H-Metro Reporter
FOUR years ago, Stewart Murisa found himself in a very dark place.
The 1996 Soccer Star of the Year, who was part of the coaching staff at CAPS United, struggled to deal with the heartbreak that followed the Green Machine’s final day collapse in the championship race.
Murisa was then the assistant coach at his beloved Green Machine which was under the guidance of Darlington Dodo.
They found themselves on the threshold of winning a league championship for Makepekepe, which would have been the club’s second such silverware, in three years.
Lloyd Chitembwe had guided CAPS United to their second league title, since the turn of the millennium, with success during the 2016 season.
It remains the last time the Green Machine were crowned the best football club in the country and their fifth overall crown.
With two games to play, during the 2019 championship race, the title was there for the taking for CAPS United.
Their first chance to win it came in the penultimate game of the season when they went to Mhondoro to take on Ngezi Platinum Stars.
However, things did not go according to plan and the Green Machine lost the match 2-3.
But, with a home game against FC Platinum, to close their season, the good money still was on CAPS United being crowned champions.
Makepekepe choked, when it mattered most, and lost 0-1 in a winner-take-all game with the Zvishavane giants, who were the defending champions, taking the league title.
Had CAPS United won that game, they would have been crowned the champions, two points ahead of FC Platinum.
For Murisa, who played a leading role, as a player, as CAPS United ended a 17-year wait to be crowned champions in 1996, the final day collapse was too much to bear.
It crushed his spirit, and his soul, and left him so stressed up he ended up turning to alcohol abuse to try and escape the pain which it was inflicting on him.
To drown his sorrow, Murisa has exclusively revealed he tried to find relief in drinking alcohol.
He says it became so bad, afterwards, that he was drinking almost every day and trying to find the peace which his soul wanted as he battled the disappointment of losing that championship.
“I would drink just about every day,” he said.
“The stress was just too much because we were so close to doing something very good for our club and our fans.
“However, we didn’t do it and, when you lose at home, in the final game of the season, it really hurts and I really suffered.”
But, there was something good that came out of his ordeal.
Something, which many other people, who find themselves battling the same demons, can pick some vital lessons.
One day, Murisa decided that ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH and just stopped drinking anything alcoholic.
Now, FOUR years later, he has never touched any alcohol.
He is now one of the coaches guiding the Yadah FC junior teams and development programmes.