HomeOld_PostsThe day Chunga was tamed

The day Chunga was tamed

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By Chris Mutseyekwa

KAMBUZUMA together with Rugare and Lytton are grouped together in a Harare primary schools annual soccer league competition. In the mid-70s Rugare was the most feared school in this league. However, between 1976 and 1978 there was one player from Lytton who was dreaded by all schools. He was Moses Chunga. All the coaches from the three Kambuzuma schools — Kurai, Wadzanai and Kuwadzana — and the feared Rugare had no solution to Moses’ wizardry. His dribbling, passing, shooting and positioning skills were out of this world. He was such a menace whenever he got the ball in the opponents’ half. I came face to face with Chunga in 1976 when I became the football coach of Kurai Primary School. This was the newest school in this very competitive league. We were considered the weakest team and in 1976 Lytton, maybe rather Chunga, beat us thoroughly both home and away. The following year we had a very strong team. However, the main drawback was lack of confidence For us to win the league I had to devise a way to beat Chunga and Lytton. We managed to win some games, but on the day we were supposed to visit Lytton, my trusted centre-back went AWOL. I collected from his friends that he had said he would rather miss lessons instead of being embarrassed by Chunga. This shattered the moral of the whole team. With my friend Gladden, we devised a plan to boost the confidence of our team. We knew many soccer fans believed juju played a significant role in determining the outcome of matches. We collected some leaves, seeds and all sorts of strange items. We then mixed these with grease and some charcoal and the result was an awesome-looking ‘concoction’. I remember when I was still in Rusape, every time Simon Sachiti was spotted, probably on his way to his rural home, the rumour doing the rounds was that he was on a mission to collect juju for Dynamos. That’s how strong the belief in juju was and perhaps still is. Just before our departure, we assem- bled the team and told them that we were going to use juju to beat Lytton. We rubbed the concoction on to their heads and feet. James, whom we had co-opted specifically to mark Chunga, received some ‘special’ attention. The juju would make their feet and heads special, so we told them. We told them this was a secret and misfortune would visit anyone who could not keep this secret. For some strange reason, juju has been strongly linked with Manicaland, Chipinge in particular. Since I was from Manicaland, the boys had no reason to doubt the potency of our concoction. That day the boys played like they were possessed. James gave Chunga a hard time that afternoon. He stuck to him like a tick. He never gave him any breathing space as he followed him all over the pitch. The end result was unbelievable. Lowly Kurai had thrashed mighty Lytton, Chunga included, 0-4. I met James the other day and he still remembers the day he tamed Chunga — and of course the juju that never was. We talked about how Chunga later shone for Dynamos, the national team and a team in Belgium. It was indeed an interesting journey down memory lane. We talked about how well he combined with his brother Kembo at Dynamos. We talked about how the former Footballer of the Year would make special effort to deliver those pinpoint passes to his brother to score those vital goals. Kembo was not as gifted as his brother, but Moses made him seem indispensable. Then there was that game Arcadia had to beat Dynamos to avoid relegation. They put up a spirited performance, but Moses single-handedly tore Auntie Cookie’s team to ribbons scoring four goals in the process. We were not sure, but we thought it was in this game that he scored one of the best goals ever seen at Rufaro. He received a pass about 40 metres from goal, which he met firsttime with his left boot. The ball flew like a missile into the roof of the net and I can bet no keeper in the world would have dared to touch it. Another stunning goal was when he scored directly from a corner. For a midfielder, his goalscoring ability was amazing. His record of 46 goals in one season still stands. This earned him the nickname Razorman. Chunga was a dribbling wizard and his ball juggling skills were unbelievable. And at times he played to the gallery. James reminded me of the day he made a fool of his markers, taunting them by standing on top of the ball. These days this is deemed dangerous play. Chunga played a significant role in the national team, at one time becoming the captain. I still remember that long-range diagonal pass, the Paul Scholes type, to Peter Ndlovu when we were playing against Congo. Unfortunately, we failed to win that game to qualify for the continental cup finals when John Sibanda conceded a goal after fumbling a lastminute harmless-looking cross. Chunga was arguably one of the most popular soccer players with fans during his heyday as a football player. When he came back from Belgium, he had problems with one of his knees, but this did not stop him from playing the game he loved so much. When coach Reinhard Fabisch decided to leave Chunga out of a national team for an important international, fans would have none of that. Fearing a backlash from fans, whose support Fabisch depended so much on, the popular coach had to devise a way to convince the soccerloving public why Chunga was not fit to be in the national team. He arranged a game which featured local players for Rufaro Stadium. It was an evening game, but the stadium was filled to the brim. Spectators had thronged the stadium hoping to see their hero prove the coach wrong. This was not to be. Fabisch assigned Rahman Gumbo to mark Chunga out of the game. This he did with distinction and Chunga’s vulnerability had been exposed. James reminded me of the similarities of the tactics he used with those of Gumbo. Perhaps he had a point. This game, however, marked the beginning of the end of Chunga’s career as a football player. Today he is one of the top coaches in Zimbabwe. Razorman . . . Moses Chunga, the coach, salutes fans (left) while below he directs operations from

1 COMMENT

  1. By 1983 Kurai was the strongest team, with the likes of Ruben, John Chipfuwamiti, Nyamirandu Big Joe and the rest. famous game when we thrashed rukudzo school to take the championship for the second time running.

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