Former captain mourns teammate

Former captain mourns teammate KAINO NGHITONGO

The football fraternity is mourning the departure of former Oshakati City and Blue Waters goalkeeper Banana Shiku.

Shiku passed on in the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital on Sunday.

His former Oshakati City captain, Styn Hamalwa, said it was sad to learn of the death of his friend, whom he had visited on Saturday.

Hamalwa said he will remember Shiku as a humble man, “peaceful and very disciplined”.

“I remember him on the field as one of those people that hated losing and always liked to be on top of his game, a hard-working player who liked being in command and shouting instructions to everyone even if he was not the captain,” he said, adding that Shiku would always take ownership when his team was playing, “because he didn’t like being defeated and had that brave heart of winning.”

He described Shiku as one of the players that Oshakati City was always afraid to lose to another team.

“He did a great job when it comes to football not only in Oshakati, so as a team, we were ever careful and scared to lose him because there were so many teams knocking and every team wanted the young man’s service but there was a time we lost him to Blue Waters but he came back and he was never left behind because he always kept the spirit,” he said.

Hamalwa further said Shiku was mostly played in the second half, “because he always had that energy that a team needs.”

“We have survived quite a few relegations and in most of those he played a very big role by saving us as mostly it was at the last two or three games and most of the time it was him who kept us in the league, so I can remember him as a hero,” he concluded.