By Lot Chitakasha

Over the years African football has produced some great players. What has left a permanent mark on the mind is not only the skills, the great goals and the defending but also the legend that has developed around these players.

For instance a certain player in Zimbabwe had a reputation of playing with a list of all creditors in his pair of socks, apparently this motivated him to play and win so he could pay off the loans.

The purpose of this paper is discuss the nicknames that have been attached to our football heroes and the origins of some of them reflect the qualities inherent in these players but also the creative nature of our fans.

The focus of this paper is Zimbabwe and our neighbour South Africa. In future, I hope to make an exploration of other African countries. Nicknames have also been attached to teams and even stadiums all pointing to the creative minds of the fans.

Zimbabweans will remember the days of George Shaya, Peter Nyama, Chita Atonio, Freddy Mkwesha, Obediah Sarupinda ,Shaw Handriede the list goes on. George Shaya was known as the “Mastermind”.

The reason for this is cannot be disputed, adoring fans appreciated his football brain and he proved this by going on to win the much coveted soccer star of the year award five times. His dribbling skills, passing and scoring abilities made him the mastermind indeed and the fans were quick to come up with this nickname.

I watched George Shaya towards the tail end of his career but my brother Saul believed and still believes that he was better than Maradona…now that is some claim! Players of his generation include Peter” Thunderboots” Nyama, the nickname being a product of his booming shots. Legend has it that one of the shots actually ripped through the nets.

The only other person with such a powerful shot was George” TNT” Rollo whose shot once ripped the nets during his playing days at Black Aces. Obediah Sarupinda was known as” Wasu” because of his Manicaland background, an eastern region in Zimbabwe. The people from this region have a tendency of calling everyone WASU meaning one of our own.

The conveyer belt of talent continued in the 1980s and the 1990s. Let us look at the Dynamos team of the 80s. There was Japhet “Short Cat” Mparutsa, his height and handling ability gave rise to this one.

There was Oliver” Flying Saucer” Kateya, his speed down the wings was a nightmare for most teams. These days people talk of wingbacks, we used to know them as overlapping defenders and Oliver was a pioneer of the art.

In the same team was Edward “Twinkle-Toes Madhobha” Katsvere. For an explanation of these nicknames I am arranging an interview with Graham “Iron Man” Boyle, the former Rio Tinto defender. He was known as “Iron Man” because of his strength in defence but against “Madhobha” he would struggle to such an extent that he would either be substituted or be shown the red card for persistent fouling.

The battles between the two was a subplot to the bigger battle between the two teams which would keep the spectators on their feet. In the same team were David “Yogi” Mandigora, Ernest “Mr. Cool” Mutano and Misheck “Scania” Marimo.

Some of the nicknames are self explanatory although I am still trying to figure out how “Yogi” came about..”Mr Cool” was as cool as a cucumber as Charles Mabika was so fond of saying, he never panicked under pressure and “Scania” had the strength of a scania haulage truck.

The late 80s came with Moses “Razorman”Chunga, Kenneth”Computer” Jere, Gift “Ghetto, Muduso” Mpariwa. Gift Mpariwa was a legend of the game, the nickname “Muduso” came from his football approach. Every game for him was a money game, “muduso” for those not familiar with ghetto lingo is slang for money and for him every goal scored was like a pay day hence his zeal for scoring .

“Razorman” to the so called 7 million Dynamos supporters…..I am sure they now claim that the number is 13 million…was as sharp as a razor which cuts from both sides. His nickname was derived from an advert in the 80’s of a man who could deal with any situation because he was always clean shaven.

“Dembare” supporters as Dynamos is populary known believed that no football situation was insurmountable for Moses.

Kenneth “Computer” Jere was that fast and this name came long before we knew much about computers, again pointing to the innovativeness of our supporters. As for the nickname “Dembare”, I give credit to Charles Mabika the doyen of Zimbabwe football commentary who, after watching DINAMO DEFIMA of Madagascar play CAPS in a African Cup Winners Cup then coined the name Dembare.