While Siphiwe Tshabalala has not officially announced his retirement from the Beautiful Game, the former Bafana Bafana player has been busier off the field than he has on it. 'Shabba', who turns 40 in September, has been working as a Nedbank Cup ambassador, a role he has enjoyed for the last three seasons. Soccer Laduma's Delmain Faver recently sat down with the Phiri-born man who spoke about his role as a Nedbank Cup, his highs and lows of featuring in the Cup of Dreams and more importantly, how he has broken the stigma of players who go broke shortly after calling time on their careers.
Delmain Faver: Shabba, thanks for chatting to us. Tell us about your role as a Nedbank Cup ambassador?
Siphiwe Tshabalala: I've been given the responsibility to drive this year's campaign of the Nedbank Cup. This is my third year being an ambassador of the Nedbank Cup. So, it's such an honour to be associated with Nedbank and also driving this tournament, having won it as a player. So, there's so many great memories. My task is to make sure that I promote the tournament. This tournament is for the people, and I also find it befitting that Nedbank also added this new element into the tournament of having a physical hub which is called the Ya Rona House, whereby fans will get an opportunity to come to the house and watch the Nedbank games and also interact with the legends. I think it's very important, like I said before, that the fans are the most important stakeholders in football. They have a voice, which we highly respect and we value and there are so many ways to thank them, for example, there's also a share of R5 million among the fans.
DF: The tournament continues to leave an imprint not only on the field but also in communities where they leave an indelible mark and quite literally put their money where their mouth is…
ST: It's been growing, looking back especially 17 years ago this year, it's the 17th anniversary and also Nedbank keeps on reinvesting to the same community that supports not only the tournament, but Nedbank as an institution as well, different charities benefit from it. Each and every year Nedbank builds a state-of- the-art Sports Centre to give back to the community if you can look, we still have a challenge with development in our country, the facilities in rural areas or in townships are in dire state. So, it's very important and highly, highly imperative to invest in the development of our people. And I for one, I always advocate for that, making sure that the generation that is coming should not encounter the same problems that we encountered. I mean, if I played in a gravel field 20 or 30 years ago, and I managed to be successful, imagine if a child can play in a world class facility at such a young age, they can easily thrive, they can easily adapt, they can, they can easily progress because of the facilities and the environment, so I want to commend Nedbank for that. Yes, we want more, and we'll always want more. But it's job well done to them.
DF: Shabba, take us into the mindset of being at a bigger team that plays against so-called small teams. You've had the privilege of doing that on a number of occasions during your time at Kaizer Chiefs where you were a 'Goliath', and you are preparing to face a 'David'.
ST: Yeah, when it's 'Goliath' and 'David', it becomes interesting. So, with us, we prepared the same way and I would also, as an individual prepare the same way as I would prepare for Pirates. The routine would be the same, the discipline would be the same and you respect each and every opponent that you meet. And so you have to prepare and remain focused. Obviously there's games that are on the calendar, there's games that players, when the fixtures are released or the cup draw is out, quickly go to the calendar to circle that date, because that's a big game by virtue of the quality and calibre of the opposition. The Nedbank Cup has taught us to respect each and every team, to respect the opponents. It's a great tournament in a sense that it makes people's dreams come true. It gives the so-called amateur teams a chance to play against their heroes, and some it might be only that opportunity and it won't come back again. For some it's an opportunity to launch their careers. I mean there are great examples to that effect. So, there's a testimony already of players that were not known prior to the Nedbank Cup, they played against the big teams, and they caused an upset. They made a name for themselves and that's how they launched their career. Yeah, so this is not just a tournament for the elite, it's the tournament where dreams are made, the tournament where dreams come true as well. And it's also a tournament where players raise their hand and be counted - and not only players, but there's also coaches now. There are young coaches that are coaching in the lower divisions and they're doing very well, they also beat the Premier Division clubs and I think recently, if I'm not mistaken, one of the co-coaches from Dondol (Stars FC, Khuliso Rashumase) joined a Motsepe Foundation Championship side (Venda Football Club, as an assistant coach). That's progress. Had it not been for Nedbank, I don't think we would have known that there's such a quality coach that needs an opportunity. So, Nedbank provided an opportunity, the Nedbank Cup provided a platform to coaches and players. There are so many of them… your Andile Jali, Mthokozisi Yende. So, it's a good story to tell.
DF: What would you say are your biggest highs and lows of playing in the tournament?
ST: My best moment was always being on the field, doing what I love. And my highlight of the tournament was winning the 2013 Nedbank Cup and creating an assist for [Bernard] Parker to score. And my lows will be obviously not winning every game that we played. We prepare, we go in the field of play with a positive mentality to win and the attitude is there to play well and win. And reality is that you cannot win all the games. However, you could still give your best and leave everything on the field, regardless of the outcome of the game. I remember when we played Baroka at Peter Mokaba Stadium. I was home watching the game, I was injured and seeing us losing was so devastating and losing to Tuks as well at Lucas Moripe Stadium was another low. We were coached by Muhsin (Ertugral) then and we prepared well for the game from the beginning of the week, the same preparation, everything was the same. I think we gave them the respect as opponents, and it was one of those days that it was written that: 'Not Chiefs, but Tuks will prevail.' So it was a low, but all the lows are lessons. You learn something from adversity. I think we learn more in failure than in success.
DF: We spoke to Lucas Radebe in last week's edition of Soccer Laduma, and he commended the work that you are putting in to being a successful brand post your playing career. How do the current players get to that level once they hang up their boots?
ST: It's about respecting what you do, loving what you do and being dedicated to the cause and also being committed to the cause. Also understanding that what you do, you are not in a position of power - you're in a position of responsibility. You are in a position to serve through your gift. You are touching lives through your gift. You heal many people through your gift. Therefore, that makes you a special person and a special person must also behave like a special person. You want to get to that level where you become a brand, and when you become a brand, other brands will want association because they see value. The same with you being a brand you want to be associated with credible brands because there's value. So, with me, I think I started working with brands when I was still at Free State Stars. So, I'd get an invitation to Cambridge. I remember I used to do a lot of Cambridge activations. I'd go there, sign autographs and then maybe play five-a-side with the fans and it was a fun experience to engage with the consumers and then you get your paycheque. That's how I started. I started small and I also saw an opportunity of a career within a career and also a career beyond the football career. It is even more so now than back then because brands want to do promotions all the time. There are now activations and social media activities. So, there's a need for that, but I'm sure brands do their due diligence as well because they want people that will represent their brands well. I did not start now, I started long time ago, and I'm enjoying this career. It's a great career. I mean, it's long-term. When last did we see Lucas playing professional football? Almost 20 years ago. I can't remember. The same goes with Doctor [Khumalo] but, to this day, they're still respected as role models who conduct themselves well. They do so in a manner that attracts the public, agencies or big brands. It's a good career and I'd like to advise the current generation to invest in themselves, from a brand point of view. If you take care of your brand, nurture and associate it with other brands, to such an extent that it becomes difficult for people to disassociate you from that brand, then you've done a great job.
DF: You're one of the players who are brands outside of the game and are brands because of the game, but you are one of the players who seem to have a good head on their shoulders when it comes to money. What's the secret? Because you didn't come from a lot of riches yourself, and now that you've accumulated a good living, you're able to then sustain that and to be responsible...
ST: This is a very important topic and I think it needs all of us to have a day, just to have a conversation from start up until where we are now. I started planning for life after football immediately when I turned professional. I didn't wait until I played for Chiefs to start thinking, investing, investing, investing. I started when I was still at Free State Stars, earning a little. I developed that into a habit and then it became a principle. Whenever you have money, you save and then you spend what's left. You don't spend and save what's left. Yes, there were mistakes. I got my fingers burnt. I managed to recover. So, it's best to start early, make your mistakes, learn from them, recover and pay your school fees. That's what they say, rather than putting the whole body and getting burnt. When I arrived at Chiefs, I already had an extra income from my appearances, then the brand grew and endorsements [came]. I would tell myself, in my mind, the investments were not from the money that I made outside, including your national team bonuses. That money was not for me to use, but for me to invest. I was so comfortable doing that because I was used to it. It was a principle. Even though I made mistakes but it was a principle, that's why I survived and not to say I didn't want those things, I wanted them. There were temptations. But when you are guided by principle then there's that resistance and now it's even better. You have Nedbank that also provides a platform to have these kinds of conversations with people that have the expertise on this. So, you've got players who've walked the journey that can tell the story and the story will bring about positive change. You've got professionals as well that will help you to look after your money and change that narrative that when you go to the ATM to check the balance, you see zeros, you are happy. So that's where the Nedbank finance team comes in, to give you different options and not only to the players. I'm talking about you as journalists. I'm talking about professionals, lawyers, doctors, everyone. It's a problem that we encounter but the sad thing is that our career is short. Once you encounter this problem, it's difficult to recover. We need to learn quickly how to save and also how to value money, how to respect money. When I speak to people, I always tell them to respect money, value money and value each and every cent that you have. If you take care of the cents, the rands will take care of themselves. If you have R20, you value R20 by the time you have R1000 you're good. That's my view, my attitude and what I've been doing. That's been working for me and I'm quite happy with the progress that I've made thus far. There's also an opportunity for me to learn as well and be a better person and a businessperson in that regard.
