Spare a thought for Charles and company

By The Standard | Dec. 17, 2011

Now that the 2011 soccer season has come and gone, players, fans and other football stakeholders can take a break to enjoy their festive season. The journey has been long and winding, but the sponsors of the Premier Soccer League, Delta Beverages, through their Castle Lager brand, stood firm in times of hardship to reward players who excelled in the season.

Dynamos’ first choice goalkeeper, Washington “Sekuru Gudo” Arubi won the Soccer Star of the Year award with FC Platinum’s Tafadzwa Dube emerging as the first runner-up while Allan Gahadzikwa from Motor Action was voted the second runner-up.

There were other categories, such as Player of the Month, Most Disciplined Player, Most Promising Player, Coach of the Year and Referee of The Year. All the players that scooped awards are assured of a good festive season as they all have fat pockets.

Arubi is the richest having been nominated the Player of the Month three times during the year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Soccer Star of the Year, man-of-the-match in the Mbada Diamonds Cup once and Goalkeeper of the Tournament, before recently being voted the Best Player at Dynamos for the 2011 soccer season.

However, let’s spare a thought for Charles Sibanda and the other 10 Soccer Star of the Year finalists for the year 2010 as they are still to receive their prize monies. Are these guys ever going to get what belongs to them?

Sibanda won the Soccer Star of the Year award in 2010 and was promised a prize worth US$3 000 by sponsors Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. Joel Ngodzo, who was first runner-up and Benjamin Marere, who was second runner-up, were promised US$2 000 and US$1 000 respectively.

CAPS United big goalie Edmore Sibanda was voted Goalkeeper of the Year while former Gunners striker Norman Maroto won the Golden Boot award for emerging the top goal scorer of the season.

The rest of the stars who include Maroto, Gahadzikwa, Beki Ncube, Fortune Ncube, Desmond Maringwa, Nyasha Mukumbi, Menard Mupera, and Edmore Sibanda were each promised US$500.

But if you look at the budget that former Zambian international Kalusha Bwala gobbled during his visit to grace the event, it could have gone a long way in paying up these players.