A man who dedicated the past 28 years of his life to football, Mr Shandukani Elijah Tshindane (52) of Thononda village in the Lutomboni area, kissed his childhood sport goodbye last Saturday. He was ordained bishop of The Israel Apostolic Church in Zion during a ceremony that was held at the local soccer field.

During the ceremony, the archbishop of the United African Apostolic Church, EMM Mureri, appealed to the newly ordained bishop to live an exemplary life. He further said that he was hopeful that bishop Tshindane would not tarnish the image of the church by involving himself in wrongdoings.

"Real bishops don’t rape or kill people for ritual purposes," said archbishop Mureri. In response to that, Tshindane indicated that he had resigned from football in order to dedicate much of his time to the church. He revealed, however, that although he had resigned as a team coach, he would still assist the team financially and otherwise, saying that this formed part of his social responsibilities as a religious leader.

Tshindane started to play active football in 1980. At that stage, he was the captain of a local team, Thononda All Stars. He migrated to Lutomboni Fire Boys in 1985, where he served as player-coach for several years before he became the team’s head coach.

When Lutomboni Fire Boys sold their status to M&R Remember Fire Boys six years ago, Tshindane refused to leave football. He was one of the founder-members of the sky-rocketing Lutomboni Junior Fire Boys. He led Junior Fire Boys to numerous successes, including winning the Magwaba Soccer League championship last year.

Junior Fire Boys will be campaigning under the banner of the SAB League, come next season, after completing their previous league programme at the top of the Promotional League. Junior Fire Boys proved all the critics wrong when they reached the final stage of the Metropolitan KO competition at the Thohoyandou Stadium two months ago.

Tshindane is a public servant. He is deputy manager in the Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs. When asked about the position of his church when it comes to the ongoing xenophobic attacks on foreigners, Tshindane was quick to mention that xenophobia is a sin and for that reason the church distances itself from such acts.