In a Fan Park EXCLUSIVE, the retired Marawaan Bantam chats about how he was the exciting young talent coming from Cape Town and life away from the game. Check it out!
What's the story?
Former Santos and Bidvest Wits star Marawaan Bantam spoke exclusively to Soccer Laduma's Fan Park on myriad of topics touching on modern football.
Bantam spoke proudly of his amazing family life after professional football, his current passion and how he approached style back in his playing days.
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Let's take a closer look...
Exclusive chat with Marawaan Bantam
Having made his name at the now defunct Santos in the early 2000s, he went on to ply his trade for Bidvest Wits and Mpumalanga Black Aces before closing out his career at Steenberg United.
The belief to become a professional footballer started as a teenager for Marawaan when a coach, who was at Santos in the 90's, showed faith in his abilities.
"When I was 17-years-old, I realised that I can become a professional footballer. I was playing for the Western Province Schools team, under-19, we had a coach by the name of Gavin Manuel, he was also with the Santos at the time. It was in '96 I think.
"That man used to speak highly about me and really motivated me to become a professional football player," recalls Bantam.
Bantam was part of an exciting era of Western Cape football, with the likes of Santos and Ajax Cape Town dazzling the PSL with unreal talent.
When it comes to the first player you think of when asked about Santos, Bantam's name springs to mind for many local football fans.
There's currently three Western Cape outfits in the DStv Premiership currently; Stellenbosch FC, Cape Town City and Cape Town Spurs.
When asked about which talented youngsters from his home province have caught his eye, Bantam mentioned four of his favourite players.
"Devin Titus of Stellies, a hard worker, very good player. Jayden Adams, also at Stellies, I love him. He's a very good player," says Bantam who also mentioned two promising CT City midfield prospects.
"Shakeel April, he's an up-and-coming player. Just signed for the Cape Town City senior team recently, very good player. You will see him in the near future," he says.
"Another player who's really impressed me this season is Taahir Goedeman, very good player," he adds.
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In speaking about young players, Bantam also shared some advice for some up-and-coming stars:
"My advice is to stay humble. Because nowadays I see young players play one game in the PSL and then it's like, they've made it.
"They don't realise that they must still work hard. At the moment I see youngsters with their shoulders up high, I don't know why, they must remain humble and work hard - then the sky is the limit.
After hailing Lionel Messi as his GOAT (Greatest of all time), with an honourable mention to Zinedine Zidane — Bantam looked back fondly on his days at Santos.
"What made Santos so special at the time? I would say we had a good squad with experienced players, with youngsters also. The comradery in the team was very good, we had great coaches at that time, Boebie Solomons, Clive Barker, so yeah, I would say we had a very good team spirit.
"That's why we did so well."
With fashion playing such a huge role in modern football, locally and internationally, Bantam remembered just how stylish his teammates would look before training:
"During my playing days, people came to training dressed-up hey. At Santos, it was Tyren Arendse and Jeremiah Jansen. The fashion at that time was very good," says Bantam, who keeps as casual as possible when it comes to style.
Just like fashion, social media plays a big part in the professional footballer ecosystem, with Marawaan being adamant that it would've been a huge distractions during the peak of his football career.
"Social media would have been a big distraction in our time, really. I think towards the end of my contract with Mpumalanga Black Aces, I think social media was at the beginning stages. We had BBM and WhatsApp at that time, but I think it would have been a big distraction," says the 45-year-old who's sees the pros and cons of social media presence for ballers these days.
"I think its an advantage and disadvantage to the current professional players. Sometimes you have to read things about yourself, and what people say, with the disadvantage being the critics, with some players not wanting to read that, which will make their heads drop," he added.
Take a scroll through the Marawaan Bantam gallery:
Family life
"Life for me after my football career? it's unbelievable. I've got two sons that I need to look out for, I've been married now for, this year will be 16 years, I just love it," says the wholesome Marawaan.
The former attacking midfielder is still involved with the beautiful game — with his two boys showing plenty of enthusiasm and he carries hopes that one of them will make it big.
"I am still in the game, my two boys are playing football and they are already telling me that they're better than me.
"My two boys love football, eish, if they could play football the whole day, they would," says native Cape Townian, who is currently coaching a team founded by his in-laws.
"On a Saturday, I'm coaching at a team called Jamestown United, they've been in existence now for the last 75 years, its actually my in-laws that started the team.
"My father-in-law and his brothers started this team. Football is in our genes hey, even my wife played for Santos Ladies and that is where we met. My two boys just love it, hopefully one day, one of them can make it big. God willing."
For professional footballers, it may be hard to imagine a life that sees them doing something that doesn't involve the game. Everyone dreams of making it, with the chances getting there becoming slimmer.
Marawaan played well into his thirties after starting out as a teenager, which didn't give him the time to pursue his studies.
If he wasn't able to live out his dream of being a pro baller, the ex-Santos man would be in a completely different field, which he currently has a huge passion for.
"I'd think the profession that I'm in now [Carpentry] after my football career, I would've have gone with because I did woodwork at school but after matric, I couldn't further my studies because of football.
"I started playing semi-professional in standard 9 (Grade 11), so after my schooling, it wasn't easy to further my studies. So when my footballer career was finished, I could fall back on one of my passions, carpentry.
Coach Marawaan Bantam of Jamestown United FC in the Athlone Heideveld Local Football Association. pic.twitter.com/OBMxZPHdF4
— Football Stage (@Football__Stage) March 22, 2022
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