The day was December 14, the venue was Cresta Lodge in Harare and the event was the Soccer Stars of the Year banquet.
Opinion by Brian Nkiwane The most memorable and touching thing that happened at the event was when Warriors legend Peter Ndlovu opened up and spoke lengthily about his football career which was marred by regrets.
The former Warriors skipper was giving a word of advice to reigning Soccer Star of the Year, Dynamos midfield maestro Denver Mukamba.
Ndlovu did not mince his words when he told Mukamba he has boundless potential to become the greatest player ever to come out of Zimbabwe and for him to achieve that, he had to stay away from women.
Drawing from his experiences, Ndlovu went on to tell Mukamba, and even other stars, that many footballers had failed to realise their full potential because football and women will never go hand in glove.
Many who attended the function took it upon themselves that all the players that were present graciously heeded the advice that came from the legend.
It’s only been 20 days since that special day people got a free sermon on what made a legend, but the DeMbare star has already hogged the limelight for the wrong reasons.
As if Peter was chewing a magic stick, Mukamba was this week involved in scuffles involving his wife and a mistress.
Barely a fortnight after his 20th birthday, Mukamba is reported to have dumped his pregnant wife and has resorted to co-habiting with his mistress at her residence in Waterfalls.
If Peter gets to know about this, he would weep at this recipe for disaster that has destroyed careers of many footballers.
Anyway, once again, it’s that time of the year that clubs would be pushing and shoving on the transfer market in trying to beef up their squads. I will not rest my case until I am satisfied that players, agents and clubs have since learnt the tricks of transfers.
Players will be running up and down, looking for greener pastures.
My advice is, let’s not be caught offside during the off season period as many usually do.
I urge players that have running contracts with their clubs to allow interested clubs and their agents to engage whoever they are contracted to and avoid double dealings which might lead to some players not kicking the ball for some time.
Let’s think before putting pen to paper, and remember, your careers are not all about personal wealth.
Let’s have a fruitful 2013 sporting season.
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