Remembering Tanganda Football Club with Arnold Tsunga

By Lot Chitakasha

“When I hear the word Tanganda, I do not think about tea leaves, I do not even think about how Tanganda Football Club played, I only think about Lloyd “ Samaita” Mutasa.

“He was Mr. Tanganda, he literally carried the team to Castle Cup glory in 1993”, declared my friend Innocent Mupatsi in a discussion we had on this Mutare outfit.”

I am wary when a player is declared as the messiah of a team, cognisant of the fact that football is a team sport. I decided to get in touch with Arnold Tsunga, a man who was part of this exciting team. His responses form the basis of this article. I put the question to him, “Did Lloyd Mutasa really carry Tanganda Football Club, was he the heartbeat and did that make the team a one- man band?”

The answer when it came was clothed in so much football wisdom, it opened my eyes to a number of issues that I have often taken for granted. It exposed the gulf that exists between those who watch from the stands and those inside the dressing room, the players and the coaches.

“Fans, coaches and players see football differently. Supporters look for entertainment, but the coaches and players usually think about the tactical and technical aspects of the game. Supporters are often magnetised by the ball whereas coaches look for movement on and off the ball.

“When the team is under attack, the fans are apprehensive, when the team attacks the fans cheer and enjoy the game more. Attack minded players become more popular. This perhaps explains why your friend thinks that Lloyd Mutasa was the heartbeat of Tanganda Football Club, I do not blame him because he was looking from the outside.”, said Arnold with a knowing smile.

Warming up to the discussion, Arnold went further to talk glowingly about Tanganda Football Club’s heydays. The club took the Zimbabwe football fraternity by storm culminating in that thrilling Castle Cup win over Cup Kings, Caps United in 1993.

“What was the foundation of this win?” I asked Arnold. “We had many talented players with a good distribution of roles. The defence was well marshalled by Jimmy Kapitau, Mavhuna Mudare, Kudzanayi Kadzirange, the versatile Ian Matondo and myself. These formed a solid base and we were all capable of joining the attack, since all of us were versatile and very mobile.”

Apart from a strong defence, the team was also loaded with midfield talent and again Arnold was part of this department because of his versatility.

“The so called Makelele role was played to perfection in the team. Johnson Mbaradza, Kennedy Suware and yours truly offered protection to the defence. In games against Caps United, I usually played in midfield and not at right back because I always played well against Joe Mugabe.

“I managed to thwart him. With a strong defensive midfield like this, it was easy for the likes of Samaita to have a field day, he had nothing to worry about,” said the legend.

Arnold also waxed lyrical about the effect that the sublime skills of Patrick Chapoterera had on the team and opponents. “Our attack was great, the hard running Nedson Muchuchu, the powerfully built Sammy Busywork and Webster Kurwaisimba, the lethal Ford Chitakatira and the elusive Patrick Chapoteterera struck fear in the hearts of most defences.

Patrick was slippery and many teams had to assign two defenders to take care of him, this created a lot of space for the other attackers. I can say that we had one of the most potent strike forces in the league,” recalls Arnold with nostalgia. Tanganda Football Club still holds a special place in the hearts of most Mutareans or Wasus as the people of this beautiful province prefer to call themselves.

This is because most of the players were from this region although others came from as far as Harare. There is no team which has created as much excitement as Tanganda, even star -studded Black Rhinos tried to use Sakubva Stadium, the support was lukewarm. When Tanganda were playing, Sakubva stadium became a sea of green, everyone was behind the team.

There have been many football dynasties in the Zimbabwe football fraternity. Many of us know about the Chieza brothers, the Ndlovu and the Gumbo brothers among others. Tanganda Football Club had its fair share of football brothers as well. The team was well served by the Matondo brothers, Rewai, Rutherford, Cliff, Cecil, Talkmore and former National under 23 captain, Ian Matondo.

There was also the Masunde family of Wonder, Obert, Tobias, Anthony and Nyarai. Arnold reserved special praise for Anthony Masunde whom he described as, “a utility player, an all rounder who won every tackle, won every aerial tussle and delivered pinpoint crosses for the strikers.

If he had been scouted early, Anthony would have played anywhere in Europe at the highest level. He was that good and he had the discipline to achieve greatness,” Glowing words from the legend but with a hint of regret about a missed opportunity.

The demise of Tanganda Football Club still hurts Arnold. The drought which affected the country led to the management of Tanganda Tea Company cutting sponsorship for the team. Arnold together with Tinoziva Bere and Hlanganiso Matangaidze tried to keep the team afloat using their own funds.

This was a big ask and in the end the burden became unbearable. Eventually, a decision was made to sell the club to a Gweru businessman, a decision which deprived the people of Mutare of their source of pride. Arnold also shared his thoughts about the present state of football in Zimbabwe.

“Football has a massive potential to develop but suffers from the twin evils of poor leadership and lack of sponsorship. The two are mutually reinforcing, bad leadership chases away good sponsorship. Sport as part of the entertainment industry should be a major employer.

“We also need a well-developed junior policy to nurture young talent. Schools should also partner with clubs, Dynamos used to do this with Churchill High School and it was a major success.”

The legend also thinks that the players who show leadership potential should be nurtured and empowered so that they can take up leadership positions. He also wishes to see a pension pot being established for footballers and sports people in general so that cases of destitution post retirement are minimised.

Arnold , who studied Law at the University of Zimbabwe from 1986 to 1989 believes that tertiary colleges are stocked with talent. During his student years, he played for the University helping the team to gain promotion from Division 5 to Division 2.

“We had a lot of good players, Trust “Chola” Semwayo, Dr. Chonzi , Welshman Ncube and Shadreck Gutto who were both lecturers. It is possible to pursue both academics and sport, it should be encouraged,” he said. Arnold Tsunga who hails from Manicaland, Honde Valley to be precise is currently the African Director of International Jurists (ICJ), based in Johannesburg.

“I provide leadership to a group of African Lawyers and other experts to protect human rights and tackle impunity”, explained the legend. He is married and has six children, three of them lawyers. What a blessed life he is having! Indeed, it is always a pleasure to talk to those who have played the game at the highest level.

It also beggars belief that with such great minds among our former footballers, we still struggle for football leadership in our country. It is a crying shame indeed. I hope one day this anomaly can be corrected. And yes, to my friend Innocent Mupatsi, hear it from the legend, Tanganda Football Club was stocked with talent, not a one- man team. I hope that puts the argument to bed!