Orlando Pirates defender Innocent Maela has shared his feelings on becoming the first captain since Lucky Lekgwathi to lift more than one trophy in a season.
Maela was appointed Bucs captain following the departure of long-serving defender Happy Jele before the start of the season, and he has now raised two trophies over his head in celebration - the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup.
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Lekgwathi is the last Pirates captain to lift more than one trophy in a season and he, in fact, did it twice, during the Buccaneers' ultimate dominance of the back-to-back domestic trebles in 2010/11 and 2011/12.
It's taken over 10 years for the Soweto giants to win two trophies in a season and Maela, who has quite an amazing story at Pirates, is the one with the honour of being the leader of the team.
"For me to be in that position, and when you look into my story, for the fact that I joined the (Pirates) academy at a young age and for me to achieve this feat is so special to me. I get so emotional when I think about it. I will forever be grateful to my teammates and to this club for blessing us with such opportunities," Maela said earlier this week when the Buccaneers had their trophies on parade at Vodacom World in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Maela's journey to now lift two titles as captain is not the smoothest, but it is most certainly inspiring. Sent out on loan by the Buccaneers to Thanda Royal Zulu in 2014, Maela spent three years in the second tier and had thoughts of quitting the game at some point.
"This path of going out on loan will never work for everyone because stories and our journeys are not the same. But for me, personally, it helped me a lot because it shaped me to be the man that I am. I developed a strong character and there are certain qualities I learnt while I was out on loan that are helping me right now. I will forever be grateful to the chairman for his vision that he laid upon me and here I am today," Maela said.
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"The season before we won the league in the NFD (with Thanda), we survived relegation on the last day. I remember having a conversation with my father and he was like, 'If you guys get relegated in the NFD, then you have to come back home and go to school'. Luckily we survived and the following season we won the league. That is how I rejoined Orlando Pirates. I had thoughts of quitting the game because I was stuck in the same division for long."
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