Demise of township sides sad
Former Mamelodi Sundowns defender Jethro Mohlala substituted the fast life of women and alcohol that came with being a famous football star for the tranquillity of spending time outdoors in the bush.
Mohlala spoke at length about the importance of choosing the right friends and most importantly having a woman that inspires changes in one’s life.
The 43-year-old runs a football academy, sponsored by Glencore Mining in Bethanie in the North West, to mentor young footballers. The former Bafana Bafana man doubles up as a motivational speaker and is writing his memoirs to detail his life, but has a difficult time deciding which lessons from the rollercoaster lifestyle he had survived should be documented or left out.
“My life now is about being a good role model to my children, they are not young anymore. You start to think of other people that you value more than getting involved in stuff that will have your face and name appear in the front page of newspapers at weekends and you see the need to change your lifestyle and perspective of life, you need someone who will make you become a better person and those people motivate you to change so there is room for them in your life,” said Mohlala.
The former Under-23 national team captain is an avid camper and fisherman who has turned into a serial businessman who lives by the motto of being self-reliant before looking to the government or football bodies for handouts.
The Alexandra-born former player believes the only way for footballers to create financial securing for themselves is to own businesses and use the fame that comes with playing football to generate publicity.
“All that we have done as footballers will never be rewarded, it doesn’t give you any special privileges in society once you retire. That’s why most footballers don’t even want to have a conversation about football. We left the game with nothing and most of us are bitter because we feel we were robbed our entire lives and at the end of it all there were no rewards in the form of pension funds or even getting tickets for games. Some will say ex-professionals feel entitled, but every worker in the country leaves with something at the end but footballers don’t.”
Mohlala laments the disbanding of small township teams that competed against each other and created football stars that would later be signed by big clubs in the country – much like in music where there is an underground scene that is a hub for sheer raw talent which needs to be moulded into celebrities.
The outspoken and sometimes controversial former player says the formalising of football academies in the country killed the informal township development teams that were home to rising stars. The underground football movement that Mohlala is a product of compelled him to establish a football academy even after he was let down by development funding initiatives from the government. Then he turned to Glencore Mining.