With an eye for talent, Boebie still firing at 60
Veteran coach has given Cape NFD side new lease on life
ABUBAKAAR “Boebie” Solomons, a man who has dedicated his life to serving football, turned 60 last Sunday. With all the ups and downs, successes and disappointments, invariably linked to a career spanning more than four decades in the sport, he has no regrets – and, looking forward, he can only promise more of the same enthusiasm and commitment.
It all started for Solomons as a promising junior footballer at Sinton FC. He would go on to play for Glendene as a 16year-old, where they would play curtainraisers for games that featured the popular Cape Town Spurs, a club that was the soul of the Cape Flats in the 1970s. A year later, Spurs would sign the 17-year-old Solomons – and a brilliant playing career was to ensue.
A tireless midfielder, Solomons was nicknamed “(breath in Afrikaans), for his lung-bursting on-field efforts. He would then sign to play for Dynamos in Joburg, though he stayed in the Mother City and flew up for every game. He was an apprentice electrician at the time and couldn’t leave the city. Because football was not fully professional, he had to think about another career – though, as it turned out, he didn’t need the electrician’s diploma as football would lead the way.
Always a leader, coaching was inevitably on the cards – and his opportunity came when he was still in the prime of his playing career.
“After about 10 Spurs players left to join Cape Town City, I was asked to come back to the club to rebuild the team,” said Solomons. “So I left Dynamos and set about my job at Spurs. I was player, captain and coach at the same time… I brought in a number of new players, guys I had been watching at amateur level – like Keith America, Calvin Petersen, Salie Adams and Alec Arendse – and we would go on to win the Federation Professional League (FPL) title in our first year together.”
That was to be Solomons’ successful introduction to coaching and, after retiring as a player, he wento on to work all over the country – at Santos and Milano in the Cape, Maritzburg United in KwaZuluNatal, Wits in Joburg, and Black Leopards, Winners Park and Polokwane City in the Limpopo Province.
His coaching successes include winning the Absa Cup and BP Top 8 with Santos, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) title as assistant-coach to Gordon Igesund at Santos, winning the First Division title and promotion to the PSL for Wits, and the Second Division title with Milano. He also had a stint as the SA national under-20 coach.
Now currently inspiring Mother City National First Division side Cape Town All Stars, Solomons, is still far from finished.
“My football philosophy is simple,” he said. “I like to play a good, constructive brand of football. While it has to be entertaining, it also has to be geared towards results. That’s the nature of the modern game, it’s about winning. You can’t entertain and not win…
“I believe a football team has the respon- sibility to the people who pay money to come to the games. They pay to be entertained and that is what the team has to do, if it wants the people to keep coming back.
“With all my travels as a coach in South Africa, I’ve gained insight into, and learnt quite a lot, about different cultures, different mentalities and different religions. I’ve learnt to understand the different habits and outlooks of players.
For example, a player from Cape Town is a completely different personality to a player from Venda. You cannot treat everybody the same. You have to handle each accordingly to get the best out of them. In some cases, you can push and drive a player… in others, you have to be more tactful and considerate in your communication.”
Solomons admits that, as a player, he was never among the most talented – but he had a work ethic and determination to succeed. It’s an attitude he loves to try to inculcate in the players he coaches. He also remembers fondly some of the greats he was able to perform alongside, mentioning names like Danny Abrahams, Christy Martin, George van Niekerk, Bernard Hartze and Joey Lawrence.
As a coach, too, there are players he feels he was privileged to work with, and here he singled out former Santos captain Duncan Crowie as among the best, along with America, Petersen and Junaid Hartley.
As for the future, Solomons said: “One of my prime objectives is to get All Stars into the PSL. It’s a nice challenge and I’m enjoying it, with a really talented squad. It’s a new team and it would be an achievement to take them to the top-flight. I would really like to do it – but, if not this season, then we certainly have the foundation to try next season.”
All Stars are certainly in a good position. After a poor start to their debut NFD campaign, the Gugulethu club has shot up the league table. They are currently in fourth spot, with 37 points, and ahead of them are log-leaders Golden Arrows (44 points), Thanda Royal Zulu (41) and Jomo Cosmos (39).