Walter Musanhu donates to Mbare
FORMER Motor Action player Walter Musanhu remembered his roots when he donated football equipment to Inter-Harare FC, a community club based in Mbare on Saturday.
Musanhu, who is now based in China, donated balls, gloves and shin pads and said it was his way of giving back to the community that raised him.
“I was born and bred in Mbare. So I thought of giving back to the community based on what I have gone through, the rough patches of the ghetto. We used to receive things like soccer kit and balls which we were not aware where they would have come from, it was just people donating and I believe it helped so much.
“So I thought of doing the same thing for Mbare, to give back to the community, just to appreciate because there is good talent.
“Actually, I am going to be targeting a lot of community clubs. I am in partnership with my brother Chamu Musanhu, a former Dynamos player. I am targeting the ghetto because that’s where less privileged kids are. We want to give them hope, we want to give them a future,” said Musanhu.
Musanhu played for the now-defunct Motor Action and Shooting Stars between 2002 and 2007 when he officially hung his boots.
He has been in China for close to three years now where he has been involved with junior football at O’le Academy.
Musanhu said from his experience in China, there is need to have vibrant junior structures in place to support upcoming players.
“They have a set-up which starts from the age of five to groom talent. So you find that the more the children are exposed from the age of five there is no option but to actually build a bright future.
“China is actually coming up in football. They are investing in football and encouraging clubs to invest in juniors. All the clubs have juniors and they get enough support for their juniors. The Premier League clubs have academies, which means the future is bright.
“Coming back home it’s sad most clubs don’t have juniors (or junior structures). Where are we going to get players from? We need to support such initiatives such as academies, that’s the only way we can improve our football in Zimbabwe. The reason why we are rotating players is because we are not getting enough support for the juniors,” said Musanhu.
Musanhu added that besides financial support, former football players can take some time to interact with the young players just to inspire them and also assist on the coaching side of it. Zimbabwe’s junior teams have continued to struggle in the recent years and for the second successive year the Young Warriors failed to go beyond the first round stage at the COSAFA Under-20 championships.
Lack of proper junior structures and support have been major setbacks for most of the teams in the Premier League.