SPORTS tourism! This type of pastime is among the most sought-after activity in the world of travelling and touring which even to this day continues to play a major role in global tourism industry.
Yours Truly had been completely at sea and on the existence of such a portfolio within the tourism world until I came across an "appetising" piece on this particular subject written by a Eswatini-based pharmaceutical supply chain management practitioner Noel Muzambwa extoling virtues of such a pastime practice.
The article in question was written on one of his social media pages where this Hwange born and bred sportswriter was celebrating one Mebelo Njekwa (pictured) for guiding ZPC Hwange football club into the country's elite Castle Lager Premier Soccer League.
The ZPC Hwange football club gaffer is also a celebrated former Hwange player, who rubbed shoulders with a number of yesteryear greats such as Lowani Nyathi and Roger Sibanda, among others.
With mubhoni Muzambwa's permission, Yours Truly reproduces the piece, which might find some space in the country's sports tourism archives whose history is somehow untapped despite significant importance to all and sundry in the hospitality industry.
To those who are uninitiated in Hwange street lingo, the term 'mubhoni' refers to one born and bred in this coal mining town and it has some form of nostalgicism and nobility tied to it.
And here we go.
"Now going by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation definition 'tourism activity, which refers to the travel experience of tourists who either observe as spectators or actively participate in a sporting event generally involving commercial and non-commercial activities of a competitive nature,' at three or four years the mubhoni (Noel) qualified as a sports tourist.
"The guess would be that the mubhoni was not alone but probably a story that can be collaborated by many who grew up in that particular setting.
"In every village, most prominently in our own African villages, there is that clout of almost idolalised heroes across every social facet of that community be it sports, church, school or service delivery...you name it
“Almost five decades ago, 47 to be mathematically precise I unelectedly found myself born at Madumabisa Clinic, sometimes known as Number 2 Village Clinic, like I said my birth place was geographically unelected because my family stayed at C151, which was almost a 200 metre and instant walking distance from the health facility.
“Three to five years later, the new one would start mingling with the village fellow residents and luckily for us there was that cricket like oval shaped space between the houses adjacent to the public toilet.
“Our heroes sharpened and honed their skills to stardom at the popular Giant Killers Football Club which years later morphed into Hwange Football Club (Chipangano). Among some of renowned players were Isaac Sakhi Tshuma, Lowani Nyathi, Roger Sibanda and non other than Mebelo Njekwa my subject of the day.
“Those became our sporting idols including Posani Sibanda (late Hwange goal keeper) who lived next to the clinic and as such there was always a temptation to follow them wherever they went to play, at the now dysfunctional Madumabisa Stadium.
“Beyond that, they had to find a way of chasing us back to the houses, pity it had to be a painful one where they made us kick a plastic soccer ball with a big stone wrapped inside. The pain of such kick one would involuntarily cry his way back to the house.
“This the story I make Mebelo break into stitches of laughter when I used to bump into him, especially during my two-months pharmacy internship at Hwange Colliery Hospital in 2001."
It is one's fervent hope that my brother and colleague who was once young sports tourist way back in 1983 continues to share notes with older version of Italians among others who frequently play golf at the Royal Swazi Golf Course in Eswatini before proceeding to Leopard Creek Golf Club in Malelane, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Just to name a few sport tourism facilities.
Till we meet again in the next column.
*Comments always welcome on: dubebasill@gmail.com or X@ DubeBurzil