Often when people see the finished product that is a young player who has just been introduced to the big time and is wowing crowds using his God-given talent, not much thought is given to the sacrifices made along the way. The journey to the top is usually filled with tears of disappointment, what with rejection being the name of the game. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes, and a brilliant player to one coach may not necessarily be viewed through such rose-coloured glasses by another. Even more importantly, though, coaches who have spent their precious time, effort and sometimes finances to mould this talent who is now the finished product, don't normally get the plaudits due to them. This then results in the wrong individuals being credited for unearthing so-and-so, instead of the coach who worked with the player at a time he couldn't even tie his own shoelaces. Oh the cruelty of the Beautiful Game! Enter Ike Pula. A scout par excellence. This is a man behind the rise to stardom of some of the players from disadvantaged backgrounds in Limpopo, with Cassius Mailula the most notable in recent times. His is a story of sacrifice, love and passion – no wonder his scouting wisdom is taken as gospel in the corridors of Mamelodi Sundowns. In this interview with Soccer Laduma's Masebe Qina, Pula raves about the FC Toronto star and talks about what goes into player profiling. Here's to you, good Sir!
Masebe Qina: Mr Pula, compliments of the New Year. You are credited for the discovery of Bafana Bafana international Cassius Mailula and that's why we are having this interview for answers to some of the difficult questions.
Isaac Pula: Well, as you know, the boy comes from Limpopo, which is the same province that I come from. I would go and watch matches, including those of the Limpopo Sports School of Excellence, which is the academy he played for. I am very close to the guy who coached him – his name is Hendrick Mukwevho –but I will be honest with you, he never told me about the boy, or any of his players for that matter. We would just have our own conversations. What he did though was to encourage me to go and watch their matches and make my own assessment on the players they had. When I went to watch them for the first time, Cassius was playing for the U13 team. It was on the very first day I went to watch that I told this friend of mine that the boy caught my eye with how he played. His pace was something else and he had skills in abundance. He scored two goals that day and he was taking players on with ease. I couldn't help it but to ask for the boy's contact details from his coach because I knew right there and then that he was a player that I could recommend somewhere for further assessment. Do you know that the boy was rejected twice before he was allowed to join the club?
MQ: By Mamelodi Sundowns, you mean?
IP: Ja. When I identified him and others, I compiled a list of them and I arranged with the club to come to Polokwane to further assess them because of their financial situation at the time and things like that as they didn't come from rich families. Some of the players came from Venda, which is almost 200 km from Polokwane, and it would have been difficult for them to travel all the way to Johannesburg because of financial reasons. Fortunately, we came to an agreement with the club that Polokwane should be the centre for the players to be assessed. I have five districts that I usually scout from the most and those are Sekhukhune, Mopani, Waterberg, Capricorn and Vhembe. At the time, the late coach Mandla (Mazibuko) had been tasked with assessing players that were identified for the club's junior teams and he visited us –may his soul rest in peace. Sometimes he would come in the company of (Esrom) Nyandoro, but when he came for Cassius, he was alone. Usually, I would brief coaches on players that I thought they needed to keep a close eye on when assessing and I did the same on the first day coach Mandla came, and Cassius was one of the players on my list. I felt like crying after hearing what he said after watching the boy. He said to me, "Yes, I see him, but he is not better than the players we already have at the academy."
MQ: Really?
IP: Yes, but I understood because that's how football is, my brother. I decided to include the boy on my list again when the Sundowns scouts came for the second time after a few months. The boy was just unbelievable and what I didn't want was to tell the scouts that I wanted the boy to go to Sundowns, although I did want to know from them if they were seeing the things that I was seeing from him on the field. Again, I was told that he was good but was not the best compared to what they already had at the club. I later became involved at SAFA, where I coached one of the provincial junior national teams and I also coached the SAB U21 squad. Then came a time when we had to select the U15 team for the province to go and compete nationally, but I wasn't the coach for the matches, and the boy was part of that team. I think that was in 2015. The games were in Dobsonville and it happened that coach Mandla was aware that the boys would be there and I hadn't said anything to him. The feedback I was getting from our coaches about Cassius throughout the games was overwhelming. One of the goals he scored in that tournament was from a direct corner kick and people were very impressed. Cassius finished as the Top Goalscorer and Player of the Tournament, although the team finished as runners-up in the tournament. Soon after, people were claiming that the boy was spotted during a certain Mandela U15 tournament, but that is not true. I profiled Cassius Mailula long before he went to the tournament and his then coach, Hendrick Mukwevho, can attest to that.
MQ: What a talent!
IP: I have always known how knowledgeable coach Mandla was about the game and how he always wanted to get involved. He was always everywhere watching all the junior tournaments that were in Gauteng around the same time, and because I wanted to hear his views on Cassius after he watched him again in that tournament, I gave him a call. To my surprise, the same colleague of mine who had turned the player down on the two previous occasions was now singing his praises. The player knows how happy I am that he realised his dream of being a professional footballer and that he was signed by a big club such as Sundowns. The day he signed his first professional contract, I cried because he called and said the following exact words to me, "Coach Ike, if God did not make it possible for you to see me, I wouldn't be where I am today. I am informing you that I have just signed a senior team contract." I really cried that day and thereafter I said to him, "Glory to God!" and said nothing until I called him the following morning. I said to him, "Son, it was not me, but it was God because He knew everything before us all."
MQ: What are your thoughts on him missing out on the upcoming Afcon?
IP: Cassius' situation reminds me of that of Percy Tau when he started at Sundowns. Yes, Percy wasn't at Sundowns for long after he started playing regularly in the first team before he left for overseas, but my honest opinion is that Cassius would have benefited a lot from playing for Sundowns for two more years before he left. Yes, in the first season he did well, but I wanted to see more of him in the club's colours to take his game to another level. I would have loved to see him playing more Champions League football with Sundowns as that would have allowed him to gain more experience, in my opinion.
MQ: Well, Bafana coach Hugo Broos highlighted lack of enough game-time as one of the reasons for his exclusion.
IP: Well, if the selection of the coach is based on performance, I can't disagree with him for his decision. He couldn't select a player who isn't playing regularly for his club as that would have created an uproar in the country as to why. A similar situation occurred during coach Pitso Mosimane's era with Teko Modise. He selected him even if he wasn't playing regularly at (Orlando) Pirates during coach (Ruud) Krol's era. The coach was asked by the media to explain his selection criteria. There will always be emotions involved in these things, but I think that the coach made the right decision by not selecting him when he is not playing. I know he must have wished to select him, but because of the situation that he is in now, I think it is fair that he looked for players that he thought would do the job for him and have been playing week in and week out for their clubs.
MQ: What is it like to be scouting for a team as big as Downs?
IP: Just for a bit of background for you, I started in the role in 2014 on the 1st of April. I was identified by one of the coaches who knows me very well and is now my supervisor, his name is Themba "Mthimbana" Ngwenya, and he was also a scout himself at the time. He had come to scout at the Tlou Segolela Annual Festival Tournament in Mabokelele Village in Moletsi in Polokwane in December 2013. Annually, I get invited by the LOC of the tournament, headed by Tlou, to come and analyse games, share my coaching knowledge with players and to update coaches about the modern trends of football. I would be tasked with selecting Man of the Match for each game because there are always some goodies to give away at the end of the matches. Also, at the end of the tournament I would give him (Segolela) my picks for the Player of the Tournament, Goalkeeper of the Tournament, Coach of the Tournament and so on. I am someone who likes to always remind the players that they should play each match as if it's their last by always giving their all on the field as you may never know who is watching, and that's how Cassius Mailula was spotted.
MQ: What are some of the qualities you look for when you scout for such a big club?
IP: We are guided by the playing philosophy of the club. I told you about the workshop that we were called into before we started working and that's where we were told about the playing philosophy, and that helped in giving us an idea on the players needed by the club. I identify talent while being guided by the club's playing philosophy, scouting model, player profiling and individual player's report. In player profiling, I look at technical, tactical, physical, psychological and social factors for each position. I am an experienced talent evaluator who travels extensively for the purpose of watching athletes play to determine whether their talent presence is what is needed by the club. I help the club to find the best athletes in the province. I'm an excellent judge of talent, and I'm able to determine if an individual is worthy of either immediate access to a playing field or training to grow his talent in practice camps and things like that.
MQ: Mailula isn't the only player you helped break through to pro football.
IP: Yes, there are several others, including Thendo Mukumela and Keletso Makgalwa. Tiyani "Shuga" Mabunda is also from the same School of Excellence, and there was also Tshegofatso Ramabu who later went to Kaizer Chiefs, Bongani Mabasa went to Dynamos, Phumudzo Nemabaka to Black Leopards, Rofhiwa Tshikovhi to Platinum Stars, Thuso Mohale and Tumelo Makgolane to Baroka, among others.
MQ: As much as all these players' stories are good ones to tell, yours is also a noteworthy one. Keep up the great work, Ntate.
IP: Thank you for the opportunity and a special message to Soccer Laduma to keep up the good work.
