Searching for and identifying ball

Last week, Silver Strikers FC chairperson Dr. McDonald Mafuta-Mwale gave me reason to laugh when he doubted the authenticity of his player Tony Chitsulo’s resignation letter.

In his own words, the Silver boss said: “I doubt if at all the letter was written by Tony himself.” He further suggested that the letter was written by one of the Wanderers officials.

I cracked up because I thought it was a joke for Mafuta-Mwale to doubt his player’s capabilities of writing a resignation.

But perhaps I was wrong.  What I read on one of the social networks a few days ago, made me think twice. Maybe, just maybe, Mafuta-Mwale could have had a point after all.

One of the Blantyre-based big teams’ key defenders, who is in Form Four, posted on his social network wall saying: “At home, sustaining a knee injury.”

I only learnt later from my colleague, little Gomezgani  Zakazaka, that the player in question meant to say he was home ‘nursing’ a knee injury.

Of course, the incident that always thrills my world is the one told by a former MDC United defender [name withheld] who boasted to his youthful audience a decade ago that he enjoyed life during his stint in South Africa.

In his own words, the former defender said: ‘Aphwanga timaphulitsa life ku Jubeki ife, tikuphaka ma nampkins ophikidwa boo’ [apparently he meant to say pumpkins.] And some of the fellas were treated to a few slaps for making fun out of his ‘broken’ English.

So, maybe that is why even Silver’s chairperson doubted his player’s ability to write the resignation letter. But isn’t it the responsibility of club officials to ensure that their players take their education seriously? After all, Mafuta-Mwale is or was Tony’s guardian in Lilongwe.

And that reminds me of the boy Gabadinho. Last year, he did not sit his Junior Certificate of Education examinations for unexplained reasons. Instead, I am reliably informed, he was busy with his favourite play station. And now we are almost a month into the new school year and Gabadinho has hardly been to  school due to football commitments. You tend to wonder if he even knows his classmates.

AOB: I got an offer of a VIP ticket from Standard Bank to watch my favourite South African songbird Zahara, but for reasons beyond my control, I could not make it to Lilongwe.

While I might have missed another opportunity to watch another live performance of my favourite Loliwe [and, of course, that charming face] my spirit was there, oh yeah! Thanks Standard Bank and mtswaaaaa!!! Zahara. I can only say  Uloliwe. Uloliwe! Uloliwe wayidudula hi..nang’esiza! [the train is pushing!]