BULAWAYO - Former Njube Sundowns utility player Mephias Webb could still be playing competitive football at the age of 37 had it not been for work commitments.
Webb was forced to hang up his boots in 2010 when Sundowns merged with Chicken Inn because of work commitments but the former Sundowns captain says he is still getting offers to revive his career.
“(Bantu Rovers owner) Methembe Ndlovu recently sounded me out on the possibility of turning for his club after watching me play in the Trevor Phiri memorial tournament,” Webb told the Daily News earlier this week.
“I feel I can still play at the highest level and I have together with (former Highlanders assistant coach) Beke (Ndlovu) been approached by football fans after standout performances for our social soccer team (Mthala) asking why we do not consider making a comeback and play competitively.”
Webb said while he is still willing to make a comeback, the major stumbling block is his work schedule as he travels out of the country often, making it nearly impossible for him to train regularly.
A product of Mthala juniors where he played alongside Ndlovu, Golden Dube, Mike Zivira, and Thamsanqa “Nhloko” Dube among others, Webb was a founding member of Charles Mhlauri’s shortlived Phinda Mzala project that featured the likes of Gift Lunga Junior, Kelvin Maseko, Malvern Ntini and Richard Choruma in 1996.
At the demise of Phinda Mzala, Webb moved to Bulawayo Wanderers, who were campaigning in the Bulawayo Province second division in 1997.
That same year, he went on to link up with his former Phinda Mzala teammates Lunga Junior and Ndlovu at Highlanders where he played around 10 games at left back until Wanderers reclaimed him because he had a running contract with them.
The 1998-99 season saw Webb moving to Masvingo where he played for Masvingo United but homesickness drove him back home and in 2000 he joined Njube Sundowns, who were then in the second division, after being recruited by the late Joshua Mhizha.
Sundowns went on to win promotion into division one that same year and followed that up by winning promotion into the top flight in 2002.
Webb remained at Sundowns until his retirement in 2010 when the team merged with Chicken Inn.
“At Sundowns the leadership understood that my job entails travelling outside the country and after the merger I felt that it could be problematic that I would not be a regular at training so I quit the game,” Webb said.
“I am still considering whether to make a comeback into competitive football or not and as a teetotaler I know I would need just three weeks to get back in shape.”
A very vocal individual, Webb reckons football standards are on a steady decline in the country.
“I have stopped going to watch Premier Soccer League matches because the games have become so dull with no creativity at all,” he says.
“The problem that we face especially in Bulawayo is the loss of talented youngsters who move to South Africa in search of work and at the end of the day you get average players playing in the premier league.”
Webb used to score a lot of long range goals and has fond memories of the goal that he scored after crossing into the opposition half when Sundowns lost 3 -1 to Lancashire Steel in a league encounter at Luveve Stadium in 2005.