LONG before the advent of the gun, African warriors were not a helpless lot, they fashioned weapons that made them dangerous against predator and fellow man.
They brought down, efficiently, all forms of animals big and small.
Most important was not the weapon they used, but the combining of effort; 15 or even less warriors working in unison, with nothing but spears or bow and arrows would bring down an elephant.
The solitary, but all important goal by the Mighty Warriors, against Tanzania national women’s football team, nicknamed the Twiga Stars, in the African Women Cup (AWC) of Nations qualifiers is typical of the African hunt; no letting up until the prey has been brought down.
In typical warrior-style, the girls kept hammering until the ball was slotted into the net.
Daisy Kaitano, who slotted the ball into the nets, was the ‘Mighty Warrior’ whose spear impelled the heart of the prey, bringing it down.
Most delighting about the Mighty Warriors, who become the country’s second team to head for the Olympics, is the determination and zeal they display on the field of play.
Of importance in the game just ended and as we look forward to the girls’ next game against Zambia, who also progressed to the last qualifying round after beating Namibia, is the spirit of the warriors.
When all our soccer teams appear every time to conspire to disappoint us, Chicken Inn were booted out in the preliminary rounds of the African Champions League and Harare City crashed out in the first round of the Confederation Cup, it is only the Mighty Warriors who continue to put smiles on our faces.
Never mind the circumstances under which they play, once on the pitch, differences and disgruntlements are forgotten.
And against Tanzania, they played a side usually pampered by its football stakeholders.
For example, when the Twiga Stars qualified for the African Championship finals in South Africa in 2010, a Tanzanian businesswoman, Rahma Al-Kharoosi, sponsored them to train in the United States for two weeks.
And the Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete donated 53 million Tanzanian shillings, (about US$30 000) to cover training camp expenses and allowances before the championship tournament.
However, our Mighty Warriors, whose support comes in dribs and drabs, are as committed to the game just as the well-funded and supported girls they face in competitions.
When they don the national colours and the National Anthem is sung, they evolve into a single entity bound by common cause; making the motherland proud.
It seems it is deeply ingrained in their psyche that when they are on the hunt, the ‘village’, the people are eagerly waiting for them.
And they never want to disappoint.
Always when it matters most, they bring the meat home.
If ever there are people I will credit for my change of heart and softening of attitude when it comes to the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) president Philip Chiyangwa, it is our girls, the Mighty Warriors.
Chiyangwa, in his typical style which in the past I would have described as nothing but bluster, right there on the pitch, promised the girls a shopping spree and boldly, as the president, declared that all the gate takings would find their way to the girls’ pockets.
Do not take lightly the shopping offer.
Battle-hardened and hard-tackling warriors who will not back-away from a challenge they might be, but ladies they still are first and foremost.
And the football boss realised it and knew that such an offer would delight the girls.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that beautiful apparel will tickle and warm the heart of any woman, at any station in life, anywhere in the world, anytime.
The ZIFA boss has just become the good and inspiring chief whose reception and attitude towards the successful hunters will inspire them to do more.
He is not talking through mouthpieces and his praise was not delivered through some stale statement and as a sign of his confidence in the lasses, he has promised to be again present at their next match against Zambia.
His presence is especially important considering that his predecessor, the disgraced Cuthbert Dube who was hounded out of the beautiful game by thoroughly unhappy stakeholders, never attended some matches by the Warriors or Mighty Warriors.
It is time the nation rewards the Mighty Warriors in a big way by sponsoring the women’s soccer league.
These girls will do good any brand that associates with them, they are very much loved by the nation.
They are our own golden girls.