The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
GHANAIANS were treated to a rare spectacle on the night of September 6, 1998.
A big, burly Zimbabwean official stole the show at a musical concert with some dance moves that belied his huge frame.
A tiny man, with a cigarette on one hand and a beer on the other, stood beside this huge man who had literally taken over the show.
That was in Accra, a few hours after Dynamos had drawn 1-1 against Hearts of Oak of Ghana in a Champions League Group A match at Accra Sports Stadium.
The big burly man was Ndumiso Gumede, while the tiny man was George Shaya.
Shaya was the Dynamos chairman and Gumede was the ZIFA secretary-general, who had travelled as head of delegation.
Gumede, who is now Highlanders’ life president, recalled the events of that blissful night in a touching tribute to the legendary Shaya, who passed away in Harare on Tuesday.
Regarded by many as the greatest Zimbabwean footballer of all time, Shaya won admirers across the country regardless of race, colour or tribe, simply because of his special football skills.
He had won five Soccer Star of the Year awards between 1969 and 1979, when he hung up his boots.
While many knew Shaya as the “Mastermind” because of his intelligence on the pitch, Gumede remembers the late football legend’s penchant for pleasure and of course, his cigarette.
Gumede, regarded as the Godfather of football administration in the country, also recalls how Shaya would “disrupt meetings at the association by often asking for a smoke break’’.
“I fondly remember George when he was chairman of Dynamos and Dynamos went out to play in Ghana against Hearts of Oak.
“After the game, we had a social evening and our hosts took us to watch a band. The band was playing in the streets and we were enjoying ourselves there, ready to come back to Harare.
“The band then played a beautiful song that I loved so much. I quickly mastered it and started singing along whilst dancing.
“That mesmerised a lot of people who were there, they were surprised at how this big fat man from Zimbabwe could sing their local song and also dance well to it.
“George was there by my side and we enjoyed that night together,” reminisces Gumede.
The veteran football administrator first met Shaya in 1969 before their relationship reached another level when the two worked together briefly at ZIFA.
Gumede would also host Shaya and his teammates whenever DeMbare played in Bulawayo back in the 1970s.
“I first met George Shaya when I was a teacher at Highfield Secondary School in Harare. The most used stadium back then was Gwanzura and that is where I first encountered Shaya’s amazing talent.
“I was not an official at Highlanders then, although I became their Harare representative from 1973.
“So I have known George from his prime days as a young player and right up through until he retired.
“As you might know, he had a stint at ZIFA when I was vice chairman myself under Nelson Chirwa,” he said.
Gumede believes Shaya’s feat with the five Soccer Star of The Year gongs will never be repeated.
“As a player George was mercurial, it was a joy to watch him slice past opponents and score those stunning goals. No surprise that he was voted Player of the Year five times and no one is going to repeat that feat.”
Shaya’s exploits also took him to South Africa where he dazzled before coming back home.
“So, his time at ZIFA, one remembers the fact that he was a chain smoker and being someone who did not want to discomfort some of us, he would ask to be excused to go and have a cigarette, thus disrupting a minute or so of the meeting.
“But, we always laughed it away because it gave us time to break up also, while he was having his puff of the cigarette.
“I also had lots of time with him trying to resolve Dynamos’ problems. I could easily say I was one of the first people to try and persuade Dynamos to move away from being owned by people who purported to be the founders.
“The club was too big to still belong to the founding members. But it was difficult to put that situation across.”
There was a time when the rivalry between Dynamos and Highlanders played second fiddle to the animosity that existed in the 1970s between Mashonaland United, which later became Zimbabwe Saints, and Highlanders.
Back then, Dynamos players used to enjoy after-match parties with their Highlanders counterparts.
“There were many times when the team (Dynamos) played at Barboufieds and we would host them at our club house. We would give them a few crates of drinks and that was the beauty of playing against Dynamos.
“We were opponents, not enemies. We were opponents for 90 minutes on the pitch and after that we were friends. We would talk about how well one team had played and then hope for a better game next time.
“Our relationship with Dynamos goes back a long way and it’s sad we are losing these legends at an alarming rate.
“The old ones are going, one at a time. It has been a series of football luminaries dying in the last two or three months. (David) Mandigora, (Simon) Sachiti, Ernest Maphepha (Sibanda), and now George Shaya.
“It can’t be too far before all of us are wiped out of here, hopefully the youths of today will maintain the clubs and continue to be the providers of entertainment in Zimbabwe,” said Gumede, who turns 77 in October.
The late Shaya was a prolific penalty taker, who — according to oral history — never missed one during his reign until one afternoon in 1977, when Laban “Black Cat” Kandi did the unthinkable.
Kandi, then a goalkeeper at Rio Tinto, saved Shaya’s penalty in a Chibuku Cup match at Rufaro, in what has remained one of the greatest shocks in local football history.
“I was on loan at Rio Tinto from Dynamos and it so happened that we were drawn to play against each other. Dynamos were awarded a penalty and then George Shaya stepped up to take it.
“He always put his kicks to the right side of the goalkeeper and I knew him from our training together at Dynamos.
“So I guessed he would change because he knew I knew his trick.
“Unfortunately, he did that and I saved the penalty. Rufaro went quiet. From then, Shaya never took the penalty duties again, a duty that was assigned to David George,” Kandi said.
Former KB Rockets, Ziscosteel and national team defender, Benedict “Grinder” Moyo, still can’t believe what he witnessed at Torwood on one strange afternoon in 1976.
Moyo was still at KB Rockets, a team that played in the then Midlands Division One league, although on that afternoon, he was not in the match-day squad.
“It was a Rothmans Cup match between Dynamos and our team KB Rockets. It was a massive match and because of the anticipated crowd, the game was moved from Amaveni to Torwood.
“By half-time we were leading 4-0 and everyone was thinking Dynamos yanyura. The locals were even celebrating what looked like a famous victory.
“But George Shaya had other ideas. He came back fired up in the second-half and scored four goals. When he scored the fourth, Dynamos fans went wild and invaded the pitch.
“The match was eventually abandoned because of the mayhem. The replay was played at Rufaro and we lost 3-1,” recalls Moyo.
The former Mighty Warriors’ gaffer believes Shaya was the deadliest player to come out of Zimbabwe.
“In my opinion, he is one of the coolest and deadliest players to come out of Zimbabwe.
“He was called Mastermind because he was so calculative. He would spend 45 minutes literally doing nothing yet he would be studying the opponents.
“George was something else. You see back then, we used to respect juju, but George was not scared at all.
“When Dynamos came to Torwood the other time to play Ziscosteel, all his teammates scaled the fence to gain entry into the pitch because of juju beliefs, but Shaya walked straight from the tunnel onto the pitch.
“And he would still torment you. I remember Ziscosteel lost that match 1-0.”
Shaya’s body was interred at Warren Hills Cemetery yesterday, but the sweet memories will remain forever.
