Richmore Tera.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – GROWING up on the dusty streets of Zengeza in the sprawling town of Chitungwiza and kicking makeshift plastic balls known as “chikweshe”, former Caps United soccer legend, Alois Bunjira always cherished the dream of becoming a great soccer player one day.
In typical fashion of dreams coming true, Bunjira’s sheer determination coupled with discipline and hard work saw him graduating from the junior ranks of some small teams in the ghetto to become one of the shining stars at Darryn T (now defunct), where he was conspicuous as one of the most skillful and talented midfielders of his time.
This later saw him joining Blackpool (also defunct) and finally Caps United where became one of the shining stars forming an indomitable combination with close friend and fellow ghetto boy Stewart Murisa. The capping moment was when Bunjira’s colourful soccer career saw him playing for various popular clubs in South Africa.
This snippet of Bunjira’s footballing life was recently relived when Bunjira decided to plough back into the community where he was reared up and where he discovered his fortunes as a soccer player. The former international footballer on Saturday January 7, 2017 hosted the inaugural Alois Bunjira Testimonial Junior Tournament which saw juniors’ teams in the under 12 and 17 age groups taking part.
There were trophies and T-shirts for the winning teams, while Chitungwiza Central Hospital provided a medical kit and two ambulances that were on standby.
Bunjira said it has been his wish to groom football talent in Chitungwiza and maintain the reputation of the town which is known for producing some of the best soccer players in Zimbabwe.
According to the soccer great, the talent that he witnessed convinced him that the tournament should be made into an annual event.
“We want to make it an annual event. Since I come from Chitungwiza, it is my aim to groom competitive players from these youngsters and pass the baton to them so that they can earn a living from soccer by joining big and lucrative clubs,” Bunjira said.
He said he learnt a lot from playing for local teams like Caps United before leaving for South Africa where he played for Qwa Qwa Stars, Bidvest Wits, Mamelodi Sundowns, Jomo Cosmos and FC AK.
“These teams had, and still have, a sound junior policy and this is something that we should be doing here in order to promote our young talent. These youngsters end up graduating into the senior ranks and it will be a smooth transformation since the junior policy would have fine-tuned them,” Bunjira said.
One of the facilitators of the tournament, Mr Munyaradzi Chizola, who also provided commentary for the matches, showered praise on Bunjira for remembering youths in his community.
“Some youths approached him with a plea for support, and as a soccer player who was bred in Chitungwiza and earned his success in the same town, there was no need for him to think twice. This then gave birth to the testimonial tournament. We are hoping that the tournament will grow bigger and better, with indications that it will soon spread to other places before it goes to Chibuku Stadium (Chitungwiza’s biggest soccer ground) in December next year,” he said.
Soccer legends Lloyd Chitembwe, Stewart Murisa and Lloyd Mutasa, who was the guest of honour, attended the event which saw youth soccer teams, Divas Catch Them Young, Far Post, Young Stars, Kufa United and Black Wolves taking part.
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