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Harambee Stars and Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama features in a new documentary film titled, The Lion of Muthurwa, in which he traces his footballing journey from the dusty fields of Muthurwa to Belgium, Scotland and finally England.
The yet to be released docu-fi lm by Prosper Films goes back to his humble roots in Nairobi’s Muthurwa estate, where “I woke up every morning and would walk for about ten kilometers to play with other children.
We used to play with our bare feet and in the process, injured ourselves. But I was willing to do anything to make it in life,” Wanyama recalls, adding that he would watch the English Premier League in video dens “but sometimes sneaked in when I didn’t have the money.”
But it never occurred to him that he would one day be the one Kenyans would be watching, just as as he had watched Paul Scholes and Roy Keane of Manchester United. Wearing his first pair of boots at ten was a task as “they were heavy since I wasn’t used to playing in shoes, but I had to adapt,” he says.
He adds that, “Five years later, I got a call up to the national team and within a year, I made it to Europe.”
But it was his fi rst Premiership goal against Swansea that he can’t forget. “The day I scored my first goal for Southampton was historic for me. I was happy and at some point, I did not know what to do.
Actually, I could not sleep that night. I remember going to bed at around 4am in the morning. To be the first player from my country and score the first goal was incredible.” Concludes Wanyama:
“When you come from such a background (Muthurwa) you have to be a lion!”
