By Lot Chitakasha
Journalist Brenda Phiri wrote an engaging article on interesting names in the Zimbabwe football fraternity. In her report, she highlighted names such as Murape Murape, Honey Chimutimunzewe, Danger Fourpence, Have a look Dube, Hardlife Zvirekwi, Limited Chikafa and Ocean Mushure.
The Zimbabwean also had an article on interesting names in Zimbabwe in all spheres of life. The writer observed that Zimbabweans have a knack of coming up with interesting and unique names which make them stand out in all spheres of life, be it politics ,sport or everyday work places.
Names such as Thanks, Enough, Kissmore, Last, Confidence and NoViolet are mentioned in the article. Such names will raise an eyebrow anywhere in the world, and Zimbabweans are used to having their names queried every time they travel the world.
This article will take the discussion further by looking at some interesting names in our football fraternity.
In her article, Brenda discusses the name Have a look Dube, a name which has entered the record books as one of the most unique in sporting history.
On the face of it, the name might be dismissed as a bizarre aberration, but there is an interesting story behind it.
According to the writer, the name came about because Have a look was so cute as a baby that the mother kept on asking people to have a look. It is interesting that the now forty two year old former Njube Sundowns striker still claims to have those stunning looks that gave rise to the moniker.
Let me discuss the names that I find interesting among Zimbabwean footballers past and current.
The current Zimbabwe national teams has some interesting names, names such as Teenage Habede, Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona.
In the case of Teenage, one wonders if the parents took into consideration his later years as an adult, and when I first heard the name Khama I thought it was a surname from our neighbours Botswana. Knowledge is unique to Zimbabwe since not many people have this name.
Indeed, current players names such as Honey, Danger, Hardlife, Ocean and Limited are bound to raise eyebrows anywhere but they live an indelible mark on the mind.
These are not the kind of names that one forgets in a hurry and although they might appear strange, they are definitely interesting as Brenda rightly points out.
It is important to note that this trend of unique names is an interesting feature of Zimbabwe football narrative and yesteryear stars also had interesting names.
In years gone by Zimbabwe had a player from Tanganda F.C. called Mavhuna Mudare.
Mavhuna was a big man who tackled hard which almost tallied well with his given name. Together with the likes of Ian Matondo, Spencer Ngove, Lloyd Mutasa and Patrick Chapotererahe made Tanganda FC one of the strongest in the league even winning the Castle Cup by beating Caps United in 1994.
This was an unforgettable moment for Mutare football fans but the name Mavhuna will live long in their memories of this great day. I have almost forgotten some of the players who made up this team, but the name Mavhuna remain etched in my memory.
In the early 1980’s and 1990’s, we had players like Sunday Marimo, Sunday Masauso, Friday Phiri, July Sharara, all unique because they are derived from names of days or months. I can only speculate that these were special days for the parents and they sought to eternalise them by naming their sons after them.
The same era had the likes of Newman Bizeki, Chingumbe Masuku, Salad Twaliki, Fresh Chamarenga, Size Torindo, Kissdo Matsika and Maronga Nyangela.
These were unique names but Salad and Fresh stand out for me. The two were tough defenders and the stadium would echo with chants of “Salad” or “Fresh” each time they put in one of those bone-crushing tackles.
In a way the name became the legend as did the player and this helped to build up the atmosphere of the game.
Size Torindo was a big man and the name almost matched the man, Kissdo, for the Gweru United midfielder, I think he took his parents to task over this one. Chigumbe, Maronga and Shackman, they are etched in the memory forever.
Other unique and unforgettable names of the 1990’s are Mercedes Sibanda, Melody Wafawanaka, Daisy Kapenya and Memory Mucherahowa, players who left a permanent footprint on the history of Zimbabwe football.
Mercedes is unique, I have not heard of anyone else with that name. The man himself remains a legend not only in Bulawayo and at Highlanders but in the whole of Zimbabwe, he gave us some lasting memories during the Dream Team era. Like his unique name, he was a unique personality.
The name Melody in Zimbabwe is usually given to girls but it became unisex when Melody Wafawanaka appeared on the football scene. He was a decent defender at Highlanders who would put in those crunching tackles which belied that sweet sounding name.
Daisy is another name normally popular with girls but the Highlanders defender put to rest this long assumed truth. Charles Mabika, the doyen of Zimbabwe football commentary had a field day with this resorting to calling him Daisy “Dazzler” Kapenya-it rhymed well.
Memory is another interesting one, the man was a midfield dynamo for Dynamos and memories of his diagonal runs up and down the field as he took the battle to the opponents will forever be etched in our memories, so will the name.
One can also add players with names like Master Masiku, Obey Sova, Mavhuto Chapani and Angirayi Chapo. I am sure there are many stories to go with these names.
One can also add a few interesting names from our neighbouring countries.
From Zambia we had Fewdays Musonda, Tenant Chiluba, Derby Makinka, Laughter Chilembe from Malawi and Naughty Mokoena from South Africa. Fewdays and Tenant both worked as coaches in Zimbabwe and Derby, one of the best midfielders of his generation had a stint with Darryn T.
He died in the tragic Zambian air crash which wiped out a generation of talented footballers in 1994, but his name remains unique in our football narrative.
Laughter Chilembe who had a stint with Caps United must have brought extra-ordinary joy to his parents and indeed fans in the football fraternity, but Naughty Mokoeana, well the parents have a lot of explaining to do.
There is an argument that a name can open certain doors in life or it can become a burden to the extent that some people have made an effort to change them.
Zimbabwean parents always come up with special names for their children and if it so happens that these children become footballers, then the football narrative is enriched.
Honey Chimutimunzewe or Salad Twaliki, one has to admit that they are unique names that live long in the memory.
