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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
IN  a bid to tap talent from other areas apart from the big cities, former Dynamos skipper Murape Murape is close to setting up a football academy at Chinhoyi University of Technology and at Chinhoyi High School. The former DeMbare leader, working with other yesteryear footballers, believes such an ambitious initiative will help expose naturally-gifted players, who might be overlooked by the system.

Speaking at the launch of the Ethical Leaf Tobacco Football Tournament at Chinhoyi High School, Murape said work has already begun to launch the academy, which is expected to have players from different parts of the Mashonaland West Province.

“It is important to spread our search for talent in all areas and not concentrate in the urban areas like Harare and Bulawayo only. But we also need to do it in the remote areas where there is a lot of talent which in turn will strengthen our national teams.

“At the moment, most of the players are either from Harare or Bulawayo or they grew up in Chitungwiza or Mutare and other towns. When we meet other national teams such as Nigeria, you find that they field players from different areas, even the remote parts of the country.

“These players go on to be very successful and even go to Europe. I feel lately our talent is confined to towns.

“The scouting is now limited. Even during the days of the Dream Team, we had talented players such as Francis Shonhayi and Kaitano Tembo, who were scouted by coaches like Chidzambwa from outside Harare and they came to play for the national team.

“They never grew up in the big cities. We had teams like Mhangura, who featured players in the national team, but these days we never hear of players from areas such as Chinhoyi,” he said.

Currently, the former Soccer Star of the Year is coaching Dynamos juniors.  “At the moment I’m coaching Dynamos juniors, but it shouldn’t end there.  “Here in Chinhoyi, we are embarking on a project of identifying talent and even alerting clubs such as Dynamos.”