
How Mine FC won promotion into the Zimbabwe Castle Lager Premier Soccer League in 2013 and their mission was just to learn the trade with the big boys and survive relegation. A year later the Gold Miners have pumped in 11 goals in just three matches in the Orange CAF Confederation Cup and their striker Kuda Musharu leads the chats with five goals at this stage of the competition. That’s how to make an announcement of one’s arrival one might say! And this happens to be How Mine’ debut in CAF inter club competition.
How Mine FC is owned by Zimbabwe’s largest gold miner Metallon Gold Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd a mining company floated on Zimbabwean Stock Exchange. In their first season in the local premier league, the miners beat the country top three sides, traditional Champions League campaigners Dynamos twice, Highlanders twice and Caps United once as well as reach the final of the main local Cup competition- Mbada Diamonds Cup Final.
On November 30, 2013, against Highlanders in the Mbada Diamonds Cup final although soundly beaten 3-0, they knew they would be representing Zimbabwe in Orange CAF Confederation Cup due to a suspension their conquerors Highlanders are serving for flouting CAF competition rules.
Cafonline.com spoke to How Mine club chairman, Mlondolozi Nkomo about the team and the journey so far. How Mine is located 30 kilometres south-west of Bulawayo-Zimbabwe’s second largest city. The club was started in 1978 just as a pastime for the miners who work at the gold mine from the club name is derived. They are nicknamed Chikurupati, a local Shona word for one of the conveyor belts used in the mining processes.
The community is a closely knit unit, taking part in other sports which include weekend, tennis, volleyball, basketball and social football. Presently the home ground does not meet the required local Premier Soccer League and CAF standards. It is just a normal football pitch which the team used in 2011 and 2012 as they sought promotion into the Zimbabwean football top flight league.
Fans bemoan absence of a stadium:
“We play at Luveve Stadium, a 10 000 seater stadium in high density suburb of Luveve and that’s about 40km from where we are. So we have transport costs that we have to take care of when we play either home or away. It also means most of our fans cannot travel to go and support us all the time. Because of this, we have not been able to grow our support base that much but we hope that if we make progress in Africa, people will begin to take notice and we will get more support,” said Nkomo, who oversaw the promotion of the team into the top-flight.
In 2008 due to difficult economic conditions that the country was going through the club went through a tough period that prompted the team to play matches in town because their own home pitch was so bad. The players had to practise on tennis courts. “That was a hard time for the club indeed,’’ said Nkomo.
Since promotion into top flight the club has brought new players to the side. They added the experienced goalkeeper Ephraim Mazarura, defenders Gilbert Banda, Brighton Dube, Terrence Majo, Morris Kadzola, who once played for Dynamos, Nyasha Mukumbi, Menard Mupera, Edmore Muzanenhamo, Thembani Masuku, Emmanuel Mandiranga, Wonder Sithole, Kudakwashe Musharu, James Chitereki, Hebert Dick and Timothy January.
They have an unassuming coach Philani ‘Beefy’ Ncube, who was named the Zimbabwe coach of the year in 2008. After seeing his charges beat visiting Seychelles side, St Michel United 5-1 in round one first leg tie on Saturday 1st March 2014 Ncube said, “Each game is 90 minutes and we plan for 90 minutes only, for the return against St Michel, anything can happen in a game of football. We scored five at home and they can also score five at home, so it’s not over until it’s over.
“We will have a different approach to the second leg and I always tell my players that each game is new no matter what is the scoreline from the first leg. We don’t have to be complacent because there is still a long way to go in this competition,” said the burly coach.
Within a year, they have exported their first player-Simba Sithole to Ajax Cape Town in the Absa Premiership after the big striker impressed for the Warriors during the Chan finals in South Africa early this year. Going forward, Nkomo says they want to have their own stadium and some commercial ventures in the event the mine closes. They have seen Shabanie Mine FC, which was a football team from the Asbestos mining company go down, after the closure of the mining operations.
How Mine leaves for Seychelles on Thursday 6 March via Johannesburg, South Africa and if they progress they will play either FC Konzo of Congo Brazzaville or Bayelsa of Nigeria in the second round.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
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