Dhlakama ignites GreenFuel with Chipinge talent
RODWELL Dhlakama has endeared himself with the Chipinge community after hunting down profiled players with their roots in the Manicaland district to sign for GreenFuel.
The Chisumbanje club hardly resonated with the locals when they punched their ticket into the Premier Soccer League last year.
On many occasions, even after shifting their base from Gibbo in Triangle to GreenFuel Stadium upon the completion of renovation work at this venue, those who are supposed to back them decided to support the visiting teams.
They didn’t identify with the community where several talented players hail from yet they didn’t have any in their books.
But Dhlakama, who inherited the club from Bekithemba Ndlovu midway through the season, is changing that.
The stadium was filled with partisan fans who rallied the home team in their 1-0 defeat to Dynamos in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
But, with several locally-groomed talents in their ranks, GreenFuel is becoming the darling of the community.
Dhlakama, who himself hails from the same district, has lured the duo of Luke Musukiri and Stephen Chatikobo to Chisumbanje.
The two were groomed at Chawira Academy at Checheche Growth Point, just 5km from the GreenFuel Arena and the pair is a loved lot in this area.
They have seen action for Dynamos and Simba Bhora and they will be expected to flourish for their home team.
Dhlakama has also added another pair of Chipinge boys former Harare City midfielder Learnmore Muyambo and ex-CAPS United winger Clive Rupiya into the fold.
The quartet is joined by Washington Mapuwa and Reginald Chinemo, who have been on the team.
“First and foremost let me take this opportunity to thank the owners of the team led by Billy Rautenbach. “I grew up in this Chipinge district and I can tell you that the only games that mattered that we played included muchongoyo, zvipunha, and mahlozi,” said Dhlakama.
“Yet there were a lot of talented players who made their names playing at the highest level who came from Chipinge.
“They include Eddie Dube, Zebron Simango, Lovemore Mapuya, Erasmus Chauke, Mathew Mahala, Philip Marufu, Tonderai Fungurai, Genesis Mangombe, Perfect Chikwende, Blessing Gumiso and Moses Gutu, among others.
“They could all have played for GreenFuel and that is the opportunity which we are giving to these guys who hail from this part of the country. That will give us some good leverage and identify with the community.
“We are also balancing the mathematics too but our priority this pre-season window was to give the team an identity which I believe is now there and the locals are happy”.
Dhlakama said GreenFuel will be a competitive outfit this coming term.
“By and large, we have retained the core of the squad that did duty for the team last year. So in terms of continuity and philosophy, we are not worried. We have also added new players who we know are capable enough to meet the demands in the Premiership,” he said.
“We are aiming to be a competitive outfit that can stand toe to toe with the best in the league. At the end of the day, we should stand up and be counted”.