Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE famous Kwekwe-based Brass Band swapped cricket chants for football drums at the start of the 2026 Premier Soccer League season — and the move paid dividends at the weekend as newly promoted Hardrock collected their first Castle Lager Premiership maximum points in two spirited outings.
Paul Mungofa’s supporters group, fresh from their leader’s sojourn at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India, played its first contracted home and away fixtures under a deal that has already altered the club’s match-day atmosphere.
On March 8 at Chahwanda Stadium, Hardrock held defending champions Scottland to a goalless draw in front of a buoyant home crowd. The band’s trumpets and bass drum rolled from the first whistle, drowning out visiting jeers each time Scottland built pressure.
Midway through the second half, Mungofa cued the “Kwekwe Stomp” — a routine rehearsed on the long bus ride from Harare — and the stand answered with a unified clap-pepper rhythm that players later said lifted their presses.
Owner Shepherd “Magodora” Chahwanda watched from the western terrace, and board member Jonathan Chahwanda nodded to Mungofa after full-time.
“We brought them in to professionalise support. In three days, they’ve turned spectators into participants,” he told NewsDay Sport.
Saturday tested the formula away from home. At Nyamhunga, Hardrock edged seasoned campaigners ZPC Kariba 1-0, literally switching off Kariba again with the band audible over the lake breeze.
Mungofa had dissected fan-engagement sessions run by the ICC’s marketing team at the World Cup, noting how India’s “moment-makers” used pauses, call-and-response, and visible flags to pull neutrals into songs. The winner came late; the band’s response was immediate, a rolling anthem that players celebrated with arms linked in front of Magodora’s bay.
“We went to the World Cup to learn distribution, when to lead, when to listen,” Mungofa said.
“Cricket taught us that 20 overs need waves, not noise. Football is 90 minutes of waves. We are practising.”
Two matches have produced four points, but the staff’s post-game notes focus on seconds — how many times heads turned toward the band, how often the starters referenced “the beat” in interviews.
For a group built on cricket’s mellow lawns, Hardrock’s concrete terraces are unfamiliar. The contract is month-to-month; the risk of over-eager imitation is real. Yet in Kwekwe and Kariba, Brass Band turned attendance into atmosphere, and atmosphere into points. As Mungofa put it on the bus home: “We are hard rock now. Still brass, just harder.”
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