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CULT HERO . . . Dynamos midfielder Ronald “Rooney” Chitiyo (right) helps young Mwalimu Kumbula to hand the winners’ trophy to Eddington Kuyaupi (left), the captain of Liverpool, while the event’s sponsor Musekiwa Kumbula (centre) looks on at Kubatana Primary School on Sunday

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
SCORES of young and aspiring football players from Epworth in Harare had a memorable experience of rubbing shoulders with Dynamos star player Ronald “Rooney” Chitiyo, who graced the inaugural two-day Mwalimu Kumbula Soccer Tournament at the weekend.

The Mwalimu Kumbula tournament was held on Saturday and Sunday at different venues in Epworth and it was bankrolled by Musekiwa Kumbula, the Innscor Group Corporate Affairs Executive, who grew up in this high-density dormitory town.

Kumbula named this tournament after his eight-year-old son, Mwalimu, who has a passion for football, and he said the competition will now become an annual event which is aimed at identifying talent and to also promote grassroots sport in Epworth.

This year’s inaugural Mwalimu Kumbula tournament attracted eight senior teams — Young Africa, Super Eagles, Young Stars, Liverpool, Kenmark, Epworth Pools, Blacks Stars and Black Chiefs — and four Under-13 sides — Shark Fighters, Ebenezer, Muguta and Chiremba.

The teams were put into two groups and played in a round-robin basis on Saturday, culminating in the finals the following day and among the hundreds of soccer fans from Epworth, who watched this two-day tournament was Dynamos midfielder Chitiyo, who like Musekiwa Kumbula, grew up in Epworth.

Chitiyo, who now only has to play for Dynamos in the NetOne Easycall semi-finals and possibly in the final before he goes for his off-season break following the completion of the 2015 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season this last Saturday, graced Sunday’s finals at Epworth’s Kubatana Primary School where he was backing one of the finalists, Young Africa.

Chitiyo was part of Young Africa’s technical team and he could be seen barking instructions from the bench as he helped this youthful side to the final against Liverpool where they, unfortunately, fell to Paddington Kuyaupi’s solitary strike in the first half.

Chiremba beat Muguta 1-0 in the Under-13 final before Liverpool clashed with Chitiyo’s Young Africa in the main final of the day.

After the main final, Chitiyo was among the guests of honour and he even helped young Mwalimu Kumbula to present a trophy to the winning side — Liverpool — in front of more than 200 soccer fans from Epworth, who were present at Kubatana Primary School in Epworth on Sunday.

And Shepherd Mudzamiri, the chairperson of the Epworth Sports Association, said it was heartening to see “our own prominent sons like Chitiyo and Musekiwa Kumbula coming back to their roots” and help in the development of sport in the area.

“In the past, Epworth was being shunned by a lot of people as it was associated with all sorts of bad things like crime, prostitution and the like. But that perception is slowly changing and we have seen a number of people, including well-wishers, approaching us, asking to get involved in a number of projects which are helping in the development of our suburb.

“And these people include our own sons like Musekiwa Kumbula and Ronald Chitiyo, who grew up here and are in the forefront of lending a hand in our sport development programmes and we are grateful of this as it has not only helped reduce crime levels in his area, but it also helped turn the lives of many people around,” Mudzamiri said.

The Epworth Sports Association chairperson also said that their sport development programme was not only confined to soccer but they have four other sporting disciplines which they are trying to promote in their efforts to breathe life into the sporting scene in their area.

“We are very actively trying to promote boxing, taekwondo, netball and volleyball at grassroots level and we are trying to come up with a basketball league. As for netball, we currently have a league of eight teams while there are six boys sides and an equal number of girls teams in volleyball.

“In soccer, we are currently running a league of 16 teams, the top eight of each were picked for this inaugural Mwalimu Kumbula tournament. So, we are working tirelessly in trying to come up with a vibrant sport development programme which will see Epworth producing national stars in all these sporting disciplines in the future,” Mudzamiri said.

Apart from getting the backing from Musekiwa Kumbula, Mudzamiri said their sport development programme was also geeting the much-needed support from a number of well-wishers who include the Celebration Church, Innscor Africa and their local Member of Parliament, Zalerah Makari.