great side to those of his stint as Bosso manager after Independence.
“Before Silas took over we relied on players from Bulawayo. He opened up the club to players from the North, in the 1980s we were promoting our own juniors. That worked wonders too, so much was the competition that some great talents like Summer Ncube were let to go and play elsewhere,” said Phiri.
He said the advantage with club groomed talent is that players grow up knowing institutional culture. Phiri said this was key to Highlanders teams of after the 1976 split.
Phiri is confident that Highlanders can still be the team to beat for decades to come if emphasis is on its own junior development.
The lanky former Bosso player who played almost every position in the club, has been in Botswana for three decades where he with Zimbabwean compatriots Fabian Zulu and Paul Moyo transformed Notwane to a formidable side that made history by becoming the first Batswana side to go beyond the second round of any African contest more than 16 years ago.
