Zimbabwean football legends came in their numbers at the Dunstable Rugby Club grounds in the United Kingdom on Sunday to support the book launch of one of Zimbabwe’s best ever goalkeepers Japhet ‘Short Cat” Mparutsa.
The autobiography titled “Short Cat” traces the life of Japhet Mparutsa and explores some of the decisions he made in his footballing career. The book for example explains why Mparutsa made the controversial decision to leave Dynamos and join Black Rhinos.
Lot Chitakasha who helped write the book told Nehanda TV that he started working with Mparutsa in 2015. Mparutsa already had a script and Chitakasha helped to polish it up.
A football match to celebrate the book launch saw former Chapungu, Dynamos and Warriors midfielder Maxwell ‘Marhino” Dube score two penalties to propel the Dynamos UK Legends to a 3-2 and win over the Zim UK Legends.
Former Dynamos goalkeeper Obey Murefu scored the other penalty.
Speaking to Nehanda TV, Mparutsa said:
“When I wrote this book, I wanted to leave a legacy. There are kids who never saw me play, who never saw George Shaya play. So they must read that book so that they know there was a Japhet Mparutsa who used to play football.”
The book is titled ‘Short Cat’ after Mparutsa’s nickname. Explaining the nickname, Mparutsa said he used to ‘spring up’ like a cat when in goal and thats how the name caught on. Gregory Valentine, a member of the marketing team paid tribute to Mparutsa telling Nehanda TV “his down to earth nature made working with him easy.”
The full Japhet Mparutsa Nehanda TV interview will be uploaded in the next few days.
Yesteryear players who came to support Mparutsa included Memory Mucherahowa, Joe ‘Kode’ Mugabe, Chamu Musanhu, Bheki Mhlotswa, Obey Murefu, Muzondiwa Mugadza, Frank ‘Dealer’ Nyamukuta, Liberty Masunda, Maxwell ‘Marhino’ Dube, Charles Kaseke, Timothy Chirozvani among others.
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