On Leopards Buying Their Way Back To Second Tier
Black Leopards are back in the Motsepe Foundation Championship after buying the status of All Stars and, for me, as a former player (of the club), these are good news for the people of Venda and the province of Limpopo as a whole because Black Leopards is the biggest team in Limpopo. For some of us who played for the club and still support the team, this is good because relegation to the amateur ranks would have been difficult to accept. When I played for Black Leopards, my career was at the beginning and as a beginner, you have two choices in football: either you learn and grow or become comfortable where you are. At the time, I was beginning to understand football while I had my dream to go further with my career. The challenges were there and I overcame them. Today I can look back and say that Black Leopards is a team that made me the player that everybody knows today. This is a club with rich history. My late father took me to Black Leopards training for the first time in 2006 when there were players like Wonani Mulaudzi and Eric Ramavhale. I was young and very scared. I trained with the team for one day and the following day I did not want to go back because of all of the big names who were there – these were guys I used to watch on TV after all.
Training with them was a scary experience. That is how I joined team and David Thidiela's brother, Aaron, played a huge role in ensuring that I broke into the professional ranks and got a contract. From there, everything went smooth. By the time I played against teams like Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns, I was a little bit nervous because I had never played in front of a packed stadium. I regained my confidence and did my best for the team because I wanted people to know who we were as a team. I also wanted to prove myself that I was a player who could score goals in a big league. This team has given so many players from Venda and other villages around Limpopo a chance to play professional football. Guys like Coxwell Ratshivhadelo and Rudzani Mulaudzi got their big breaks at this club. It meant a lot back in those days for players coming from areas around Limpopo to get a chance to play professional football because opportunities were very slim for us to play in the top league.
On Why The Club Has Struggled In Recent Times
Limpopo as a whole is a big province and to be one of the players who represented the team is something that we will cherish forever. Nowadays things are a little bit easy because we have about five teams who are playing in the Motsepe Foundation Championship and DStv Premiership, so things are little bit easier today. It was a big opportunity for me personally to make sure that I survived and became this person that I am today. In the NFD at the time, I saw a chance that I could be the Top Goalscorer because I was playing with a veteran like Dingaan Masanabo, who played a role in guiding me and other players. I never thought I could go on to become the Top Goalscorer in the PSL (topflight) and when that happened, I knew that God is bigger than anything. I was given an opportunity by Leopards and I put in the work and trusted and believed in the players I was playing with that time. Black Leopards is one of the oldest clubs and biggest teams in Limpopo – we have qualified for the Top Eight, reached the Nedbank Cup final and played in the CAF Confederation Cup.
But I would be lying if I can give you the reasons why the club has struggled to establish itself over so many years. I think it's Black Leopards who can tell us what the problems are because I can say my piece and someone else might give a different story. As a former player, I can talk about what I think might be the cause of all the problems, but the people who are inside at the club, people who are running the team or playing for Black Leopards, might tell us something different. Perhaps the people who are running the team can tell us what the problem is and how it can be fixed. This club has played in every competition and I was there when we played in the CAF Confederation Cup. We got a chance because we were the runners-up in the Nedbank Cup and it was not easy to play in the competition because we were still campaigning in the National First Division. We didn't have any experience of playing continental competition. It was a new thing that we needed to do and some of us represented the club well and reached the group stage. Until today, playing in the CAF Confederation Cup is one of the biggest achievements in the history of the club. Itwas challenging but also an opportunity for youngsters like us.
On The Way Forward
Black Leopards is home for me and last season when the team was relegated to the ABC Motsepe League, that broke me as a former player. We expect Black Leopards to produce the same type of players that it did while we were playing. When you don't have Black Leopards, that will be a loss for the province because you won't have youngsters given the same opportunity. Now that the team has bought the status of All Stars and are back in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, I expect the team to see what went wrong and fix it while it's still early and make sure that we have a team that can compete and players with strong mentality to carry the club throughout the season. Everyone that supports Black Leopards must continue to support the team. I strongly believe that this time around, everyone has learned. Things will be better next season and bringing back the former captain, Peter Mponda, as an assistant coach… for me, that is a good choice. Mponda knows the team style, how the club do things and what needs to be done. That is a good way to start the season.
