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The late Paul Gundani

Charles Mabika Special Correspondent
“GONE TOO SOON . . . ” This was the lead caption’s phrase of last Thursday’s edition of The Herald’s back page lead story. The caption was part of the leading daily’s tribute to legendary and former Warriors’ right-back, Paul “The Steelman” Gundani, who passed away suddenly last week on Wednesday in his home town of Kwekwe at the age of 49.

I came into contact with Gundani in the late 80s, when he was part of Ziscosteel FC’s stellar cast that included the likes of Kennedy “The Brazilian” Nagoli, Newman “Yellow” Bizeki (late), William “Tuku” Mutekesa (late) and Machona “Ntsomba” Sibanda.

As a young player during that era, “The Steelman” promised an imperious future which he nonchalantly achieved with the senior national team in the 90s, during the late coach Reinhard Fabisch’s “Dream Team” era.

A lot of people — sadly — largely remember Gundani for his wonder goal in a 4-1 shock demolition of mighty Cameroon in an African Cup of Nations clash at the National Sports Stadium back in 1995. However, he achieved much more than that and rightly deserves to be talked about in the same breadth as the likes of Mercedes “Rambo” Sibanda (late), Ephraim “Rock of Gibraltar” Chawanda and Francis “Sandura” Shonhayi (late). Sadly again, not many fans are aware that Gundani once had a stint at then English First Division One side Stockport County in the mid-90s where he actually aroused the interest of top-flight sides like Coventry City (at the same time when the mercurial Peter “Nsukuzonke” Ndlovu was playing there), Leeds United and Aston Villa. Unfortunately, a career-ending injury halted any move to greener pastures.

Gundani was a larger-than-life character . . . even off the pitch. He had the natural qualities of a leader and was also a “pacifier”. At the first glance of his mascular frame, one would immediately assume that here was a troublemaker. Far from it, because he used his physical attribute to be the pacifier mentioned earlier for the simple reason that he hated violence on and off the pitch.

If things turned rowdy amongst players on the field, you would bet your bottom dollar that “The Steelman” would be the first to react in a bid to quell the situation. And oh, yes, even off the pitch, the tough-tackling defender would be the first to arrive on his “Operation Dialogue” sprint to quell the imminent violent incidence.

I distinctly recall one incident, back in 1995, when we went to Cameroon for a national assignment and a scuffle broke out in the hotel’s lobby where we were staying and he instantly put down his soft drink before rushing to intervene in a quest to stop the four or five people who had already started exchanging blows.

And these “pugilists” were Cameroonians! Gundani just loved dialogue . . . (at one time he confided in me that one of his favourite recreational subjects at primary and secondary school was “English Debate”!). He went on to carve that sobering belief when he became the Secretary-General of the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (Fuz) where he was also an unwavering soldier for players’ rights through vigorous dialogue . . . and it’s sad that he had only achieved a fraction of the task that he had set out to do . . . to ensure that footballers were not exploited by unscrupulous club and national football leaders.

It’s not surprising then that the Fuz president, Desmond “Gazza” Maringwa, confessed, in his funeral eulogy speech, that it was going to be impossible to replace Gundani.

Gundani had even recently mulled about standing for Zifa’s presidential post to be contested for early next month. Such was the man’s genuine and rubber-stamped seal to fight for players’ rights and justice which sadly did not materialise as he bade the football fraternity a shocking and premature farewell. His elder brother, Jewel, in an interview a day after Paul’s death, reminisced about his younger brother’s impassioned trait of helping family, friends and even strangers in any way possible. That statement didn’t surprise me because such were the rare qualities of “The Steelman”.

I gave him that nickname following an absorbing and robust one-all draw with Ghana in Accra in a Nations Cup tie after he turned out a man-of-the-match performance when he single-handedly marked “The Black Stars” star attraction, Abedi “Pele” Ayew, out of the game. The nickname, for me, was for two reasons — one, because he was a product of Ziscosteel and two, he was a steely defender. Maybe it should have been for a third reason as well . . . he had the Heart of Steel. Rest in peace, our beloved Warrior.