A ‘stellar’ team
IN OUR ongoing series on local amateur clubs that made a meaningful impact on sport and their communities, we intend covering the far reaches of this newspaper’s readership – Gauteng included. This week LOGAN GOVENDER features Newcastle-based Stella FC. If you have been associated with a club (in any code of sport) that has been in existence for more than 25 years, e-mail postsport@inl.co.za with the club’s name and your contact details. THE folklore surrounding the superb footballing skill of Dharam Mohan is legendary.
Even if one was too young to have seen him play, stories of his thunderous headers and his bicycle kicks that found the back of the net left one in awe of this man.
Now POST can reveal where the legend started his legacy – at Newcastle-based amateur football club Stella FC.
The 61-year-old football club in the coal mining town introduced Mohan and his brothers, Sookraj and Balram, to club football, and the trio helped Stella become the first Northern Natal club to lift the Natal Cup when they they beat Durban team Pirates FC in 1955.
Not only did this victory put Stella FC on the map, it also introduced Dharam Mohan to a wider audience, and shortly afterwards he was poached by Durban-based professional club Avalon Athletic.
Other stars emerged from Stella. The late Arjun ‘AK’ Singh, Hardew Sewraj Singh, Otto Harripersadh and Petrus Phakati also proved their mettle against the best amateur teams in the land.
Three years later Stella won the Natal Cup again. This time they thumped the formidable Durban team Aces United 5-0 before their loyal fans in Newcastle.
Such was the depth in the Stella line-up in that era that all three Mohan brothers, Dharam, Sookraj and Balram, got their provincial and national colours.
Singh, Harripersadh and Sewraj also represented Northern Natal, as it was known then, in the interprovincial championships.
In the 1970s the club, which was formed by Joe Gajee, Harry Baloo, Ranjith Sewraj Singh, Parasram Maharaj, Harrichand Ramsunder, Jaipal Singh and Dave Ghazi had mixed fortunes – mainly because professional teams had signed up its stars.
During the period of re-building, the club was boosted by players such as Samora Khulu, Norman Msomi, Krishna Govender, Isaac Khuzwayo and Vassie Perumal Chetty.
In 1979 Stella won the Champion’s Cup, beating Midlands outfit Dynamos 5-2. They again won the Natal Cup in 1981, when they beat Ladysmith team Primrose FC.
However, the same fate awaited Stella a decade after the first purge of its players.
Dynamos enticed eight of Stella’s players to join them in the professional ranks.
Undeterred, Stella had enough reserves to again lift the Natal Cup in 1982, when they beat Ladysmith team Leonardsville FC.
They repeated this victory in the Natal Cup again in 1984 when they beat Pietermaritzburg-based Technicals.
The late 1980s saw Stella’s prolific goal-getter Helman Mkhalele join one of South Africa’s top professional teams, Orlando Pirates. Mkhalele’s twin brother, Helma, joined African Wanderers during that era as well.
Paul Bansropan, the club chairman, in an interview with POST, paid tribute to the club’s pioneers, the numerous star players, the coaches and officials, and the loyal and dedicated supporters for placing the club on the map.
“It will not be wrong to call the team Stellar FC instead of Stella FC.
“Although there were other teams known as Stella in Durban and other areas, the boys from the north oozed with talent and became stars on the field.
“Such was the determination of Dharam, Otto, Arjun and others that they did not have butterflies in their stomachs when they clashed against top teams like Pirates from Durban and other teams which had big reputations.”
He said the fact that time and again Stella players were selected for major tournaments and were signed on by professional teams proved that the club had one of the best amateur teams in the country.