Ronwen’s dad knew his son would be a footballer

The world might still be marveling at Ronwen Williams (right) and his record-breaking heroics in Bafana Bafana’s 2-1 penalty shoot-out win over Cape Verde at the weekend, but his father always knew that he was destined for great things on the football pitch.

That is according to the goalkeeper, who revealed his father’s prophecy that he was going to become a footballer before he was even born.

The Gqeberha-born Bafana captain gave an eye-opening interview to Mamelodi Sundowns’ Pitchside podcast about his upbringing.

“The football bug bit me at a very young age. Funny enough, when my mother was pregnant with me, she was still playing football. I think she said up until she was about six months pregnant she was still playing,” he said.

“My father said that he knew I was going to be a soccer player because I was kicking a ball before I was even born. My whole family played football, my mother, father, brother and sister so it was bound to happen to me too.”

The former SuperSport United goalminder has also earned plaudits for his passing technique when building from the back. He explained why he’s so comfortable on the ball after starting out an infield player before being converted into goalkeeper.

“I was a striker and enjoyed scoring goals. I was very fast, I know I don’t look fast but I was very fast,” he said about what influenced his decision to become a goalkeeper.

“But I looked up to my uncle who was a goalkeeper. He was one of the best. He played for EP at the provincials and I wanted to be like him and that’s when I started going in goals.

“I was lucky because I got the passing technique from the SuperSport United academy. We had a connection with Feyenoord (from the Netherlands) and we had touch coaches there and learned the technique very early.

“It has always been part of my game but because of the different personalities of coaches I worked under and wanting to play in a different way, people didn’t see that side of me.”