Bevan Fransman

Bevan Fransman is one of the elder statesmen of the Premier Soccer League, but the Highlands Park defender has no intension of hanging up his boots any time soon. He takes KICK OFF’s Mark Gleeson through his playing journey, which includes the highs of be

The stalwart Highlands Park defender has no plans to hang up his boots yet as he reveals how he was once scouted by Germany legend Lothar Matthaus.

It is now more than 20 years ago since Bevan Fransman made his Premier Soccer League debut and even as he approaches his 37th birthday, there is a steely determination to keep going. Now mong the longest serving players in the PSL, Fransman does not have any immediate retirement plans, although his contract is at an end.

“For me, even before lockdown, the plan was to continue next season. I think the condition I find myself in, body wise, even fitness wise, I’m still in good shape, despite the 36 years in my legs! Before the Christmas break I didn’t feature much but after it,

I came back into the team and I played eight, nine successive games without any blemishes.

“I’m in the same boat with a lot of other players where everything has been put on pause with these circumstances. Negotiations would normally have started for next season but now I think not many people are making plans until they see what happens,” he said, even as the lockdown began to ease.

Fransman was 16 years, six months and one day old when he was drafted into the defence of already relegated Mother City for their fourth-last match of the 19992000 season.

It was May 1, 2000 and the club, born out of the merger that also spawned Ajax Cape Town, were headed out of existence almost as quickly as they had arrived.

A run of 13 successive league losses condemned them to being the worst club to ever appear in the PSL but for Fransman it was an opportunity he will always be grateful for.

“It feels like yesterday, but it was 20 years ago!” he jokes. “[ The late] Joey Lawrence was the coach and he had previously been my coach when I was at Cape Town Spurs with the under-14 and 15 side.”

Lawrence was the sixth coaching appointment of the season for the beleaguered team. And then decided to give Fransman a chance in PSL action, in a derby against Santos.

“He called me over and said that I had done well in training in the week and there was a chance

“WE WERE 5-0 DOWN AT HALF-TIME AND THE COACH BROUGHT ME ON, SAYING ‘GO OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN’.”

I might play. I had been on the bench for three games before that already and I think after all the losses they thought, ‘let’s give the youngsters a chance now, what’s the worst that could happen?’.”

What happened was a 3-0 loss. “It was a difficult game, we were up against some really good players. Duncan Crowie was still playing at the time, [Jean-Marc] Ithier, [Sebastien] Bax.”

But with Mother City facing a dead-end future, it did put Fransman in the spotlight.

“Colin Gie from FC Fortune went to speak to my father and said that the best thing for me would be to get some regular football, so I joined them the next season. That was only the second season of the club’s existence.”

But his debut for the new club took a little longer than planned. “Can you believe the night I was supposed to play my first game ffor themh I leftlf my bootsb at hhome?? In my defence, I hadn’t been named in the squad at all the day before but I went for the pre-match meetinng and suddenly I had prom oted to the bench.

“I told Colin I hadn ’t brought anything, I just came tto support the guys playing. He sai d, ‘Ok,

make suree you

ready next week’ and the next game I was in the starting line-up.”

The second tier was a good learning experience for the teenage Fransman. “I had a lot of experienced players around me and I was well looked after. But they were tough on me in training. I was still in Standard Nine and I had to learn to look after myself.”

Big impression

At FC Fortune, Fransman made an impression on the former Arsenal defender Steve Bould, who had come to watch several training sessions. “I first went to Denmark because he had a lot of contacts there and I signed a contract at Helfolge, but only on condition they stayed up and that didn’t happen, so I went back to FC Fortune.”

But he followed Giovanni Rector to Excelsior Mouscron in Belgium. “I went first for a short trial, scored a free-kick in an Under-19 tournament and then got a call the same evening to say there was a contract on the table. It was done deal.”

“It was a major change for me. I went from still being at school and training three, four times a week to full-time professionalism, double sessions every day, gym work etc. It was a big step. They gave me a brand-new car – I had only got my license three or so days before I left Cape Town for Belgium.

“For an 18-year-old, it was a lot but I enjoyed it. I managed to play 13 league games and featured in two UEFA Cup games. One was against Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic. We were 5-0 down at half-time and the coach brought me on, saying ‘go out and have some fun’.

“My league debut was in first game of the season, away at Standard Liege, when the centre back broke his ankle after just 12 minutes and I had to go on. I had only been at the club for three weeks and was never in contention to play the game. We won it too.

“Standard’s fans are notorious for turning their backs to the field when they are unhappy with their team and that was a bizarre experience for me. I’d never before played in a game with that kind of atmosphere.”

But he left after a season as financially strapped Mouscron cut costs and he returned home in mid-2003.

“It was a blow to me that they didn’t take up the option to extend my contract but I understood the situation there. What I took away from Belgium was the professionalism, everything was done correctly, conduct was a big thing, like being on time.

“I went home to play for the national Under-23s against Mauritius and Ace Khuse was among the guys who came to watch me. I could actually have become an Orlando Pirates player before I signed for Chiefs. There were so many Pirates players who were my contemporaries – Joseph Makhanya,