How I Got To Love Caps United Football Club

In the year 1977,I was fortunate to move  to the capital city ,Harare, in search of better educational facilities .The rural area where I had grown up to that stage did not have a secondary school combined with the fact that the liberation war was at its fiercest.

How I Got To Love Caps United FC

I was fortunate that I had a cousin brother who was much older than me who was already working and living in the city, naturally he took me under his wing but he was very reluctant to have me accompany me to go and watch him play at football games ,I had by chance learnt that he played for Caps Rovers ,the football team for the company he worked for at the time called Caps Pharmaceuticals. At the time the team campaigned in the first division ,which was one tier below than the premier league in the land .One can just imagine my excitement when he invited me to go watch football matches as his guest. What used to surprise me in the first weeks following the invitation was the fact that almost every time I when to his lodgings in-order to accompany him to his matches ,I would find the place vacant. In subsequent weeks  I would wake up very early and prepare before going to his place where I would wait patiently whilst he prepared. I was later to find out that the reason why he would leave me behind was because of the fact that he had several girlfriends he constantly took to these matches.

Like any boy my age I had developed a keen interest in football and had horned my skill in the village’s dusty football pitch, I was awe-struck when I had the opportunity to sit with these ‘Legends’ at the stadium whilst waiting for the B team to complete their fixtures,then they would come on to warm up to the roar of approval from the expectant crowd. My excitement was palpable since I had the fortune of seeing my elder brother parading in the team regalia, I believe I was the first one from my family to have witnessed him exhibiting his skills at such a level, very few people back home actually knew that he played football semi-professionally.

The following season the team was promoted to the premier division in the land, my brother and I were inseparable at the home games, the only games which I did not attend were those that were placed out of the Capital city because of my school commitments. This was also the year the team changed its name to Caps United Football Club so one would say I was there at the inception of the great club that has gone to became known as ‘Cup Kings’ the country’s cup specialists as they rarely lost in the many cup finals that they took part in.

Later the club was to acquire the services of the late Joel ‘Jubblie’ Shambo also known by his many followers as ‘The Headmaster’,the late Stanley ‘Sinyo’ Ndunduma ,Stanford ‘Stix’ Mtizwa and the indisputable ‘Mr Goals’ Shakeman Tauro.This was the core of the team which lead them to sweep all before them and propel the team to campaign in Africa against teams from Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent. One hapless team from Mauritius was hammered  seven nil, those were the heady years when the team was at its very best.