BY CEPHAS CHIMEDZA

It was in 1996 when we became friends. I was in grade 6 and he was in grade 7.

We had played against each other in the U13s, i was at Support Unit and he was at Dynamos.

I was selected to be part of the UNIFORMED SCHOOLS in the Harare region qualifiers.

Our teacher/coach on the day of the tournament came excited telling us we will win the tournament because he has a special surprise for us.

As kids we thought a new kit because that was always something motivational. It turned out he was bringing Norman Maroto to be part of of team.

He arrived and when he saw me he cheekily said ahhhh ndiwe mwana wemupurisa handiti of which i said all the boys here vana vemapurisa. And he corrected himself and said unotambira kateam kaya kemapurisa.

We won the tournament with Norman scoring for fun and we got a chance to represent Harare,a few weeks later.

Norman did not come for the 1st day of the tournament and missed out on the vetting process,we were knocked out in the semis and had to play the 3rd/4th place match the next day.

Our chief striker arrived and was in the team. 7 mins in he had scored a brace ,1 official found it odd to see a team with such a prolific striker not playing in the final,he asked for the match to be stopped and have Norman checked to see if he had the nail polish that was used during vetting the previous day and unfortunately he didn’t so he was ejected from the match but we kept our goals but 1 man down.

Fast forward to 2001,Norman was scoring for fun for the reserves.

He got his chance in the 1st team and on his debut scored a brace vs Circle United as an 18 yr old. He never looked back,he became a regular player.

After that match i also got into the team and i owe it to Normans performance vs Circle,he opened the doors for me,the coach,the team mates and the fans got excited to now see what the next young boy would do,Norman made everyone believe in us.

In our Churchill/Dynamos whatsapp group for every birthday Norman would post a photo with the birthday boy.

Just last week i said ,Lumumba you have a photo with everyone except inini akati Mboma ndiri kutouya kuBelgium for that. Nhai Norman zvino photo yedu tichaita sei.

You would call me whenever paita a hot football topic on facebook and say haaa vanhu vanoda kutaura kwavasina kuswera.

My friend I’m still waiting for your call undiudze kuti all the messages im receiving vanhu vari kungotaura kwavasina kuswera.
11 July is your birthday zvino tichapostei nhai.
Ndiri kurwadziwa,kunyora kudai kuedza kudzinga the pain.

REST WELL MUDHARA CHIMBO