Yesteryear greats
Dwith
ANIEL Rendo, one of Wankie’s standout players from the yesteryear era died in Hwange on Thursday and will be laid to rest this morning. He was 89. According to his son Likala, he will be buried in Jambezi where he has lived since retiring from the Colliery in 1998.
Likala said his dad had not been well for a while and eventually passed on Thursday living a huge void in the family.
Daniel who was born in Hwange in 1933 started his football career in the late 1940s playing at Madumabisa.
When he was in his teens, he joined local club Blue Bombers and in no time he had done enough to impress Wankie Football Club officials who graduated him into the side that was active in the Chamber of Mines Games, Southern Africa Mine Games and the annual Stanley and Livingstone Cup played in Livingstone, Zambia.
His death has robbed Zimbabwe of seven decades of football history. No one was in a better position to tell generations to come about Hwange and its football from the 1940s than patriarch Rendo.
The Rendos have been a very strong component of Hwange football dating back to the 1950s when Daniel arrived on the scene.
His younger brother eventually got to be a bigger name in the game winning two Castle Cup titles, national team call ups and appearing on the famed Soccer Stars of the Year lists, Amos came on board in 1963 barely 14-years-old and stood guard in central defence for almost two decades.
Amos’ son Thembinkosi was on hand to ensure that their family name remains in the game bursting into the Hwange FC side in the early 2000s only to have his career cut short by injury.
Like in a stage play, as we exit Daniel, enter Brendon, a grandson of Amos who is with the Castle Lager Premiership bidding side and playing as a striker.
Twyman Ncube a former teammate of the legendary rightback said Daniel’s passing on had robbed the country of a former great sportsman.
He said the town’s football history would be