Fungai Muderere
FOOTBALL is a sport with some of the most passionate fans in the world. Unlike most other sports, football has the ability to change people, and can turn even the most quiet and pleasant person into a loud, aggressive fan who will do anything for their team to win. It has by far one of the biggest followings in the world, and whether they are watching from the side of the pitch or from their living rooms, every football fan can get carried away.
For one MaCloud Moyo, a popular Bulawayo tout, when Chicken Inn have suffered in a match, he stays loyal and cheers them on even louder, come rain or shine spotting his trademark red female full panty. While some have greatly criticised his stunt, the Gamecocks family has seen no harm and consequently last year he was rewarded with a trip to Egypt where he was among the hordes of Zimbabwean fans that cheered the Warriors in their 2019 Africa Cup Nations adventure.
For Moyo, it was a historic trip that was facilitated by vice-chairman of the Zimbabwe Soccer Supporters Association Carl Marx Nkomo. It was no wonder that among the colourful, passionate and eccentric fans in Cairo, Moyo, a father of one who claims to be Zimbabwe’s number one football follower, was the one who seemed to rock.
He donned a set of red and white bikini, leaving many soccer enthusiasts — his fellow countrymen included — stunned. They even had Kodak moments with the ever-joyful cross-dressing Moyo, a man who enjoyed a good relationship with the late popular Orlando Pirates staunch supporter Mandla “Mgijimi” Sindane. The death of Mgijimi left Orlando Pirates and soccer fans reeling. Twitter was flooded with condolence messages to his family, and fans’ memories of Sindane. Stories of different people, local and international football institutions — Highlanders included — mourning Mgijimi’s demise, were carried all over.
However, Moyo is one griever whom the media probably let down. He was shunned in letting him grieve his departed brother, a football crazy comrade whom he once took to Bulawayo’s Matshobana suburb for a braai.
“I remember in early 2019 when Orlando Pirates came to Zimbabwe to play against FC Platinum in Bulawayo, I took Mgijimi and other Orlando Pirates fans to Matshobana’s Esibayeni where we had a braai. I enjoyed Mgijimi’s company. He was a true football follower and it is sad that he has gone too soon,” said Moyo.
He added: “I will always cherish the conversations that we had and I will always vividly remember his white overall and white face paint. That was his trademark. That made everything tick for him.”
Just like what Moyo does with Chicken Inn, Mgijimi followed the Buccaneers around South Africa and on the continent as he travelled to Zimbabwe to watch the team’s Caf Champions League group match against FC Platinum which ended 0-0 in January 2019.
In the same year, the Gamecocks number one fan who is also a regular at local sports betting shops, was part of the 35-member Chicken Inn delegation that embarked on a 10-day tour of Malawi for a four-team pre-season tournament that featured Nyasa Big Bullets, Be Forward Wanderers (Malawi) and Clube Ferrovairo de Nampula of Mozambique.
And it was at Malawi’s giant Kamuzu Stadium that he also showed his ever-growing spot for the world’s most beautiful game.
