Mazibuko disappointment

I recently read the Goodman Mazibuko article in KICK OFF [Issue 501] and had mixed feelings about the player, as his feelings are mixed too. To start with, no matter if you’re skilful or not, if you have no brains, you are going nowhere. You are a sports officer, but how are you going to run that office if you don’t have faith in sport itself? (Note that the highly active sports environment where Goodman works is the same soccer that made him known to us, which he now hates). There are definitely no guarantees as a former footballer that you’ll be a coach, yet that is like finishing Matric and hoping for a better future, but becoming unemployed simply because there are tons of people graduating and there’s a shortage of firms. Don’t bitter with team owners – they owe you nothing as there was no guarantee of a coaching post promised in your contract. You said you didn’t fall into the trap of not investing, but did you invest in your wife as you kept on saying luckily your wife was working so there was food on your table? As a person who had knocked on college’s door, you should have known that the Department of Labour’s doors are always open to check if your UIF number exists and if your employer really contributes, as mentioned in your payslip. Lastly and most importantly, if I was University of Free State, I would have not employed you simply because you have to take care of sports welfare, run and encourage our kids into sport, but you are doing the opposite. To me it sounds more like someone who came for a big cheque and doesn’t have the welfare of others at heart. You said if you had a boy, you would not have encouraged him to play football, but in your job you are encouraging our kids to be in soccer, as I have seen you doing in most of UFS’s SAB games. Does that mean you are now a crook like everyone involved in football, as mentioned by you? KICK OFF, please in future do articles with former footballers who will help future players grow, not discourage them. I am a grassroots coach who has coached in the SAB and ABC leagues, and I also have a boy whom I encourage to run away from drugs and alcohol by spending his time in sports, but as for this article, Mr Mazibuko lost football respect from me. How are you going to run something you hate? Were we stupid to watch and support him if he can’t even watch and support youngsters like his home boys Masehe and Pule? Chippa Moloi, Qwaqwa