Whites are lazy, says former soccer star

Les Grobler is not one to beat about the bush. Ask him where all the white soccer players have gone and you get a straightforward response from the former swashbuckling Moroka Swallows striker.

"White players are lazy. They don't push like the black kids do."

And honesty begins at home with his white-boys-are-lazy missive.

"My own son, Mike, has stopped playing football. Why? Because he is lazy."

We are at the Modderfontein training grounds where Grobler, now 48 and a coach, prepares to take the Highlands Park under-19 side through their paces.

"No one is blocking white boys from playing football. That is nonsense. They rock up for training today, tomorrow they are not there.

"The scenario I now have is boys not coming to training tonight but not phoning me to tell me they are not arriving."

In the case of his other son, Bradley, the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

The 22-year-old is a forward for Platinum Stars.

"I think he is better than I was because of the technical aspects of the game now. His ball control is better. He is strong in the air but he's got a lot to learn."

As an 18-year-old, Grobler scored 43 goals in one season for Rangers in the old National Football League. Playing for Swallows in the National Soccer League, he contributed a catalogue of classy goals.

It was at Rangers that he scored his greatest goal, his first in the professional ranks, against Wits University.

"I picked up the ball just inside Wits' half, cut into the left-hand side from the right.

"Their goalkeeper was off his line. I struck it nicely and it had sweet movement on its way in."

The one against Pirates in the JPS semifinal at Ellis Park ranks a close second.

"They had just scored and we took a quick centre because they were still celebrating.

"Noel Cousins was brought down and I took a free kick into the top corner."

He won the NSL league with Rangers in 1996. More glory followed at Swallows in the form of the Bob Save Super Bowl triumphs against Mamelodi Sundowns and Jomo Cosmos in 1989 and 1991 respectively.

He was a member of fearsome threesome strike force that also comprised Noel "Mzala" Cousins and Calvin "Mkhonto" Petersen.

"Add Owen Da Gama to that list. Owen and I complemented each other a lot. I would drop into midfield and he would be in my position and vice versa."

Grobler praised Pitso Mosimane's ascension to the national team hot seat. It is still early days, but Grobler is impressed by the new Bafana coach.

"Pitso has done well. He has picked the right players in the right places at the right time.

"He has dropped players who are not performing.

"It does not matter who you are - Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, they have all been dropped in their time. The same thing with Teko Modise.

"We know about ability, but the question is whether they have the hunger, the desire and the passion to carry on.

"If they don't come back better, they don't have the temperament to sustain being top players."

"Take nothing away from Siphiwe Tshabalala, he had a good World Cup but after he scored the goal in the first game all he wanted to do was to shoot from everywhere - instead of becoming a provider."

What advice would Grobler give Katlego Mphela?

"If you look at his attitude on the field it is like 'I am Katlego Mphela. Who is everybody else?' He is big, strong, quick and is good in the air; he has got everything. If he worked as hard as Wayne Rooney in a game, if he had his determination, he would score more goals."

He thinks little of the Swallows of today.

"Ooh, I went to a game when they played Platinum Stars and it was probably one of the worst game I have ever seen."

Swallows won 1-0 but in Grobler's book, they didn't deserve to.

"Even the Swallows supporters were asking why they had to pay money to watch this. They felt Swallows should be paying them money to watch what they saw."

Ditching the foreign approach of play and going back to the Swallows style is the only way the Dube Birds will reclaim past glory, he said.

"The junior teams play with a lot of flair, movement and passion. But when you look at the senior side, it is different.

"If you go to SuperSport, Wits and Ajax, the systems are the same from juniors to seniors. That is the way it should be."

Two defenders, who went on to become Bafana captains, gave him hell in his heyday.

"Lucas Radebe was young but he was quality already in those days and Steve Komphela was a hell of a defender and a big strong man."

His taste in music is wide - from UB 40 live in Holland to Queen live at Wembley. "I've even got Usher.''

Away from football he loves golf. "My handicap is eight, it used to be lower."