{"id":3528,"date":"2023-01-07T23:51:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T23:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3528"},"modified":"2023-01-13T01:51:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T01:51:35","slug":"the-king-is-dead-long-live-the-king-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2023\/01\/07\/the-king-is-dead-long-live-the-king-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"The King is Dead! Long Live the King! (Part One)<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Godfrey
Godfrey Chitlu honoured by Kenneth Kaunda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar ( December 30th<\/sup> 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Icons\u2019 Icon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pel\u00e9), the only man to win three World Cups, passed away yesterday aged 82 after a long battle against colon cancer. For many, Pel\u00e9 is the greatest to ever play the beautiful game. He is said to have scored over a thousand goals, although some of them have been questioned years after he retired \u2013 he played numerous exhibition matches including in Africa as his club exploited their great asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He set records galore in a storied career. He was credited with the most goals in a season\/year. In 1958, the year that he made history by scoring a brace in the World Cup Final against Sweden, he set a less heralded record of 75 goals in the year. It stood for a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Double Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pel\u00e9\u2019s record was not broken by the late great German (West German at the time), Gerhard (Gerd) M\u00fcller in 1972 and M\u00fcller\u2019s record was not broken by Lionel Messi forty years later. Pel\u00e9\u2019s tally of 75 was broken by a young African forward, making waves at his first top club, but even now the achievements of that African icon are denigrated \u2013 he is the only person to have broken the record twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godfrey Chitalu was on his way to becoming an African icon even in 1968. Chitalu broke Pel\u00e9\u2019s record by just six goals, but he did it with an unfancied club, Kitwe United. He soon broke another record \u2013 Zambia\u2019s transfer record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those days transfers in Zambia were nowhere near as organised and honest as today. Tales of players \u2018disappearing\u2019 in the dead of night and resurfacing at another club were not unheard of. It happened with the original Zambian \u2018Computer\u2019 Alex Chola and before him with Chitalu. In Chitalu\u2019s case I have heard two different former Kabwe Warriors players claim that they went to Kitwe to get him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An outraged Kitwe United demanded a then Zambian record fee for the player. After arbitration a reduced fee was agreed \u2013 it was still a Zambian record at the time. It turned out to be the biggest bargain in the history of Kabwe Warriors, a team that had secured the services of the great Boniface Simutowe earlier.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chitalu\u2019s achievement in 1968 have been largely ignored. He was a prolific striker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1972 Chitalu rewrote the record books. He began the year by setting a still unbroken record in African champions football. The first round \u2013 Kabwe Warriors\u2019 debut on the continental stage \u2013 ended with an 11-2 aggregate win. Lesotho\u2019s champions, Majantja were hopeful after a 2-2 draw at home, even though Chitalu stole the headlines with a brace, including a goal of such beauty it is still talked about today. Over half a century later Majantja\u2019s goalkeeper Lebohang Nteko and one of Chitalu\u2019s teammates, Richard Stephenson still wax lyrical about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Leohang Nteko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second goal was special,\u201d Nteko says, although he blames his defence, claiming they ducked under it. They found out the hard way that Chitalu\u2019s shots packed power. Stephenson also says the second goal was one of the greats. Majantja were still celebrating retaking the lead. Chitalu collected the ball near the half way line and carved his way through Majantja before unleashing a shot that Nteko could only watch and admire from near the edge of the area \u2013 it was so accurate it hit that station that Chitalu was aiming for. Years later Chitalu explained to Nteko why it was so accurate \u2013 he used to practice after training until he mastered it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Majantja was unaware who Chitalu was when he arrived in their country, they certainly knew now. In the crowd that night was a 7-year-old boy, watching Chitalu in awe. He grew up to become one of Lesotho\u2019s top players, their recently departed Technical Director, Leslie Not\u0161i. The former midfielder and coach told me exclusively that after that match as they played on the streets, they were all saying, \u201cI\u2019m Godfrey Chitalu.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that despite Chitalu feasting on Lesotho\u2019s football that year, he played an important role in inspiring Lesotho\u2019s football. Nteko agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second leg, however, demoralised Majantja. The match was moved to the Dag Hammarskj\u00f6ld Stadium. Kabwe Warriors ran riot, demolishing Lesotho\u2019s finest 9-0. This record is acknowledged by CAF Online, but bizarrely the star of the show, Chitalu is not and he scored 7 on February 6th<\/sup> 1972 \u2013 Simutowe and the late Sandford Mvula scored the others. Chitalu\u2019s tally that night has never been matched let alone surpassed in any African champions\u2019 clubs match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The ruins of the Dag Hammarskj\u00f6ld Stadium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among those demanding recognition for Africa\u2019s Goal King is an unlikely champion, Lebohang Nteko, the man who conceded all nine goals to him. In half a century nobody bothered to ask him about that tie \u2013 nobody but me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are his records,\u201d Nteko told me. \u201cHe should be credited with them.\u201d He is not alone in calling on CAF to recognise Africa\u2019s Goal King\u2019s record as the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of Chitalu\u2019s Wonder Year \u2013 perhaps the best year any top striker had \u2013 draws to a close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar ( December 30th 2022) The Icons\u2019 Icon Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pel\u00e9), the only man to win three World Cups, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,16,14],"tags":[307,25,171,173,172,308],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528"}],"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=3528"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3656,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528\/revisions\/3656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}