Another Zim dream fulfilled
EXACTLY 30 years after mercurial young forward Peter Ndlovu became the African player to feature in the modern English Premiership football league, another Zimbabwean dream was fulfilled this week after Jordan Zemura and his AFC Bournemouth secured promotion for next season.
Zemura’s dream came true after his side beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 on Tuesday night at the Vitality Stadium to claim their place alongside Fulham as the top two teams to get direct promotion before the conclusion of the English second-tier Championship campaign.
The 22-year-old could join an elite list of Zimbabwean players that have featured in one of the world’s most lucrative and highly competitive leagues. Most importantly, he would be the second Zimbabwean player in the English Premier League next season, along with Marvelous Nakamba, currently in the books of Aston Villa.
Zemura is set to become the fifth player in the history of Zimbabwean football after Bruce Grobbelaar, Peter Ndlovu, Benjani Mwaruwari and Nakamba to play in the English Premiership.
Ndlovu holds the record as the first African player to play in the English Premier League. Legendary goalkeeper Grobbelaar had already featured in the English Football League First Division before the formation of the English Premier League in 1992 when the clubs decided to break away from the Football League and take advantage of a lucrative television rights sale to Sky.
Although Grobbelaar continued to play for Liverpool beyond 1992, Ndlovu was the first African player to feature in the new era of the English Premier League football during his second season at Coventry City as a mere 19-year-old.
Ndlovu was in the books of English Premiership football side Coventry City for six years and had some personal milestones before he was released to the second-tier where he enjoyed considerable success with Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town (loan) and Sheffield Wednesday.
Grobbelaar had a longer time in the topflight of English football where he played over a decade with Liverpool and was evidently the most successful among the Zimbabweans.
He made 628 appearances for Liverpool in 13 years, including 440 in the League.
He won the League championship with the club six times, as well as three FA Cups, three League Cups and the 1983–84 European Cup.
Another former Zimbabwe skipper, Mwaruwari, arrived in England from French side Auxerre in 2002 and went on to play for Portsmouth, current English Premier League champions Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers.
Nakamba, who is currently hoisting the Zimbabwean flag in the English Premier League, arrived from Belgium where he played for Club Brugge in 2019.
But Zemura has had to earn his stripes with Bournemouth, where he rose from the development side, and within one year, sealing his place in the first team, and helping Bournemouth secure English Premiership football qualification.
Zemura’s rapid rise, and his excellent performances, have all combined to excite both his coaches and the legion of Zimbabwean football fanatics, who invaded the social media yesterday to express their delight in the player.
The defender signed his first professional contract with Bournemouth in December 2020. The deal came after a breakthrough first few months of the season for Zemura, who made his first-team debut in September 2020’s Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace.
Zemura did not look back ever since he got the lucky chance to be part of the AFC Bournemouth senior team at the beginning of the current English Championship season.
It all started after he was called in to fill in the position following the injury to left-back Jack Stacey during a cup game played on the eve of the season.
Zemura played every minute for the opening 15 games of the season until he suffered an unfortunate injury that kept him out for seven games. He returned briefly and went on to miss six more games due to intermittent injuries.
But the utility man managed to make 32 appearances for Bournemouth this season. Zemura, who can also play left side midfield, has established good understanding with fellow Cherries academy graduate, Jaidon Anthony, who plays left wing.
Apart from winning the Championship Player of the Week award, he was involved in a club record six successive away clean sheets in the league, passing the club’s previous best which was set in 1947/48 and matched in 2012/13. The Cherries brilliant run translated to nine hours and 42 minutes since conceding on the road in the league at the time.
Zemura was born in London on November 14, 2000, shortly after his Zimbabwean parents had moved to the UK.
He started playing football at the age of six and, two years later, he was already in the books of Queens Park Rangers’ academy.
He moved from QPR and went on to spend seven years at Charlton Athletic. He joined the Cherries’ academy from Charlton Athletic in May 2019 and has risen quickly from the development side to the senior team.
Zemura will be hoping to avoid the pitfalls faced by compatriot, Tendayi Darikwa, who came close to English Premiership football in 2016 after helping Burnley secure promotion.
Unfortunately for Darikwa, who had made 24 English Championship appearances in the qualifying campaign, he had to be released before kicking a ball in the English top-flight league, although he still had a year left on his deal with the Clarets.
Darikwa started all five of Burnley’s cup games during the 2016/17 season, but didn’t make it past the bench on English Premier League duty.