Missed opportunity
Blantyre Zero star striker Temwa Chawinga has missed an opportunity of joining her elder sister, Tabitha, in the Swedish Women Football League after Krokom Dvarsatt IF were put off by the 15-year-old’s lack of interest in education, according to DD Sunshine owner David Dube.
Temwa is currently the leading scorer in the Southern Region Women Football Committee (SRWFC) League with 25 goals from seven games. She scored 11 goals last Sunday when Zero clobbered Sitima Sisters 14-1. The second leading scorer Vanessa Chikupila of Ntopwa Super Queens trails her with 15 goals.
Chawinga also emerged top scorer and best player in the 2015 Airtel Rising Stars Tournament and golden boot winner in the 2016 Presidential SRWFC Championship.
Her barrage of goals has helped Zero to remain at the summit of the SRWFC League’s log table with 21 points from seven straight wins.
“Krokom wanted to sign her for the 2016 season after learning her remarkable exploits in the domestic league. But the girl’s poor attitude towards school put them off. They told us their club has no place for players that do not put much focus on education,” Dube said.
“We tried in vain to encourage her to work hard in school. Recently, she dropped out of school even after we paid fees for her entire secondary school education. This is why we let her go to Blantyre Zero as there was nothing we could do to help her gain international football career prospects.”
But Temwa, who said she is following in Tabitha’s footsteps, told The Nation yesterday that she abandoned school because she was not being given pocket money.
“Indeed, I was refusing to go to school because the club was unable to give me pocket money. It was very difficult for me to go to school on an empty stomach and without anything in my pockets. I was not the only one as my other team-mates had the same complaints,” she said.
Nevertheless, her mother Kester Luhanga, in a telephone interview from Rumphi, yesterday corroborated Dube’s claims that the girl mostly puts emphasis on football rather than education.
“But I have told her new team to make sure she puts school ahead of football. Even her sister Tabitha always encourages her to do that,” she said.
Blantyre Zero coach Maggie Chombo-Sadiki, who is also owner of the team, said she will do her best to make sure the free-scoring striker works hard in class as they have enrolled her at Sunshine Private Secondary School in Machinjiri, where she is in Form One.
But when notified that Temwa did not sit for her Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examinations, Chombo-Sadiki said: “I was not aware of that. We will convince her to write the PSLCE. She is still young and has a bright future ahead of her.”
Had Temwa’s deal materialised, she could have become the country’s third women football player to ply her trade in Europe after Tabitha and Chisomo Kadzisonga.
