Opinion

There's much to be written about in South African football

Unplugged by BBK

03 December 2017 - 00:00 By Bareng-Batho Kortjaas

Growing up, recalled a colleague, there were a few books he used to see when going into people's houses.
Without fail, what greeted him in the matchbox-township homes would be the black hardcover with pink lips, commonly known as the Bible to many.
The Reader's Digest competed for eyeballs as did those argle-bargle motivational books.
Also within eyesight was a catalogue of tupperware of various shapes, sizes and colours - owning a set of tupperware gave our mamas and aunties life.
A tale that was told many a time back in the day is that if you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book.
The inference was that our relationship with reading was akin to that of Orange Man from America and the little Rocket Man from North Kolea. (Koreans have no love for the letter r so rice becomes lice). Pardon the digression.So one Teko Modise set the cat among the pigeons and got tongues wagging.
A lot of people have caught feelings over The Curse of Teko Modise, a book released this week telling the story of the former City Pillars, SuperSport United, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns through journalist Nikolaos Kirkins.
Sailors on board the Bucs' ship are swearing about muti-use revelations. That's nothing - the use of muti or voodoo in soccer is as universal as the sport itself.
In Turkey, they dip fingers in the blood of a freshly slaughtered goat before going onto the field.
The vitriol has become personal and hateful, and hurtful to parties mentioned. It may not have been tailored to the liking of certain people.
It is his story of 16 years as a soccer player, of a marriage that felt like prison, of depression, of living beyond his means, of the high and low ebbs of his life.
It is his story of being kicked out of home by his father, of eating out of dustbins, being taken in by Good Samaritans spellbound by his skills.
He put it down on paper and stripped himself naked and laid bare his heart for us to have insight into his tortured soul.
Not many books have been written about the movers and shakers of South African football.
Who would not be intrigued to read about the enigma that is doctor, colonel, chairman Irvin Khoza?
Who would not be fascinated to find out about the trials and tribulations Kaizer Motaung went through in creating Kaizer Chiefs?
It is monumental that Motaung, a black man in apartheid South Africa, created a phenomenal club that rose like the proverbial phoenix to reach dizzying heights of success. It should be in a book!
So impactful was Motaung's efforts, they inspired the larger-than-life Jomo Sono, the Black Prince of South African football who started off selling apples on train-station platforms just to get by.
Don't you want to read Benni McCarthy, from Maverick to Manager one day?No? My heart did a cha-cha-cha with my lungs when I learnt that a book titled Sibuka Ngeso Lesihlabani (Through the eye of an Icon) was launched in Durban.
Penned in isiZulu by SD Khumalo, it scours the life of Cedric "Sugar Ray" Xulu, the swashbuckling superstar of yesteryear from Clermont who shone for his hometown team Clermont Home Defenders, Avalon Athletic and Zulu Royals United (later renamed AmaZulu FC.)
To hear Clive Barker wax lyrical about Xulu - the boxer-turned-footballer, hence the Sugar Ray nickname (after Sugar Ray Robinson- is like listening to Pep Guardiola give rave reviews about Lionel Messi.
Let these books be written in any South African language. Let our people tell their stories from their own perspective.
Elsewhere, footballers' autobiographies are all the rage.
My colleague is already a published author. I got his book. I bought it. Just like I will buy Modise's and Xulu's.
Just like I bought Petrus Molemela's and Lucas Radebe's. We can't only read the black hardcover with pink lips.
Twitter: @bbkunplugged99..

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