How Lifa left his football
Former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Lifa Gqosha is fulfilling his lifelong goal of acquiring a degree long past the societal norm for a person to be in school.
Gqosha was infatuated with football and the potential of becoming a coach, but on advice from his wife and family he quit football, which he describes as a drug, to focus on raising a family and finding a job that offered more security than coaching.
“Getting out of football is very difficult, it took pressure from my wife to get out. She said ‘this life is not good, you are employed for six months then you are back to being unemployed and most of the time when you have a job you are away from home and you miss a great part of your kids’ growing up’. So it took a lot of persuading,” said Gqosha.
The 51-year-old has been employed as a teacher at Kgotlelelang Primary School in Soshanguve, Pretoria since 2014 and had a hard time adjusting to normal work hours after spending most of his adult life training for a few hours before being allowed by the head coach to dash off to do whatever he wanted.
But seeing his young students each day showing up to class on time and eagerly waiting to hear what he had to teach them each morning motivated him.
“Before I turned professional my aim and goal was to be educated, to be a lawyer or teacher and an opportunity to play for Mthatha Bucks came when I was already in college. It is something I knew had to happen. Growing up I could see the situation at home and the only way to change it was to get educated and better my life because I am the first-born and I had to look after my siblings first, only then could I get a chance to go to school.”
Gqosha is studying towards an honours degree in teaching at the moment and plans to someday obtain a doctorate (PhD). The Grade 7 teacher bemoans the lack of planning for life after football from many of his former colleagues, rejecting the notion that former stars need to go on to be pundits and coaches because they have dedicated most of their lives to football.
Staying with football, Gqosha compared a primary school to the development structures of a football team were he has an opportunity to nurture young minds and mould them into upstanding members of the community, making reference to the ongoing violence and conflict between teachers and students in high schools and tertiary institutions across South Africa.
“I am focused on my books, I want a doctorate. Most of us thought football would be forever. You have plans of becoming a coach or a commentator or be on TV. In your mind you create careers for yourself in football forgetting you need to get some kind of education or learn something about these things, how to express yourself and most of the guys didn’t think that way.
“When you are playing your role in society it is clear, but after that what is it? I know I have to encourage young people to go to school, that’s what I do now. The other guys need to contribute to society according to their experiences and interests.”