Not much was said about Jethren Barr's move to Northern Ireland to play for Portadown, but the goalkeeper made quite an impact at the club.
In this interview with Soccer Laduma, the former Maritzburg United and Bidvest Wits goalkeeper shares an interesting story about how he made a move to Northern Ireland to play for Portadown, where he won the player of the season award.
Clubs played for
Obviously I was excited to get my foot in the door in Europe. When I got to the club, you see the club's badge everywhere and you see that it's quite a set up. It was exciting. I remember my first day at training as well. It was good. I was hitting some nice passes that these guys hadn't really seen before. You know those Khune passes? That impressed the coach, so I was excited because I knew the coach was going to give me the licence to do it here.
How the deal happened
My sister married a guy with Northern Irish roots. So, she moved over with him. Then my contract with Maritzburg United was coming to an end, so I saw it as a chance to get my foot over in Europe. My agent was sending videos around in Northern Ireland because he knew that I wanted to go join my sister that side. I booked my flight tickets and everything and I actually got an offer from a team in the PSL just before I left, but it was a difficult decision because it was a nice offer. But I thought I should just go try my luck in Europe and I ended up signing a contract in Northern Ireland. I knew nothing about the teams and the league there, but I accepted the first contract I got.
The rands and cents
To be honest, I was on a little bit more in the PSL than when I first arrived in Northern Ireland. It wasn't the best salary when I got here. But I knew that I had to sacrifice for one year and hopefully things would get better. I had a one-year contract because I was an unknown South African in their eyes, so they were taking a chance on me. After my first season, all the big clubs in Northern Ireland came after me. That put pressure on my team to try to keep me, so they gave me the biggest contract of my life and it was a three-year deal. It was three, or close to four times the amount of money I was getting in the PSL. That was really nice for me because they were happy with what they had seen. I am clubless now after the team got relegated last season. I wanted to try not to play in the league below, so I wanted something better for myself. I am currently on trial at a club now in the Republic of Ireland. I am hoping everything can go well for me, otherwise I must carry on looking.
My first day in Europe
Let me think back to. It was the time of Covid when there was quarantine and all that. I arrived in Dublin and they were obviously strict with people coming from South Africa because we were a red flag country. So, they escorted us like we had some zombie disease (laughs) to a hotel in Dublin. The Irish military escorted us there. We went to a hotel and we had to stay in the hotel for 21 days, but I got out of it early. I took a bus. I was so lost, I didn't know where I was or what was going on. I could barely understand the people with their accents. I didn't have a SIM card or roaming, so it was a disaster because I kept on getting lost. But eventually I found my way to my sister's house after much struggle.
My debut
I played a few reserve games before making my first team debut. I did well in the reserve games and the coach gave me the nod in a cup game. I did really well in the cup game and I kept a clean sheet. We won 2-0. Then I got another cup game and I got man of the match and we won 1-0. Then I got my first league start and from then on I carried on playing. I became number one.
The best player I played with
Lee Bonis. I played with him in my former team. I actually wanted to tell my agent to take him to South Africa because he would fit the big teams there. He is a Northern Ireland international now. He is a striker. We ended up selling him to Larne FC and now there are teams in the (English) Championship and Premier League that want him.
The best player I played against
There's quite a few, but there's a guy called Mark Randall. He was some wonderkid at Arsenal when he was younger. He was supposed to be the next big thing. He played a few games for Arsenal and went to play in Nothern Ireland for Larne FC. He is pretty good.
