Coaches I’ve worked with: He really opened our eyes

When you look at coach Khabo Zondo’s history, it is so rich and unbelievable. You look at the kind of players he produced and coached at Tembisa Classic and Golden Arrows, just to mention two, and you see the South African football identity. Everyone wanted to watch those teams. They played the game the way we want to see and enjoy it. Those were two difficult teams to play against because, like I said, of their style of play. The type of players coach Khabo had in those teams were not big-name players but players that could fit into his philosophy and playing style. There is a long list of those players who went on to make a name for themselves at big teams and they were almost everyone’s favourites. This kind of a coach shouldn’t be allowed to disappear from the football fraternity, it should never happen! Coach Khabo should be working on developing our future stars because he really has an eye for talent and his record speaks for itself. This is someone we would be proud of because he is one of those who believe in the football identity we can all relate to.

He’s done unbelievable things for South African football already. We know coach Khabo because of the fruits of his work and the type of players that he produced. Most of these players were unknown amateurs that he introduced to professional level. They grabbed the opportunity with both hands and took our football by storm. Had it not been for coach Khabo, we wouldn’t have known about a lot of these typical South African players because they would not have been given a chance to prove themselves at this level. Imagine if we had more teams like Classic and Arrows in our league, the stadiums would be packed to capacity because of the entertainment value. He’s one of the coaches I have been lucky enough to rub shoulders with. I got to know him on a personal level a bit over the last few years and I couldn’t believe the level of attention to detail that he possesses. Coach Khabo is not the kind of coach who will be shouting at players or screaming up and down the touchline. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not always smiling because he will let you know when he is not happy about something. The beauty about the whole thing is that I had an opportunity to work with coach Khabo for years when we were involved in the Nedbank Ke Yona Team as coaches together with Jerry Sikhosana. This is where I got to know and understand the finer details of how coach Khabo operates. The man’s talent identification skills are on another level. I remember, there were a couple of times where coach Khabo would spot a talent that Jerry and I never even thought of giving a chance to, only for him to be proved right at a later stage. As soon as he mentioned the jersey number, explained what he saw and what he felt needed to be worked on, you think back and realise that he is right because we may have overlooked some of the most basic skills from the player. He would be so modest about it and not even rub it in to show that he was right. I just really, really enjoyed working with him in that project because he really opened our eyes on talent identification. It puzzles me that someone like coach Khabo is not involved in our football in any way, while he has such a rich history when it comes to unearthing raw talent. He should be part of our national youth programmes to ensure that he plays a role in putting together the building blocks for the future generations. I thought he would be coaching one of our development teams because, like I said, he is well-versed on development matters and this is an area of our football that needs to be worked on. Coach Khabo is one of the people it would have been great to see working in our football structures but that is not happening. This is one of the coaches we should be reaping the fruits from, together with the long list of the likes of Shakes Mashaba, Trott Moloto, Augusto Palacios, Conti Kubheka and others. Sadly, these guys are idling on the sidelines because no one sees the need to rope them into the system and allow them to play an important part in our football. Football has lost a legendary coach in Khabo and someone who should be of more value to our Beautiful Game. Like I said, this is one of the people who should be helping our football but he is so far away from it. People like coach Khabo can play a significant role in ensuring this doesn’t continue anymore because they’ve been there and done that before. We ask ourselves, what is wrong with our development structures but we are not doing the right things. This is one coach I hail as unbelievable but I feel bad that his talent has not been put into good use by those in charge of our football. We should have this man in our football system and not allow him to be in the football wilderness any longer than he has been already. Our football is crying for people like him. This is a coach I was with during our SAFA courses, with Steve Komphela, Neil Tovey, the late Thomas Madigage, Kwanele Kopo and others. What a legendary coach! My friend, coach Khabo, I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to rub shoulders with you. What an unbelievable human being! Very humble and knowledgeable coach that I feel we need to get back into the football system, sooner than later. We need to look ourselves in the mirror and ask some tough questions as to what needs to be done to get the likes of coach Khabo back into the system. I honour, love and respect you coach Khabo.