If looks could kill, hockey star Mustapha Cassiem would have slain brother Dayaan right there in the middle of the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria for being out of position during a match at the recent Indoor Hockey World Cup last week.
SA were playing in a must-win group match against Argentina, tournament debutants who played with flair to down eventual bronze medallists Iran.
Early in the game 20-year-old Mustapha fired a shot into the circle, but Dayaan wasn’t there to deflect it at the goal.
Mustapha gesticulated at his sibling, older by four years, with a clear level of irritation.
“We spoke a lot about being on the far post and getting in the right area, so I think we’re just very hard on each other, and we just demand a lot from each other, especially in games,” Mustapha, who plays club hockey in Germany, explained after securing SA’s 6-5 victory with a late goal.
His passion for the game is matched by his incredible skills.
Mustapha is deadly accurate in front of the goal, able to find the smallest of gaps, but he’s also a playmaker, creating space outside the circle to launch attacks and set his teammates up for goals.
It’s no surprise he scored more than half of SA’s 26 goals throughout the tournament, netting 14 with Dayaan No. 2 for the team on five.
Both are excellent players on indoor and outdoor pitches. It’s rare to see brothers both touching the stratosphere in sport.
Henri Schoeman won SA’s first-ever Olympic triathlon medal at Rio 2016, while his older brother Riaan, an excellent swimmer, finished 12th in the 400m individual medley at Beijing 2008. Four years later Riaan finished 19th.
Two-time Olympic medallist Daan Bekker, a heavyweight boxer who also won the 1958 Commonwealth Games gold, had three brothers who played rugby for the Springboks — Jaap, Dolf and Martiens.
Their sister Corrie represented SA in athletics, holding the national women’s shot put record at one stage.
But for me the standout brothers in local sport were the Du Plessis’s in the 1980s — Willie, Carel and Michael, who all played in the Western Province side that lifted the 1982 Currie Cup at Newlands.
There was also Jacques, the youngest brother, who earned provincial colours but never made it to international level.
The other three played for the Springboks, though I rated Carel, aptly called “Prince of Wings”, the best of them. Michael had a great break playing at flyhalf or centre, but he was too temperamental for my liking.
Carel was sublime, possessing a step that could bamboozle the best of defenders, and he had the rare ability to accelerate at speed.
I swear I saw a defender tackling him from behind, aiming his shoulder at waist level and wrapping his arms around Du Plessis’s hips. Carel switched on the afterburners, and the defender clutched fresh air and landed harmlessly on the ground.
On another occasion Carel, playing for defence, took a tap penalty then ran at the Maties forwards, who were standing fairly bunched together in their 22m area. He stepped and feinted his way through almost all of them, getting caught only by the last defender.
He didn’t score, but the video of him scything his way through them was instantly burnt to memory.
I also watched Carel play flyhalf and centre, but he was best on the wing where, by the way, he did a decent job marking Ray Mordt, a monster at full pace.
On attack, Carel was capable of anything.
I can’t say my hockey knowledge is up there with my rugby, but Mustapha reminds me of Carel in the sense that when he gets the ball, magic can happen.
Cassiem can weave through opponents, many of whom are much larger than he is, and I suspect he can thread the ball through a space the size of a grapefruit.
He has the potential to become the country’s greatest hockey player of all time.
Olympic sports in South Africa are already marginal, but hockey is even lower down the pecking order compared with athletics and swimming.
They have had sponsorships over the years but not enough to make them competitive against the world’s top sides, which are basically professional. Just on Tuesday it was announced they had to withdraw from the 2023/24 Pro League tournament, which is staged on-and-off at different centres around the world over several months.
The SA Hockey Association just couldn’t afford it.
Money aside, proximity is also a massive advantage for the European nations, which have dominated the sport this millennium.
Getting SA to slug it out with the world’s best is not only a matter of money but also devising a system that allows players to train together frequently. Then it’s about getting international experience, a crucial element they won’t get after giving up their spot in the Pro League.
Yes, getting SA hockey to the top will take effort and cash.
But the Cassiem brothers are proving the talent is there; if only they and their teammate had the support to match. Without that, they are dead in the water.
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