{"id":2778,"date":"2021-08-31T17:02:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T16:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2021-09-03T11:14:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T10:14:38","slug":"a-living-legend-who-deserves-far-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/08\/31\/a-living-legend-who-deserves-far-better\/","title":{"rendered":"A Living Legend who Deserves Far Better"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (August 30th<\/sup> 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Titled Club<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mufulira Wanderers and Zambia legend, Patrick Nkole, was a commanding presence in Mighty\u2019s defence. In his prime the most titled club in Zambia\u2019s history won any titles. His favourite match was the Inter-Rhodesia Castle Cup Final in October 1965 \u2013 Mufulira Wanderers beat Salisbury City Wanderers 4-3. It was the last edition of that tournament, occurring just a month before the illegal Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Southern Rhodesia\u2019s white supremacist leader, the late Ian Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mufulira Wanderers is the most titled club in Zambia\u2019s history \u2013 Nkana is just one below. The Nkole brothers, the late Edward, Patrick and Zambia\u2019s Gordon Banks, Abraham, played a large part in that success, playing in Mighty\u2019s most successful period. Currently languishing in Eden National Division One, Mighty missed out on promotion to Zambia\u2019s Super League last season. Their last trophy, the Challenge Cup was won almost a quarter of a century ago in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the fortunes of the once great club diminished, some of its great players died young, suffered poverty or serious health conditions. Among those is Patrick Nkole. He lives in Ndola cared for by his family, especially his second wife. The care he needs is large and will be required for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cannot walk unaided \u2013 in fact he needs others to carry him. I was made aware of his plight months ago by his brother Abraham. I wanted him to be visited to establish his needs by a Foundation that was established to help former sporting people like him. It refused, claiming that it was not permitted to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a lie. The Foundation could have visited Nkole and his family and established what their needs were \u2013 I know this for fact as after another Foundation was established, partly to aid people such as Nkole, that is exactly what we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have visited Patrick Nkole twice. He is in dire need of assistance for the rest of his life. NHIMA, the National Health Insurance Management Authority, runs the National Health Insurance Scheme, meaning Nkole is entitled to free healthcare at any NHIMA accredited hospital for the rest of his life, but this is not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He needs full care for the rest of his life. He cannot even go into his garden and sit in the sun unaided. He is confined to his house. He doesn\u2019t get a regular balanced diet. He depends on the generosity of others to have proper meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, he has been robbed of his actual memories. He knows that he was a great footballer, that he played for Mufulira Wanderers. But he thinks that everyone was a footballer, whether teammate or opponent, including me and I was never any good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s sad to see a great player who has contributed so much living in such reduced circumstances. He is one of Mufulira Wanderers\u2019 greats. He tries to explain what he can about his career in the first video below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=baLEib7JZ44<\/a>  (Mufulira Wanderers legend Patrick Nkole Part One)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AEcZ8LxKybo<\/a> (Mrs Nkole details Patrick\u2019s needs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their needs are huge, but NHIMA will provide assistance. His healthcare needs can be provided for through NHIMA, but he has other needs that will not be available through that scheme such as good food. After years of great service to football, Mufulira United and Zambia, it is the least that he deserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (August 30th 2021) Most Titled Club Mufulira Wanderers and Zambia legend, Patrick Nkole, was a commanding presence in Mighty\u2019s defence. [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2780,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/2780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}