The Sunday Mail
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
THE fact that Mucheke Stadium and Masvingo Sports Club are separated by a mere five kilometres might be purely coincidental. However, for some, there seems to be more to the story.
For them, the short walk between these two sporting facilities represents the changing of guard currently happening within the city.
Football’s dominance in the south-eastern city is waning, while cricket gains both in prominence and popularity.
Mucheke Stadium is now a pale shadow of its former self, and this can be traced to the relegation of Masvingo United about a decade ago.
And, coincidentally, three years after the relegation of Yuna-Yuna from the top-flight in 2011, the curse fell on the ancient city once again. This time the provincial cricket franchise, Southern Rocks, were disbanded by the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) as part of the organisation’s cost-cutting measures.
But that was then.
Cricket is now the pride of the city, and how appropriate that Southern Rocks, which plies its trade at Masvingo Sports Club, follow the mantra ‘living the passion’.
“Our motto at Southern Rocks is ‘living the passion’, which means our passion is cricket. “It’s two years since we bounced back and we have been outstanding,” said Shepherd Makunura, the coach.
“When we bounced back, we sat down with the players and spoke about the importance of us justifying our coming back.
“I am glad to say that the guys have not disappointed over the past two years.
“We have become the franchise to beat.”
Having started the project with the Masvingo-based franchise in 2009, Makunura left Southern Rocks in 2014 following a decision by ZC to disband the team.
The 45-year-old coach moved to Mountaineers, and there he won three successive Logan Cup trophies.
“We obviously felt disappointed to be disbanded as Southern Rocks, as it came against the backdrop of us winning the then MetBank Pro-40. However, that was a decision ZC had to take and we had no choice but to live with it.” As fate would have, he would get his chance to lead Rocks as the Masvingo-based franchise came calling again towards the end of 2019.
He did not hesitate.
“I was very excited about the coming back of the Rocks; that’s why I had no hesitation in moving back when the opportunity arose. I felt I still had unfinished business with the Rocks,” said the Chevrons’ assistant coach.
In what can best be described as a masterstroke, Makunura did not make the great trek home alone.
“The first thing that I did after we got the news was to go headhunting for players,” he said. “In a coach’s career, there are players that you naturally gel with and you would want to take with you everywhere you go.
“So I spoke to the players that I felt could make a difference to the Rocks and explained my vision for the franchise.
“I am happy to say that most of the players I spoke to agreed.
“We also had the traditional Masvingo players that were playing elsewhere, and these guys were more than happy to come back.”
On the list were players such as Richmond Mutumbami and Tendai Chisoro.
The coach also had some good personal relationships with the Sikandar Raza, Mutumbami, Chisoro, the Kaia Brothers, all of who he approached individually.
Most of them didn’t hesitate to move to the Rocks.
Makunura had built quite the name for himself during his days at Mountaineers and players were unlikely to spurn his overtures.
“I think everyone wants to be involved with a winning team and culture, and before I went back to the Rocks, I had won three Logan Cups in a row with the Mountaineers.
“I guess that also helped,” he added.
He took the time to reveal some of the secrets to his success.
“I think the secret to our success has been teamwork.
“We try to be a player-driven team and our job as coaches is just to try and create an environment where players can harness their skills and perform to the best of their abilities.
“The success that we are currently enjoying at the moment is great and we are all excited about the future.”
Most of the city’s locals who had been starved of high-profile sporting activities have naturally welcomed the return of Southern Rocks.
“We had a couple of Pro-50 fixtures in Masvingo and the support was just unbelievable.
“We hope that in the upcoming seasons, we can get to play more games at our home ground and try to connect more with our supporters.
“We hope that will create a lot more interest and we get a few more local guys making it into the franchise side,” said Makunura.
