One of Namibia’s most colourful socialites, Frans Tarah Shimbulu, is a man of many talents, having tried his hand at almost every available recreational activity there was to be involved in during a near faultless marathon life journey spanning over six solid decades.
The likeable ‘Baainaar’ and former Blue Waters and Eleven Arrows Football Clubs fast as lightning tough as steak defender was the epitome of living a squeaky clean life punctuated by sheer discipline, determination, dedication, commitment, courage, and unquestionable loyalty.
The multitalented big Shimbulu’s exploits were not only restricted to the football fields; he was a mean heavyweight bodybuilder and community activist. Additionally, Bro Tarah took his God-given talent to another level and was the designated lead vocalist of the now-defunct Kuisebmund pop band Deadwood. In our first edition of the 2024 calendar year’s Tales of the Legends, New Era Sport unzips the untold amazing sporting and overall life journey of one of the most unheralded local heroes, the one and only Frans Tarah Shimbulu.
History reveals that coastal giants Eleven Arrows Football Club came into life after a significant number of leading footies jumped ship from Blue Waters to mastermind the birth of the gold and maroon strip outfit in 1961.
What was initially meant to be an innocent two-legged exhibition match between the star-studded Coastal Invitational Eleven and their Central counterparts in Walvis-Bay and Windhoek, respectively, led to the unavoidable formation of Eleven Arrows Football Club.
Upon completion of the doubleheader, the majority of the selected players from coastal clubs Blue Waters and Namib Woestyn resolved to form their football team, which they proudly baptised Eleven Arrows, while at the other end, their Central counterparts returned the compliment by forming Explorer Eleven, mirroring their coastal rivals in fine style.
The likes of speedy winger Tommy Uushona, sharpshooter Gabriel ‘Flying Fish’ Mupupa, Simon ‘Spook’ Lameck, all-rounder Heinrich Horongo Haufiku (Blue Waters), Jack Brown, Reinhardt Gaseb, Meester Legio Skrywer (Woestyn), and other greats joined the newly formed entity.
In the intervening years, the trend continued when Shimbulu and his close buddy Lukas ‘Ou Chommie’ Hipondoka disembarked from the smooth-sailing yacht of ‘Omeya’, to find refuge with bitter rivals Eleven Arrows, while the defensive pair of Willibard Parri Shekupe and Ringo Nakanuku went in the opposite direction.
A no-nonsense, hard-tackling defender, Bro Tarah anchored himself in the preferred role of the Rock of Gibraltar in the middle of the uncompromising Arrows rearguard. He went on to oversee several generations at the gold and maroon strip outfit with great aplomb until he retired from playing competitive football.
However, the big-frame defender was not entirely lost to football, as he continued to serve his adopted club up to the present day. Though he was born in the southern harbour town of Luderitztbucht in 1954, young Tarah grew up in Walvis Bay and started chasing leather in the dusty streets of the old location.
He started his primary education at the town’s native school for Bantus (blacks), where the likes of salted politicians Theo-Ben Gurirab and Alpheus Naruseb also cut their teeth. Like many other boys his age back in the day, Tarah was football crazy and started playing the game at a very young age with other Laities from the neighbourhood.
The speedy defender played for the local youthful team Rickets before he graduated to Blue Waters’ third-string side, where he worked his way up to the senior team. Off the pitch, the muscular, versatile athlete was a noted heavyweight bodybuilder who has represented his native land internationally.
The super-energetic, multi-gifted athlete also hit the showbiz stage, fronting Kuisebmund pop/rock band Deadwood as the designated lead vocalist. Bro Tarah’s jaw-dropping well-shaped body physique, accompanied by his trademark husky voice and on-stage hypnotising shaking dance moves, had the opposite sex completely going bananas, chanting “Echo…Echo…. Echo, Echo,” anxiously begging for more.
Always fit as a fiddle, the amazingly strong-built defender enjoyed an incredibly prolonged football career, avoiding serious injuries. His impressive personal resume includes countless community projects that saw him mastermind the birth of the Community Against Crime (CAC) group, overseeing the smooth reintegration of Walvis Bay in 1994.
An uncompromising fitness fanatic, Bro Tarah still looks fresh as a juvenile defying his 60+ odd summers on his clock…all thankful for ascribing to a strict diet and leading a healthy lifestyle, complemented by a rigorous training routine that included weightlifting and running in the dunes whilst keeping a healthy distance from puffing foes (cigarettes), let alone guzzling the sacred haya water of Moag (Jwala).