Cale is big brother to Ubuntu youngsters
For Franklin Cale, his move to lowly Ubuntu Cape Town FC echoes an old saying that good things come to those who wait.
While a move to the littleknown National First Division side when he was nearing the end of his career may have been seen as career suicide, Cale was happy to join them ahead of teams in the Absa Premiership who were asking about his availability.
“I was training with Highlands and they promised to give me a contract. There were other teams I was speaking to as well,” he told Phakaaathi recently.
Then one day Ubuntu came up to Johannesburg to play a friendly against Highlands, who had been relegated and Cale decided to go and watch.
“Their coach came to me after the match and asked what I was doing. I told him I was unattached and he phoned the next day to say he would like to have me at his club,” said Cale.
“He saw this as a chance he had been thinking about and waiting for and jumped at it without a second thought.
“It was easy for me because of their concept. Casey Prince (the coach) came from America about 10 years ago and fell in love with townships in Cape Town and he has been helping kids from there with programmes aimed at keeping them off the streets and giving them a platform to make something of their lives.
“This was a chance for me to also give
back to the community. I had been pondering on it for a while anyway and this chance just presented itself,” said the 34-year-old winger.
Cale is not only a player at Ubuntu but also plays the role of big brother to the youngsters in the team who he sometimes donates boots to.
“I grew up under difficult circumstances in a gangster-infested and poverty ridden township. I know how it feels to have a dream but no means to follow it. I know how it feels for a young boy to not have boots, I have been there.
“Now that I have Puma as my sponsor, I help wherever I can. I get the boots for free and I feel I can donate them,” he said humbly.
Phakaaathi, however, understands that Cale sometimes even goes as far as to buy the boots out of his own pocket.
While Cale is happy to finally give back to his community, he is worried that the team have not been doing well, but insists they can survive relegation. Ubuntu are now 12th in the NFD, but a mere four points separate them from where bottom-of-the-table Mthatha Bucks currently sit.
“It’s been difficult,” he admitted. “But like I always say, we put ourselves there and it is up to us to get the team out of this position. We have capable players. Those youngsters don’t deserve to go down.
“Our problem has been scoring. We over-rely on Ranga (Chivaviro). We need more players to score goals because teams are now targeting him,” he said.
Ubuntu have surprisingly done well in the Nedbank Cup and are one of the four teams from the NFD remaining in the Ke
Yona competition. Cale believes they can knock out AmaZulu and move on. Usuthu host Ubuntu at King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday night.
“We have nothing to lose. We just want to keep our momentum going and the AmaZulu game is a chance for the youngsters to measure themselves against the big guns ... a win will hugely boost their confidence,” said Cale.