Stanley Chirambadare

Coaching career

Stanley was once the assistant coach at Dynamos before some misunderstanding with the club authorities, which saw the termination of his contract. Chirambadare, who is the founding chairperson of Mufakose Junior League, said the nation has totally ignored the development of junior football. “Those who are into soccer today are in for the money and not for development. That is why you see that they shun junior football development,” he said.

He cited the number of agents vis-à-vis those involved in junior sports development. “We have more football agents than developmental projects and this shows the money-making mentality among the majority of us.” It is this observation, strengthened by his passion for developing young people, that made him embark on his development project in 2009 after he had hung up his boots in 1991. He is also the founding president of Revival Juniors Football Club in Mufakose.^[2]

Accolades

• Castle Cup
• Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League winners medal x2
• Independence Trophy^[1]

Ministry and Evangelism

The player is said to have been a heavy drinker at one point but chose to leave his ways and turn to God. This saw him establishing a movement called Athletes In Action which sought to spread the word through sport. He also happens to be a Minister at Life Ministries Church.^[1] He was quoted saying that his plan to spread the word to athletes was because most of them played for clubs that believed in juju.

Revival Junior Football Academy

Chirambadare formed his own Football Academy, Revival Junior Football Academy whose catchment area is the high-density suburb of Mufakose. Speaking on why he formed an academy, Chirambadare said:

"I formed the Academy because I realised that as a nation, we are not nurturing young talent, coaches are recycling players. I coached a player who went on to finish his ordinary level, I was shocked to hear that he has now enrolled at a school in town just to play football. Does this make sense? In the Senegal team they had a 21-year-old with over 20 caps for the National team while our 20-year-old is still trying to win a school tournament..how do we develop?"

^[3]

Arrest for Sodomy

In April 2021, there were reports that Chirambadare had been arrested for allegedly sodomising a young boy in Mufakose. Chirambadare was remanded in custody to May 13 2021 when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi charged with aggravated indecent assault.

Chirambadare was advised to approach the High Court for bail application. He was not asked to plead to the charges.

The court heard that sometime in March 2021, the teenage boy visited Chirambadare at his residence along Mukonono Road in Mufakose where he wanted to clean the house in return for sweets. The boy used to visit Chirambadare’s place in the company of his friend, but on this day he was alone.

After the boy had cleaned the house, Chirambadare allegedly called him inside the house where he said he wanted to give him the sweets. When the boy entered the house, Chirambadare allegedly grabbed him before sexually abusing him.

The former footballer allegedly threatened to kill the boy if he disclosed the attack to anyone. It is alleged that Chirambadare also sexually abused the boy on several other occasions.

The boy disclosed the matter to his uncle after he started developing piles.^[4]

References