The Sunday News
MY article this weekend should have been on former Bulawayo Wanderers defender Joseph Ndlovu, but a chat in the bar took me down memory lane.
“When was the last time you spent a quarter of an hour on the edges of your seats at stadia?” an imbiber asked his group of friends.
It was at that stage that I got thinking and went on over-drive silently, trying to answer the question.
As the discussion entered the exciting bit I began to replay my own videos that are not even at the Zimbabwe Television archives, days of great football, moments of magic when fans would be on the edges of their seats in anticipation of goals with magnificent work in midfield and wings.
“Nowadays we deserve to be paid for taking the trouble to be out at stadia. Some of the matches are a huge yawn, first they are denied the big match temperament by an appreciative crowd and later on the displays are lacking in character with no stand out stars,” added another of the imbibers.
It reminded me of the legendary Chris Mhlanga who at the peak of his career turned out for Rufaro Rovers, Dynamos, Rio Tinto, Rufaro Rovers, Highlanders and Eastlands who said after over a decade without going to watch a football match, he had cried at halftime seeing there was no creativity and entertainment value in the match.
This took me back to the days of Game of the Week.
It also landed me at Barbourfields, White City, Luveve, Njube, Old Stadium and Wankie Stadium now Hwange Stadium.
Great players paraded their skills with aplomb on those arenas, stuff which is still subject to a lot of discussion in some circles as if it were yesterday.
Wingers, with their pace and dribbling skills often had fans on the edges of their seats. It did not matter whether they were 60m out of the opposition goal or were in goal scoring range, fans just enjoyed what they were watching. The players, especially wingers, went about their business with so much ease as if it was walking around, taking defenders one after the other before creating a gilt-edged chance, real scoring opportunities.
It was none of the “To Whom It May Concern’ crosses pumped into the box when a striker has four men around him.
The idea was to subtract the opposition in their own half and with more attacking men, then set up a teammate in a one-on-one situation against the goalkeeper.
Zimbabwe has been home to many great wingers some of whom were unlucky to have fallen victim to the country’s suspension from all Fifa competitions in the late 1960s and 1970s.
This denied them a chance to parade their skills to the world and be acquired by foreign clubs.
It was sad to see dribbling wizards Mike Abrahams, Eric Aisam, Machona Sibanda, Madinda Ndlovu, Joseph Machingura, David Khumalo, Stanley Ndunduma, Kakoma Kayonga, Majuta Mpofu, Boy Ndlovu, Jimmy Mbewe, Samson Phiri, Morgan Phiri, Tanny Banda, Andrew Kadengu, Edward Katsvere, Daniel Bingadadi Ncube, July Sharara, George Shaya, Robert Godoka not scale continental and world heights.
Players like Boy Ndlovu made themselves household names because of their dribbling skills coined in the dusty patches of Bulawayo’s high density suburbs. The many hours spent playing tennis and plastic balls taught the boys ball control, dribbling skills where the ball would seemingly be glued to their feet.
Boy was a favourite even among opposition supporters who used to marvel at his skill.
There were what I would call geniuses on the ball, Majuta Mpofu, David Khumalo, Shaya, Ndunduma and Moses Chunga whose brilliance took him to Belgium in 1987. It looked so easy cutting through forests of men and then sending that killer pass.
One would not help but get off his seat in anticipation of the next man falling by the way side as the wingers went about their business. Even for the fans at times it did not matter if Boy and Mpofu’s Wanderers lost. There would be more to talk about on how they tore the opposition defence apart than the team that had won and was on its way to the title.
In those days it did not matter if Wanderers lost on Saturday, an even bigger crowd would come 24 hours later for another match just to see their stars in action.
Kadengu of Zimbabwe Saints and Dynamos’ Katsvere are some of the best left wingers ever seen on Zimbabwe stadia. Not big and as pacy as others of their time but they were intelligent on the ball with timely runs and crosses like former Bata Power and Black Rhinos star Jimmy Mbewe.
Oliver Kateya had pace on the left and the big heart and could run box to box and deliver a timely tackle in defence and when he had ventured forward his shots and crosses were often a danger.
Commentators would often run out of superlatives to describe the Dynamos and former Metal Box star.
Machona who played for St Ignatius (Hwange), Hwange, Bata Power and Ziscosteel rates among the best players to have played left wing. He was a dribbler, an exciting ball player and crosser whose shots too were a nightmare to goalkeepers and earned him a slot in the early Young Warriors after Independence.
Mubariki Chisoni left his mark on the left flank.
Then there were those players who brought an effervescent effect to the game. Madinda Ndlovu, his young brother Peter, Joseph Machingura, Siza Khoza, Joseph Kabwe and Aisam ran as if they were on wheels. It did not matter which part of the field they were, they used their skill and pace to subtract defenders and deliver those crosses.
Of the 1980s group Madinda was probably the best and he supported that by earning more caps than the likes of Chunga, Boy and Machingura as he could single handedly turn around the game on his own.
Madinda was creative and as much of a scorer too and many will remember him for the September 1984 substitute performance that nearly earned Zimbabwe a draw against Egypt in Cairo. Coming in as a second half substitute, he upped the tempo for Zimbabwe and one of his efforts crashed against the horizontal bar.
Border Strikers coach Luke Masomere once remarked that Madinda was one of his most difficult opponents. The former left back for Mashonaland FC and Hwange said Madinda would charge at an opponent at full flight and play the ball into space and retort; “Tshibilika ndoda sihambe.”
He was a menace to defenders and his name well known in Central and Southern Africa and a number of kids were given his name as he was for the better part of the 1980s undoubtedly Mr Highlanders.
He drove Highlanders as much as Hamid Dhana did at Arcadia, Moses Chunga at Dynamos, James Takavada, Grinder Moyo, Benard Zikhali and Ephraim Dzimbiri did at Zisco and the duo of Kisdo Matsika and Wonder Chaka inspired Gweru.
The wingers were often complimented by able midfielders and finishers to complete the equation.
These were not one year wonders but stayed at the top of their game for years.
Nowadays one is top goalscorer and Soccer Star of the Year today and that is the end.
Nowadays only a few matches have players off their seats.
So much of the game is on the end result than technique, tactics and entertainment.
Hopefully ZTV can turn back the hands of the clock and flight highlights from the past so that today’s brigade can appreciate the good old days.
In the past watching yesteryear greats at our stadia and rushing home to watch Peter Beardsley and John Barnes on the wing for the greatest English side of that period did not present a huge gap.
In any case our own Madinda Ndlovu was good enough to make the grade in the English First Division in 1985 only for the move to fail to materialise.
Many of those devastating wingers could have played anywhere in the world with Majuta coming close to a ground breaking transfer to Brazil in 1975.
Those days of the shortest man on the field gifted with pace and skill on the wing are no more instead there is more of congested midfield stifling creativity.
In conclusion a panel would have difficulty with coming up with the best Number 7 and 11 in Zimbabwe. Perhaps one would have to segment the periods under reviews.
