by osamahlawy Sun Dec 27, 2009 6:59 am
Chunga wins Coach of the Year Award, dedicates award to his family HARARE- AWARD winning coach Moses "Bambo" Chunga
(Pictured) has dedicated his award to his family which he said gave him full support to realise his dream of reaching The Promised Land.
"I would like to thank my family especially my wife who helped me a lot to realise this dream. It was a long journey but with the support I got from my family I finally realised my dream. I am happy to win this award. I also want to thank the Gunners chairman Cuthbert Chitima for throwing his weight behind me all the time. He gave me a lot of hope. I also want to thank members of my technical department and the whole team for their efforts," said Chunga as he collected his award.
Chunga was recognised for his role in leading modest Harare side Gunners to their first ever league title since they burst into the topflight league two years ago when he was named the Coach of the Year during the awards ceremony on Thursday night. He walked away with US$ 2000. The former Zimbabwe senior soccer team captain and Dynamos midfielder also won his maiden league title when he led Gunners to the Premiership crown this year. He had not won any major silverware since he started his coaching career a decade ago. The normadic Chunga who has coached such clubs like Black Aces, Hackney, Arcadia United, Black Rhinos, Shabanie Mine, Dynamos, CAPS United and Shooting Stars was known better for saving teams from relegation than a championship winning coach. But this year he finally laid his hands on his first major silver ware in his football career.
Asked by journalists why it had taken him almost ten years to win the league title, he said with an air of arrogance around him "I was asking for oranges to make orange juice but they gave me lemon. How can lemon make orange juice," he remarked. Chunga, who won the Soccer Star of the Year in 1987 became the second coach in the domestic league to win the Coach of the Year Award and also the Soccer Star of the Year Award. Former Dynamos coach David "Yogi" Mandigora who won the Soccer Star of the Year in 1980 also won the Coach of the Year in 2007 when he led Dynamos to the championship. Seasoned Bulawayo referee Thabani Mkantjo won the 2009 Referee of the Year Award after edging Kenny Marange in a close race