WITHOUT taking anything away from the deserving players, the Best Player of the Season award world over is largely a contest between the midfielders and the strikers.

In England for instance, Vincent Kompany (2011-12) and Nemanja Vidic who won in twice (2008-09 and 2010-11) are the only defenders to have taken the award while legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel is the only goalkeeper to have won the coveted award in the 22 years of the modern Premiership.

Zimbabwe of late has witnessed more of the trend as goalkeepers and defenders have come into the party in the annual Soccer Star of the Year awards.

In the last six years, two defenders and a goalkeeper have won the award following the successes of ex-DeMbare goalie Washington Arubi in 2011, Denis Dauda in 2014 when goalkeeper Tendai Hove was also the first runner up and most recently Hardlife Zvirekwi.

This year’s second runner up goalkeeper Petros Mhari was strongly a huge contender for the top gong and so was CAPS United defender Ronald Pfumbidzai.

But it had to be Zvirekwi, Tsipa and Mhari in that order. Tsipa capped a remarkable comeback season by also winning the Golden Boot, at 34.

Former Soccer Star winner Stewart “Shutto” Murisa and David “Yogi” Mandigora believes the trend should be worrisome.

Murisa bemoaned the declining standards of strikers as goals keep drying up in the race for the Golden Boot.

The 1996 Soccer Star says the players in the PSL are not scoring enough after 11 goals won the Golden Boot this season.

Last year, the Golden Boot winner Knox Mutizwa had 14 goals and for the 2014 season Charles Sibanda and Kuda Musharu needed 12 goals apiece to walk away as joint winners.

It has become a tall order for local strikers to breach the 20-goal mark since 2010 when Norman Maroto netted 22 for Gunners.

Murisa reckoned that the value of the Golden Boot has been compromised as yesteryear strikers used to score for fun with Moses Chunga once banging in 46 in a single season.

The likes of Adam Ndlovu, Zenzo Moyo at some point reached the 30 goal mark while Maronga Nyangela, Shacky Tauro, Wilfred Mugeyi, Claudius Zviripayi, Alois Bunjira, Makwinji Soma-Phiri and Vitalis Takawira could easily grab 20 goals.

“Football produced goals but this year we have 11 and last year it was 14. The whole season? I think the players need help,” said Murisa.

“But it doesn’t always start at the top. Their technique and hunger for goals leaves a lot to be desired.

“When I was Soccer Star in 1996 I had 21 goals but I was not the Golden Boot winner. I think there were two or three other players ahead of me, which just shows the level of competition. Today 21 goals will easily make you the Top Goal Scorer.”

The declining standards have been a variety of reasons. Murisa believes it’s a sad reflection of the wrong priorities by the football leadership. He said the nation will continue to pay heavily for dumping junior policy as players these days are graduating into PSL half-baked. They are lacking the elementary techniques.

“I might sound rude and harsh but most of our players in the Premiership don’t have basic ball control. Can you imagine, a player needs three or four touches to get the ball under control. The passing, again, is atrocious. They cannot string passes together.

“I think it’s unfair to the coaches. As a Premiership coach I shouldn’t be teaching these boys ball control at training. These are basics which they should have internalized from a young age. What should be left for the coach at the Premiership level is probably the tactical aspect of the game,” said Murisa.

“As a nation, I think we lost it when we decided to neglect junior policy. I don’t doubt the amount of talent we have here in Zimbabwe but the problem is there is no development taking place from the grassroots.

“I must say we were fortunate the time we played football because we were nurtured and properly developed from a young age. I and other players like Alois Bunjira, Norman Mapeza and Lloyd Chitembwe played for Darryn T because we grew up in the system.  

“We were developed from a very tender age and were exposed to competition from as early as the Under-8 age group. The same thing happened at Highlanders, Dynamos and Zimbabwe Saints.

“There was continuity and the same guys we played against at Under-13 we played against them in Under-16 until we all graduated into the senior teams of our respective clubs. It was rare for those teams to buy players from elsewhere because they developed their own players,” he added.

His sentiments were also shared by 1980 Soccer Star Mandigora. The former DeMbare player believes talent flight has left Zimbabwe poorer as the nation is devoid of plans to fill in the holes created once the best players leave for greener pastures.

Mandigora also reasoned that football has changed in the last three decades hence defenders and goalkeepers are also challenging for the big individual prizes in domestic football.  

“I think the change of tactics has also contributed to the scenario we find ourselves in. The system in the past wasn’t as kind with the defenders as it is today. During our time, almost all the teams played the same system; it was either 4-2-4 or 4-4-2 but these days football has opened up.

“The defenders are involved much with ball play unlike in the past. So it shouldn’t be surprising getting more and more defenders being crowned Soccer Stars. But it’s sad the goals are getting fewer and fewer,” he said.

“It’s really a cause for concern. But besides the group tactics being used these days, we also have to look at how much talent we have locally. In my view, we are running out of natural talent in the domestic league.

“Look at player like Tendai Ndoro, he is playing in a league which is almost the same as ours but he is about to eclipse our top goal scorer in less than 10 games. It says a lot.

“Again it all comes back to development. I think we need to go back to the old ways when we had proper junior structures in place; when we had community recreational facilities everywhere. Junior football development is the key. It should be known that there are no shortcuts to success,” said Mandigora.