WHO were your favourite players who played Numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 back in the day?
These positions, unlike the other five that were restricted to defending duties, made football exciting. They brought happy smiles to thousands of fans as they had the licence to exhibit their skills and even try new tricks on opponents and carry the heavy load of delivering results through goals.
They were the reasons why stadia were full to the brim and fans like goals and flowery football which is purposeful.
Sunday Life today gives you some of the treasured combinations that avowed spectators and dictated the following day’s broadsheet headlines.
Talk of Dynamos where you had Moses Chunga on the right (7), Kenneth Jere (8), Gift M’pariwa (9), Kembo Chunga (10) and Edward Katsvere (11).
This combination delivered championships and asserted Dynamos as the best team on the land with some breathtaking wing play by Chunga on the right and Katsvere on the left. Both were skilful and intelligent wingers who could carve open defences with their dribbling and incisive passing.
In Kembo and M’pariwa Dynamos had two strikers that combined well with the latter probing with his pace and raw township thuggery while any slips ups and his partner was on hand to nab home.
Before that Dynamos had George Shaya/July Sharara on the right, Kuda Muchemeyi the old Number 8, David George (9), Kembo (10) and Katsvere who had taken over from the legendary Oliver Kateya, a former 62-goal hero for Metal Box in 1973.
They brought flair and skills, and the kids were all so eager that when the half-time whistle was blown, they flocked onto the pitch to try out.
Many defenders will allude to the testimony that these guys were a thorn in the flesh.
Wankie had David Khumalo (7), David Zulu (8), Jimmy Sibanda (9), Rodrick Simwanza/Nyaro Mumba (10) and young Machona Sibanda (11). Khumalo and Sibanda provided the width, artistry, and entertainment, while busy bee Zulu linked up play with either Simwanza or Mumba, with Jimmy the target man in a role Barton Mwalukuka and Skeva Phiri filled in with aplomb in a very competitive forward line with Leonard Tembo, Melvin Kennedy, Gideon (Zulu), and Nathaniel Maduku laid claims to. The coalminers with this 7-11 lot was a force to reckon with a defence kept intact by Amos Rendo, Austin Ncube and legendary Posani Sibanda.
Fans were guaranteed a goal or more be it home or away because the forward-line was one of the best in the land.
Highlanders’ too has had so many exciting line ups in attack that have had their fans and the opposition talking even years after their retirement.
Highlanders had Cavin Duberley, Barry Daka, Josiah Nxumalo, Tymon Mabaleka and Tommy Masuku in one of the most devastating attacking combinations ever assembled with the likes of Peter Bepe, Isaac Mafaro and Itai Chieza shouting nearby if chips were down.
Duberley and Masuku are rated among the most productive wingers local football has seen and their dribbling was stuff for legends. Their creativity was key to the delivery of the club’s first national league win in 1974, their second major triumph after the 1973 Chibuku Trophy triumph.
Nxumalo was a proven goalscorer and flanked by Daka and Mabaleka, he had great cover and assistants in the commission of crime against the opposition rearguard.
With wing play continuing to be the trademark of the club, Doughty Sithole and Madinda Ndlovu filled in on the right benefiting from Mabaleka’s talent and intelligent leadership on the field.
But Madinda would stay from 1980-1993 as the club’s chief winger giving Zimbabweans, Africa and a region in Germany something to talk about. His electric pace, quick turns while in full flight leaving defenders outwitted on the floor, an intelligent cross or a shot at goal made him a household name for club and country.
On the left wing, he played with Morgan Phiri, another fast dribbler who made the left wing his own. However, others came into the mix, like Abraham Madondo, Nhamo Shambira, Tanny Banda, and Chris Ncube, who enjoyed the industry of Titus Majola (8) and Tito Paketh (10), with Dumisani Ngulube and Tobias Mudyambanje finishers at the centre.
Who would forget the exciting Bulawayo Wanderers/Eagles lot of Boy Ndlovu (7), Lazarus Mwambopo (8), Victor Moonsammy (9), Rahman Gumbo/Norman Gumbo (10) and Tanny Banda (11). This was a team that played to entertain fans. It was as if the result did not matter much as long as each one of the players showed off a bag of tricks to delight those that paid their hard-earned money.
Ndlovu and Banda did enough to combine with the likes of Mwambopo to set up Moonsammy and Rahman to end up among the top goalscorers in the league.
Mayor Eric (7), Obey Sova (8), Shayne Khamal (9), Henry Mckop (10) and Joseph Machingura were a line-up one would take anywhere in the region and still expect a positive result. It is not a surprise that these guys in 1987 led Chikwata into the semi-finals of the Cecafa Club Championships in Kampala, Uganda.
These players were pivotal in Zimbabwe Saints’ 1988 Super League successful campaign in a year they won the Chibuku Trophy and were finalists in the Rothmans shield.
AmaZulu gave fans something to talk about with an array of stars in attack with Joseph Kabwe (7), Isaac Riyano (8), Norman Komani (9), Saidi Saidi (10), Patrick Daka (11).
But perhaps could be the 1979 Caps United side that beat Zimbabwe Saints in the Chibuku Trophy final and in the national league play-off.
Stanley Ndunduma (7), Joel Shambo (8), Shaky Tauro (9), Kainot Chindungwe/Isaac Mafaro/Stix Mtizwa (10), Friday Phiri this was a team that was dominant in cup games until the late 1980s. They played breathtaking football and remain one of the best assembled strike-forces in the land.
The wingers and midfielders were masterly with strikers led by Tauro equal to the task by converting created opportunities.
Arcadia, Gweru United, Olympics and Rio Tinto are among some of the clubs that had very exciting attackers.
Which one was your best? Reply to editor@sundaynews.co.zw