Emment Kapengwe

Emment Kapengwe (27 April 1943 – 17 September 1988) was one of Zambia's leading footballers in the '60s and he represented the country at independence in October 1964.

Kapengwe was born in Broken Hill in 1943.

He lost his father at an early age but his mother got married again to Mr. Njalili Kapengwe whose surname young Emment adopted.

He first went to the Catholic School in Broken Hill from 1949 to 1951 and when his father joined the mines on the Copperbelt, the family moved to Kitwe where he got interested in football and like many of Zambia's soccer stars, learned the game the hard way.

Due to lack of facilities, Kapengwe and his friends used to play on a bare ground at Bwafwano community centre in Kamitondo Township with tennis balls and home-made footballs.

In 1956, his father was transferred to Bancroft (Chililabombwe) and so began Kapengwe's induction in organised sport.

Kapengwe first played in goal for amateur side Kitwe Boma Tigers in 1957 together with some great names of that time such as Protasio Makofi and Adriano Musa.

At the same time, he did a bit of boxing at Chililabombwe Welfare Hall but he soon settled on football as his hobby.

He featured prominently for Tigers and alternated between the goal and the right wing, gaining vast experience by playing with, and against players like Samuel 'Zoom' Ndhlovu, Willie Chifita and Ginger Pensulo.

Of all these, Kapengwe idolised Pensulo and would always try to imitate his style.

He absorbed all he saw while in action and developed into such a good footballer that he was soon at the centre of a tug-of-war between two Kitwe clubs: the Tigers and the Lions.

Kapengwe was keen on joining Lions as they were paying £1 for a game win or lose.

The issue was finally settled when the Senior Community Development Officer for Kitwe Municipal Council intervened saying she saw no reason for him to join the Lions if it would help him earn a living.

Unfortunately for Kapengwe, Lions paid him only a few pounds before they were dissolved.

He joined them in January 1963 and a month later with the formation of the Zambian National Football League, the team merged with Tigers to form Kitwe United.

He went straight into the first team where he was one of the youngest players though by this time, he had grown into a big lad with a lethal shot.

Standing at 1.95m tall, he was a gentle and intelligent player and as United’s key player and captain, his loyalty was never in question, his prime concern being to develop the club into a formidable team.

And when a young Godfrey Chitalu joined United in 1965, it was Kapengwe who encouraged him to take up football as a career.

In 1966, Kapengwe, Freddie Mwila of Rhokana United and Howard Mwikuta from Kabwe Warriors were picked by English football coach Phil Woosnam for Atlanta Chiefs of the American Professional Soccer League of which Woosnam was team manager.

However, the trip met with several hitches before the three players finally flew out the following year.

After trials involving a total of 40 players from all over the world, the three made the cut and soon made headlines with their impressive performances for the Chiefs.

Kapengwe points to America as one place where he made his biggest contribution to football.

There were only five men from the "dark continent": Kapengwe, Mwila, Mwikuta, Willy Evans of Ghana and South African Kaizer Motaung who incidentally, underwent his trial by featuring for Mufulira Blackpool in Zambia.

He was Kitwe United's key player and among the first Zambians to play professional football abroad when he was signed by Atlanta Chiefs in the United States of America in 1967 together with Howard Mwikuta and Freddie Mwila.

Two years later, he became the first Zambian to play for English club when he moved to Aston Villa together with Mwila.

These were the only Africans in the North American Soccer League in 1967.

Apart from playing, they conducted clinics in colleges, universities and the communities, the theme being to make Americans play football.

Chiefs finished the season in 5th place during that season but won the NASL championship in the next season.

In his first year in the States, Kapengwe was voted the second most active player in the league, a special prize for the player who remained on his toes all the time during the season.

He also made the NASL All-Star First Team in 1967 and 1968.

Kapengwe enjoyed his stay in the States and his most memorable moment was when Chiefs played against Brazil's top club Santos who featured the great Pelé in August 1968.

Chiefs scored a goal after 19 seconds to stun Santos as described by Kapengwe: "We won the toss and our captain Vic chose the kick-off. Our number nine put the ball to Fred who flicked it back to Vic at four. Then Vic passed a long ball to me on the Santos goal mouth. I fed the ball back to Fred who blasted home the opener under a minute. Santos had never been scored like that before and they cheered for us."

However, Chiefs got carried away by the early goal and lost 6–2 after a Pelé hat-trick.

Another important game for Kapengwe came earlier that year in June.

Chiefs famously beat Manchester City twice after the English Division I side's Manager Malcolm Allison described the local talent as "fourth division" standard.

Kapengwe contributed a goal in their 3–2 victory in the first match with Mwila scoring the other two, who also scored a goal in the next game, a 2–1 victory.

Kapengwe points at another Brazilian player called Vavá as someone who changed his approach to football.

He made an impression with his style and tactics and was admired by everyone at the club.

Kapengwe and Mwila were lured to English Division II side Aston Villa under Tommy Docherty who had noticed the duo when Chiefs played Villa during the 1968 season and signed them on two-year deals.

At the end of the 1969 season, Kapengwe quit Chiefs who had by then changed their name to the Atlanta Apollos because of a switch in management following losses due to the unpopularity of the game in its infancy in the country.