The Sunday News
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“PAUL Tsumbe was no easy customer, he was a fiery opponent who struck with both feet in full flight making mockery of distances and angles to beat goalkeepers. He was a top drawer player in a period when this country probably had the best football talent ever.”
This is the testimony of legendary Eastlands and Mashonaland FC goalkeeper William Chirwa. So agile was he that fans gave him the nickname Gorilla after the equatorial rain forest creature which is so agile and can leap from one tree branch to the other with so much ease.
It is how Chirwa used to go airborne to force a save and keep his many teams in the game during a glittering career which begun in Zambia’s Copperbelt town of Ndola in 1954.
Last week Sunday News interviewed Paul Tsumbe Dzowa, a star of the 1960s and 1970s whose stinging shots won him a lot of acclaim. In one instance a goalkeeper tried seeking refuge by running away from goal after a 20-minute hattrick had seen Bosso fall behind. The police probably fearing violence had to block the goalkeeper at the turnstiles Ananias Dube from fleeing.
On Friday Sunday News caught up with Chirwa at his CCAP Church in Old Lobengula where he opened up on his career.
“Tsumbe was not an easy opponent. He had pace and let fly stinging shots. At times he showed intelligence looking at the goalkeeper’s positioning and then trying to beat him with a clever chip or a rasping shot that would simply be too fast to stop.
“It was a time this country had players like Victor Mapanda, Gibson Homela, Ernest Kamba, Peter Nyama, Mwape Sakala, Jimmy Finch, Freddy Mkwesha. All these guys played for pride and the love of the game. The passion was so high, that is why so many could play several positions. Look at Homela, he played as a striker and defender for club and country. I also would play as a right winger or goalkeeper,” said Chirwa.
His journey to stardom began on 5 August 1940 when he was born in Nkhatha Bay in Malawi. He left his home in 1952 to study at Ndola’s Kawushi Primary School before he moved to Itawa Upper Primary School where he established himself in the school’s first team in 1954.
“There was so much of football competition in Zambia. The teenagers loved the game and the Mines were very active in the sport and that made us improve as players,” said Chirwa.
After school he moved to Ndola United playing for them up to 1959. A chance visit to see his parents who worked at Dalny Mine in Chakari opened avenues for him for a glittering career in Zimbabwe which won him several pieces of silverware including slots in the Soccer Star of the Year calendar where in one of the seasons he was a runner-up to George Shaya.
“My parents insisted that I go back to school which meant Standard Five and Six again at Sanyati Mission. After school because management had heard that I am a good player they gave me a job in 1962 where I played for Chakari FC. We played in the Chamber of Mines competitions against formidable opposition like Rio Tinto, Hwange, Mhangura, Gaths Mine, Shabanie, Zisco, Kamativi and Gwaai River Mine.
“There was a league for the mines and national competitions which meant we played a lot of football and worked hard as well to stand the heat of the time,” said Chirwa.
He recalls playing with and against the likes of Joseph Zulu a Riop Tinto legend, Bothwell Phiri, Philemon Phiri and Peter Phiri in the Mines Games and described them as hot property of the 1964 era.
By then he was playing for Mutorashanga Mine but a year later his talents could not be ignored again.
Feoch Mine coached by senior player Jaison Muzambi was his next generation teaming up Joseph Zulu there.
His crowning moment was in 1965 when Feoch Mine won the Chamber of Mines title at the Masvingo Province Mine.
In 1969 Gaths Mine bought him.
“The competition among the mines was intense. Every mine boss took pride in the competition as they boasted about silverware at their Chamber of Mines Managers’ Meetings.
“Mines were the cradle for sports development, especially football as there were leagues within those communities with the best talent chosen to represent the mine. Sport was played from an early age through defined development programmes overseen by the mine through the welfare and recreation officer,” he added.
A coaching clinic conducted by legends Tendai Chieza, Simon Machaya and James Nxumalo opened the doors for him to move to one of the country’s biggest towns — Bulawayo.
Up to then he had low self esteem challenge as he had always been a Mines chap.
“Tendai suggested that I should come to Bulawayo and join Bulawayo Sables who were owned by Castle Breweries. So I came to Bulawayo and the White bosses at the company said they were content with Rex Sheasby as their goalkeeper.
“I met Nyaguze while he was going to Mpopoma who then invited me to join Eastlands a good team chaired by former Dynamos chairman Job Kadengu. Other sponsors of the club were Chikerema and that year in 1970 we won the Callies Floodlight Trophy and reached several finals and semis as Eastlands. We had guys like Tymon Mabaleka an elegant gentleman on the field, Daniel Didi Ncube, Melusi Doctor Sibanda and Tsumbe briefly,” said Chirwa.
He said he had a great time with Eastlands and was at one time called up to the Rhodesia national team to compete for the Number One jersey with Rob Jordan of Salisbury Callies. In my career I think I made it to the calendar about three times at a time this country had so many great goalkeepers like Sheasby, Jordan, Posani Sibanda and Chimao of Hwange,” said Chirwa.
Gorilla also had a short stint with Mashonaland FC in Bulawayo but his stay with Eastlands remains entrenched in his heart.
“It is then that I was playing with the best in the land and I got a lot of recognition. Football was competitive then and exciting.
“Arcadia, Chibuku Shumba, Zimbabwe Saints, Highlanders, Mhangura, Metal Box, Tornados, Sables, Callies, Wankie and Zisco were very competitive sides of that time with so much talent. Nowadays I do not even bother going to the game primarily because there is no more talent and secondly church commitments.
“What we all hear is strikes because of no bonuses. During our time we played first and then demanded to be paid after winning. There was nothing greater than getting the feeling that fans and club directors were happy with our performances on the field. Now they want to be paid but play bad football,” moaned the legend.
At one stage the father of nine played and coached How Mine in the 1980s already into his mid 40s.
