[1] The second born in a family of eight, Bwalya grew up in Section Five of the mine township where he began playing football at Lubuto Welfare Centre, while at Kankoyo Primary School.
[1] At Kankoyo, Bwalya earned the nickname ‘Castella,’ after Portuguese midfielder António Castela, who starred for Luanshya club Roan United in the early days of the Zambian league.
[1] Wanderers’ coaches watched him play for Lubuto and invited him to join the Zambian league champions’ reserve side at the age of 15, together with Sandford Mvula and Edward Musonda.
[1] Later that year, Kunda's career came to a premature end while Bwalya's continued to progress’ helping the Shinde outfit retain the league title and by 1967, he was a fully-fledged member of the Wanderers first team, going on to win several domestic trophies.
He cemented his place in the team and went on to play a key role in Wanderers’ success and as he grew in stature, soccer commentator Dennis Liwewe nicknamed him ‘Mosquito’ because of his slender frame and long legs.
[1] Bwalya almost joined City of Lusaka on the promise of a job but when Wanderers club officials heard about it, they quickly moved in and he was employed him as a Safety Officer at Mufulira mine.
[11] It turned out to be Bwalya's last game for the club as the emergence of younger players like Willie Mukwasa, Evans Katebe and Tshikala Mwanza, limited his opportunities.
While Godfrey Chitalu left because he felt unwell, Bwalya and goalkeeper Tolomeo Mwansa decided to check into Nkana Hotel after an altercation with Kabwe Warriors’ players Sebastian Mutale and Kenny Banda over the captaincy of the squad.
Bwalya served as Wanderers’ administrative manager between 2002 and 2005 but stopped watching football matches at Shinde Stadium after he and other former players were accused of being behind the team's poor run of form in Division I.