The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Reporter
The 2019 Castle Lager Premiership Referee of the Year Brighton Chimene might not have made the grade for the Vengere High School football team in Rusape where he grew up but his choice to opt for the ballpoint pen cap, a makeshift whistle he used for refereeing back then during high school team practice sessions, led him into discovering the hidden talent in him.
“I went to Vengere High School, and during that time, I would try playing football but after being selected I would opt for a whistle. By then I would use a ballpoint pen cap as a whistle. So in the end, I would choose the whistle whenever my high school team was training.
“As time progressed, during school inter-house competitions, our sports director at school would choose me to officiate. That is how it got into me, until I became an official referee,” said Chimene in an interview last Friday night from Conakry, Guinea, where he was officiating a Caf Confederations Cup tie pitting Horoya AC ( Guinea) and El Nasr Fc (Libya).
Chimene was awarded in absentia and fellow match official Luckson Mhara received the coveted gong on his behalf at a colourful ceremony held in the capital last Friday.
Born December 14, 1990, Chimene was raised by his mother after his father died back in 1992.
Chimene told Post Sport that it is his former teacher in high school who encouraged him and made it known to him that he had the potential to turn into the professional match official that he is today.
“One teacher named Murahwa, a former referee, called me, he told me that I can be a professional referee if I want to be.
“He introduced me to Jona Samungure, a former referee, and my mentor Robert Mugorosa, also a former referee. Those are the people who took me through and groomed me.
“I started refereeing lessons when I was 16 and I then qualified to be a referee in 2007 and I was only 17. That’s where the journey began,” said Chimene.
Today, Chimene is not only in his first year on international level, Fifa panel, but has laid his hands on the Castle Lager Premiership Referee of Year award twice.
He won the same award in 2016.
He says he is aiming high in his refereeing career.
“My immediate target is to work hard and get to Fifa Elite B level. Thereafter, I want to get to Elite A, where I can be able to officiate big tournaments such as the World Cup. However, I am aware that this will not come so easily. I will have to work extra hard to achieve that,” he said.
Chimene, just like many successful sports personalities, has people he looks up to for inspiration.
“My role models are Tangawarima (Felix), Mudzamiri (Brighton), Mukuna (Wilfred). They are too many to mention. These are people who inspire me each time I take to the field of play,” he said.
As a centre referee, Chimene has so far officiated three internationalmatches as a fourth official.
Apart from his professional match officiating vocation, Chimene runs his own business in Rusape town.
He has two daughters with his wife, Samantha.
“My family is so supportive especially my mom. She was my pillar of support. Unfortunately, she passed on in July this year after my father died in 1992.
In a separate interview, his mentor, Mugorosa, said: “His (Chimene) humility and eagerness to learn, even in difficult times, paid off for him. I remember when I used to train him twice a day.
“In the morning he would join my road runners going for 10 to 15km, then around 11am he would join them for speed training and then in the evening he would join the referees and sprinters.”
