‘Sacrifices are the bedrock for women’s football development’

02 Feb, 2025 - 00:02 0 Views
‘Sacrifices are the bedrock for women’s football development’ Ennie Konje. Photo credit: Domboshawa Dispatch

ENNIE Konje deserves her place among the Zimbabwe women’s soccer legends, a sport that she got involved in as far back as the mid-1970s.

The former Mighty Warriors midfielder had a long career punctuated with movements to two of the country’s earliest trailblazers in the sport, Dynamos in the late 1980s into the 1990s and New Orleans in the twilight stages of her career in the 2000s.
Of her generation, Konje was among the best in the sport alongside Yesmore Mutero at Dynamos Queens.

Their peers in Bulawayo were the brilliant Sikha Mahlangu, Bridget Zimunya, Fungai and Judith Chiradza and the skilful Elizabeth Moyo who starred for Highlanders Royals the national champions before New Orleans took over.

Rosemary Mugadza a girl born among footballing brothers, was among the pillars at Zimbabwe Saints Queens founded by the likes of Elizabeth Langa following Ndumiso Gumede’s trip with Highlanders to Germany in 1987.

Ndumiso Gumede

One of the takeaways was that if the club owned a bus, they would save a great deal in expenditure, unfortunately the buses Gumede and company brought back were not compatible with the local terrain. Another was women’s soccer which was not well co-ordinated with some near informal teams going by clubs names in Hwange and Harare.

Konje started playing football with boys from her neighbourhood in Chitungwiza.
Her brother Never Gombera, a prominent junior development coach in the 1980s and 1990s with Darryn T and Cone Textiles, used to take her along when going to practice sessions.

“I started playing football when I was six years old. My brother Never Gombera would take me along where ever he was coaching football. I was at Chitungwiza Main when I started playing football. “Unlike other girls, I never played netball and my friends were boys and I played in the boys’ team at school. Even when I went to Zengeza High School (1), it was the same,” said

Konje who was a very skilful forward and midfielder and created as many goals as she scored for both clubs and country.
Born on 28 March 1970, Konje was a workaholic who worked hard at training and in official matches as the football game flowed in her.

As women’s football was still finding its feet and sponsorships hard to come by, she moved from one club to another searching for a peaceful and well-oiled club where she could get her career to glow without the hassles of funding her kit and transport. Parents back then were reluctant to allow girls to play football, asking for kit and bus fare made matters worse. But she persevered playing for Dynamos and Arcadia Queens, where she played under the late Vernom Boaz who would later be the

Mighty Warriors coach, when now under Susan Chibizhe in the late 1990s women’s football gained traction.
Other clubs she played for were St Mary’s Queens, a formidable force alongside Mufakose Queens, Chitungwiza Queens, Hollenburg Queens and New Orleans.

“I started playing for Dynamos in 1987 and we were coached by a guy from Arcadia but after 1989 the team was dissolved and I moved to Arcadia Queens. The ladies there were not serious, today you would have a full squad and next day different characters until Boaz came to coach and we got more organized but after a year I left for St Mary’s who changed to Chitungwiza Queens,” said Konje who has coached national teams and clubs like Chitungwiza Queens and Harare Queens.

A holder of several coaching diplomas, Konje said very few players troubled her.
“I was a striker and midfielder, I was nimble-footed and had very few people who could match up with me. But Rosemary Mugadza was a tough nut to crack, she was fast and a crude tackler. That one, I can admit was hard to contend with,” said Konje.

Moses Chunga

Growing up in an era when brilliant midfielders dominated the scene, her picks were Stanford “Stix” M’tizwa and Moses Chunga.

“I admired both M’tizwa and Chunga, but M’tizwa was something else I liked his artistry more than any other player, Moses was brilliant too, you always enjoyed watching him at Dynamos,” said the former midfielder.
Konje got her first taste of national team football in matches against Zambia in 1990 and stayed on for almost 12 years until her retirement.

“In my first days with the national team, we had players like Mutero, Elizabeth Moyo, Judith and Fungai Chiradza, Bridget Zimunya, Samukeliso Mahlangu and in the next generation when the sport was now popular Mugadza, Dudu Nkomo, Fungai Nyamutukwa, Judith Banda were some of the young players coming through junior development taking the sport to a higher level,” said Konje.

A Cosafa bronze medallist as a coach and many other awards as a player, Konje believes the game has come a long way to be what it is today.

“There have been a lot of sacrifices made for the sport to be where it is today. We played for nothing, fought male dominance, fought for families and society to embrace the sport. Today’s players are lucky they have jobs, some are full-time footballers, and things have changed for the better. We laid the foundation as pioneers,” said Konje.
She vowed to continue churning stars and help the sport develop further.

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