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Wanderers vow to honour George with league title

 

Be Forward Wanderers FC have vowed to win the TNM Super League this season  to honour their fallen chairperson George Chamangwana.

Wanderers last won the league in 2006, but their captain Francis Mlimbika, vice-chairperson Gift Mkandawire and general secretary Mike Butao said, when paying their last respects to Chamangwana during a funeral service at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre yesterday, that they will do their best to end the 11-year title drought this season.

“We have agreed as a team to put up a gallant fight in our remaining league games and grab the title so as to honour our departed chairperson,” Mlimbika said.

Wanderers and Bullets players carry the casket

“We failed to do it while he was at the helm of the club for the past five years, but we feel we would greatly honour him if we win the title at the end of this season.”

According to Mkandawire, Chamangwana, who was laid to rest at Misesa Cemetery in Limbe, Blantyre yesterday, had a vision that the club would win the league this season.

While agreeing with Mkandawire, Butao added that the loss of their chairperson is a big blow to the club.

“We do not know how we will live without his physical presence because he was our pillar; whenever we had some financial problems he rescued us and he united us whenever there were disagreements,” Butao said.

The funeral service, which saw Wanderers players and their Bullets counterparts carrying Chamangwana’s remains, attracted a multitude that included Sports Ministry’s principal secretary Jameson Ndalama, Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) board chairperson James Chuma and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) executive member Daud Suleman.

Super League of Malawi (Sulom) general secretary Williams Banda and treasurer Tiya Somba-Banda, Wanderers’ trustees chairperson Rashid Gaffar, Bullets chairperson Noel Lipipa and Blantyre United administrator  Lawson Nakoma were also in attendance.

Bullets general secretary Albert Chigoga said it was shocking to learn about the demise of Wanderers leader.

“He was professional and tactical in the way he ran the club. His love for football was beyond the fierce rivalry between the two clubs; during his leadership, we once received financial support from the Nomads for our recent African Club Championship participation,” he said.

Sulom treasurer Tiya Somba-Banda and Suleman described the late Chamangwana as a leader who tried his best to make Wanderers the best professional football club in the country.

Chamangwana, who is survived by a wife and a daughter, was born on June 24 1969. He started playing for Wanderers Youth team in 1984 before being promoted to the senior team two years later. He retired and became the team’s manager in 2008 and general secretary in 2010. Before his death at Blantyre Adventist Hospital, he was the Nomads’ chairperson since 2012. n

 

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