Coaches I’ve worked with: His belief in me inspired me

I always hear people say “Captain my Captain” when they are talking about their team’s captain. It sounds so sweet and mellow, but I just want to know if this title applies to every captain or are there any qualities we look at before using the title? If the results, leadership, performances, behaviour and setting an ex ample are some of the qualities looked at before using the title, then I can use it to describe or call Neil Tovey. This is a man who captained me at both club and national team level. It gives me goosebumps, pride and joy to talk about Neil. I happened to have an opportunity to play with both the Tovey brothers, Mark and Neil, with the former playing as a centre-back, while the latter was a central midfielder. It was after Mark left that Neil was converted to a central defender. Off the field, you are talking about a very humble individual who is always easy to approach. A gentleman of note and someone who is always good company. He enjoys jokes and he is also very wise with some great advice. If you get to spend time with Neil, listen to his advice and archive it, trust me you will have a great life and career. It is the same with his brother, Mark, because they are very similar in everything they do. The tough fighters you saw on the field were completely different to who they are off the field because they are so gentle. Back to Neil – he is a perfectionist and you will have a problem with him if you don’t execute your duties perfectly. He doesn’t have to be a captain to lead and when he reprimands a teammate, you hear the message he’s sending across and it does something to you. The leadership is not done in an aggressive manner – no, he’s all calm about it but firm enough to get your attention. He doesn’t just address what is happening now but opening your eyes to the future as well. The reason I have so much praise for this man is because of everything I have seen from him. Most of the cup games we won, I’d like to believe, his guidance played a major role in our success because he was the eyes and ears of the coach on the field. Not a single coach can complain about having Neil as a player and captain, because he always delivered and remained professional. What comes out of Neil’s mouth will motivate everyone, especially when the chips are down. You’d hear him shouting to me, “Doc, we need you, boy! Now the team really needs you and you need to show up. Ace, come on, boy! Chippa (Molatedi), come on, please, boy!” and he’d do that with everyone. We had our ups and downs at club and national team level with Neil and he always showed leadership qualities on both ends of the spectrum. Some people only start to appreciate guys like Neil’s leadership after hanging up their boots because they look back and realise if Tovey had not inspired them in a particular game, things would have probably not gone well. If Neil had not insisted on me taking that penalty against Cameroon in 1992, I wouldn’t be in the record books as the first ever South African player to score for Bafana after our readmission into the international arena. We all stood there for a while, scared to take that penalty, and Neil came while myself, Philemon Masinga, Bennet Masinga (may their souls rest in peace), Ace Khuse and Zane Moosa were still deliberating about who was going to take it. Neil just said, “Doc, this is your penalty. Go take it.” The rest is history, as they say. I never thanked him for that because if he hadn’t instructed me to take that penalty, I wouldn’t have touched the ball at all. I would have walked away from the ‘scene’, but his belief in me inspired me to go out there and get the job done. I will always cherish that moment, which is one of many. Even after our retirement, we remain close. You’ve been a great captain and I don’t think you’ve been celebrated enough.