JUMA Para was a star name in local football from 1968 until his 1987 retirement. He is a respected ‘legend’ both at Rayon Sports and Etincelles. The 67-year old also played for Etoile Filante and now-defunct Kingogo Sports. He also represented Rwanda between 1976 and 1980. The retired defender was part of the Rayon Sports’ legendary 1982 squad that won the Peace Cup (formerly Rwandan Cup) title three times in a row to claim it permanently for their trophy cabinet. However, despite all that he achieved on the field in a career spanning 21 years, Para says that his football stardom being able to save his wife during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi will forever be his most precious gift from the game. Youth career Juma Para started playing youth football in 1968, featuring for Cafe Sports d’Or that later changed the name to Etincelles. At the time, he was still doing his primary studies, at Gacuba in Rubavu District, North-West of the country. Rayon Sports and Etincelles legend, Juma Para. Net photo. Five years later, he would make his senior debut in the top tier league. “In 1973, I was recruited by SOMIRWA, a mining company that operated in Gatumba, Ngororero District, to play for their football club – Kingogo Sports,” Juma told Times Sport in an exclusive interview, recalling that he earned Rwf5,000 in salary and bonuses per month. The following year, he was lured by Etoile Filante FC who offered him a job at Telecom, the then state telecommunications entity, with a monthly Rwf4000 salary on top of match bonuses. Then considered as one of the top talents in local football, Juma joined Rayon Sports in 1976 where he enjoyed the best of his football success until 1983, before rejoining Etincelles for the final three seasons of his competitive career. While he played for Etincelles, Para also featured for DR Congo side Darling Club Virunga on a part-time basis, racking in Rwf5,000 in monthly bonuses, which he says was a lot of money at the time. “I officially hanged up my boots in 1987, having given everything on the pitch for two decades.” Short, but, skilled Juma says he mostly played as a full-back but he was sometimes used in other positions because of his versatility and unique gift to use both feet. Asked the most frightening opponent he ever faced during his career, Para quickly responded, “I feared no opponent; it’s the reason why I was recruited by Rayon who had the best strikers that I always gave a hard time.” “You can see, I am short but, no player could beat me on long or aerial balls, no one. I always strived to give my best and trained harder than most other players. I played with passion.” With a modest height of 1.60m, his stunning ability to beat taller opponents for aerial balls is the reason behind his name ‘Para’ from Para Commando, originally a special operations unit of the Indian Army that was attached to the Parachute Regiment during World War II. Outstanding players that Juma admired the most during his playing days include; Denis Nshimyumurwa and Aloys Kanamugire (Panthères Noires), Albert Kamatari and Valens Muvara (Kiyovu Sports) and his former Rayon Sports and Etincelles teammate – Longin Rudasingwa. Rayon game style ‘DINA’ and entertaining fans Rayon is the club Juma played for the longest, from 1976 to 1983. “I fell in love with Rayon in 1968 when I first watched them playing at Gacurabwenge in Kamonyi District in the national league. They displayed a very beautiful game to watch.” He further confesses: “My favourite team is of course Etincelles, but I am also a long-time admirer of Rayon.” Juma notes that the Rayon Sports game style in those times was nicknamed ‘DINA’, a Mexican automobile brand that was new and very popular in the country. That, coupled with their fan base in Nyanza District, earned them more spectators across the country. “Rayon Sports fans, including women and girls, would accompany them everywhere in the country from Nyanza singing and dancing with players, that’s how the club turned into a nationwide brand,” explains Juma. When he joined Rayon, he remembers that he was personally signed by club president Donath Murego at a Rwf15,000 transfer fee, unlike other new recruits who were usually brought in by fans’ committees. “When I arrived at the club base in Nyanza, I was welcomed in style. Rayon Sports’ training was always attended by a lot of fans, they flocked the stadium that day. I could hear fans murmuring ‘see that number 15’ who was a threat to our strikers.” Rayon, he says, were a very solid side, spearheaded by their president Murego who invested a lot of money to make them a formidable team. ‘Precious gift’ from football Juma hanged his boots in 1987, but continued to work – now as a full-time employee – for then Etincelles sponsors, Bralirwa, until 1995. Married – since 1976 – to Consolatte Murekeyisoni, with whom they had four daughters and two sons, including former Etincelles and Bugesera FC right-back Prince Ismail Mugabo. The Rayon Sports legend underscores that he owes a lot to football, having helped him to build a house, employment with different institutions and a decent life, but nothing comes near the fact that his wife survived the Genocide because of his football stardom. “One day as killers bundled my wife before killing her, they searched her and found my name in her identity card. They said ‘Juma is our man’ because they had known me as a star footballer. I gave them some money for her life to be spared,” he recounts. “Had it not been for my football gift, I could have lost her that day.” Juma, an Islam faithful, is commonly addressed as ‘Hajji’ in Rubavu, having accomplished his holy pilgrimage to Mecca in 2014.
