An illustrious career as player has never guaranteed success when one becomes a coach.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
This assertion rings true in the case of former Warriors midfielder Tavaka Gumbo, who has failed to impose himself as a top coach since he hung his boots 16 years ago.
After a playing career that lasted eight years in the country’s top league with Shu-Shine FC and Hwange, Gumbo managed to shine like a beacon, even attracting the attention of national team coaches.
A big fish in a small pond during his heydays at Shu-Shine FC, Gumbo caught the eye of the late Warriors’ coach Reinhard Fabisch and was selected into the country’s 11 best players in 1993.
However, his journey into the world of coaching has been arduous as he has hopped from club to club with little success.
The dreadlocked soft-spoken Gumbo, a Caf A Licence holder, has switched clubs with reckless abandon after hanging his boots in 2000 but he is hopeful that one day, he will come right.
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Gumbo, who is back in Bulawayo where he grew up, told Standardsport in an interview that he is currently club-hunting.
“It’s been quite frustrating. Coaching is not an easy job and most of these clubs are not properly structured because of lack of sponsorship. I am looking for a club to coach in Division One and I can restart from there,” Gumbo said.
Gumbo reflected on his playing career which started when he made his way to Zvishavane without invitation to join Shu-Shine soon after completing his studies at Cyrene Mission.
“I played for Shu-Shine before I moved to Hwange and I also played for the national team but unfortunately, I did not have a permanent jersey in the national team. I played for Shu-Shine from 1987 to 1994. When I joined Shu-Shine, they were in Division Two and had bought a Division One franchise from a team in Gweru. We were promoted into the Super League in 1991. I helped Shu-Shine gain promotion,” Gumbo added.
At the club he was coached by Ian Malombo Mpofu, Hamid Dhana and Tendai Chieza. it was him who invited his nephew Isaac Riyano to Shu-Shine and played with the likes of Vivian Mushekwa, Norman Moyo, Farai Vandira and Fredrick Siziba.
When Shu-Shine were relegated in 1993, he went down with them to Division One before packing his bags to Hwange in 1995.
“I was called up for the national team while I was playing for Shu-Shine and they kept inviting me when I had gone to Hwange. At the time, there used to be Southern and Northern selects. We used to play every Wednesday against each other. The guys from Harare would come or we would go there and that was the platform for national team selection. That was during Fabisch’s [Reinhard] time. That was when I made the breakthrough, it was in 1992. I played one game when we lost 1-3 away to Malawi, that same year Fabisch was sacked and we went with Roy Barretto. I used to be called up every time but was dropped when the guys plying their trade outside the country came in. It was difficult for guys like me and the likes of Memory Mucherahowa when these guys came,” Gumbo said with a chuckle.
He was part of the Warriors’ squad that travelled to the Ebola-hit Zaire and lost 5-0 in 1995 in the Afcon qualifiers when other players had refused to travel in fear of the epidemic.
Gumbo stayed at Hwange until 2000 and by the time he was 32, he already had a Level Four coaching badge. His career as a coach started with Hwange juniors.
“When I quit playing, I was already a Level Four qualified coach. I then started coaching Hwange juniors and then in 2003 and 2004 I coached the Hwange senior team. I then left to join Gaths Mine in Division One in 2005,” Gumbo added.
In 2006 he joined Masvingo as an assistant coach to Luke Masomere and left the following year to head Shabanie Mine in the Premier Soccer League. He quit Shabanie mid-season in 2008 and went back to Hwange, taking over from Paul Moyo, but the coalminers were relegated when they lost 1-3 to Highlanders at Barbourfields Stadium and he was replaced by Nation Dube.
“I then joined Hardbordy in 2009 and I got them promoted into the PSL in 2011 and was with them in the Premiership in 2012 before we parted ways. Hardbody were relegated that same year,” Gumbo said.
He then coached Chegutu Pirates in 2013 and 2014 and last year joined Makwiro Stars.
He is currently jobless after spending one season last year with Northern Region Division Two side Makwiro Stars.
Makwiro Stars ended last season on second position behind Chegutu Pirates — a team that Gumbo also coached for two years in 2013 and 2014.
