Fungai Muderere
TO some there is no such thing as loyalty in sports. It is a business — and rightfully so. The general feeling would be players and members of the technical team in all sports should have the right to leave or do what they please without being bashed, since owners of clubs all around will trade or release them the second they think they can do better.
However, while this new era of sports has shifted the mindset of being loyal, true to his name, Highlanders medic, Loyal Nyika has lived true to his first name. Since 2006, he has served the Bulawayo football giants with great faithfulness, deciding not to transfer to a better gig. He is the longest serving member of the Bosso technical setup, at a club that recently agreed to suspend the coach Mark Harrison’s contract until the Premier Soccer League resumes.
“Fourteen years of Loyalty! Club medic Loyal Nyika is the longest serving member of the current Highlanders senior team technical setup, having joined the club in August 2006,” wrote Bosso on Twitter.
While other members of the Highlanders technical department have continuously chosen to use this great football institution as a stepping stone to leapfrog to better opportunities, Nyika has in the past 14 years remained committed to the Bosso cause. To many players and
members of the technical teams, loyalty will always come second to money.
“Time flies. My stay at Highlanders has been really good . . . Yes, I have been approached by a number of clubs but I realised that at times it’s not all about money. It’s about relations that are there,” said Nyika.
While he vaunts of a 2006 Premier Soccer League championship medal and 2013 Mbada Diamonds Cup winners medal among other
accolades over two decades being part of the black and white army, he says he has enjoyed good working relations with coaches that have come on board.
“I can’t really pick one coach to say he was my favourite. I have actually had the same working relationship with all of them,” said Nyika, a physiotherapist.
He has worked hand in glove with the Bosso technical bench together with Methembe Ndlovu, Kelvin Kaindu, Madinda Ndlovu, Amini Soma Phiri, Mark Mathe, Mandla Mpofu, Hendriek Pieter De Jongh, Erol Akbay and most recently Harrison. Nyika further reckoned that fractures, sprains and mild head injuries were the common player hurts that he has dealt with at Highlanders.
An online research suggests that hamstring strains, muscle strain, knee ligament injuries, rotator cuff strains, ankle sprain, achilles tendonitis, jumper’s knee, shin splint, metatarsal stress fractures and concussions are the 10 most c
