Tumelo Nhlapo
The sad story of the former Bafana Bafana and Bloemfontein Celtic defender, who went from hero to zero in three short years.
Tumelo Nhlapo felt the joy of being called up to the national team for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations as a teenager but it was all too short-lived as his career in the PSL didn’t even stretch three years. KICK OFF’s Lovemore Moyo searched for the former Bloemfontein Celtic man, who confessed to how a lack of discipline contributed to the downfall of his career.
Taken to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana by Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira as a late replacement for the injured Vuyo Mere, a teenage Tumelo Nhlapo had the world at his feet after just six months in the PSL.
All he had managed in the colours of Bloemfontein
Celtic at that time was 15 appearances before the call arrived to join the Bafana Bafana camp. Remember him?
Fast forward to 2019 and it has been a decade since Nhlapo last played a game in the PSL. That appearance was against Ajax Cape Town on December 20, 2009.
The gap between his professional debut against Mamelodi Sundowns on August 8, 2007 and his last was a mere 28 months as he fizzled out from top-flight football before he even turned 22.
A young kid breaking into the paying ranks as a teenager, and through that getting capped at all junior international levels, only to be ‘gone in 10 seconds’.
Nhlapo has now been back home in Parys, Free State for the past two years after leaving third-tier side Mangaung United with his mind now titling towards beginning a new career in coaching.
“Injuries were troubling me, so I just thought let me best focus on coaching. I have done my D and C licence in coaching so far and the next stage will be the B licence. I want to finish my badges and then probably get into coaching when I get to 35,” he says.
“Now I also help on a voluntary basis at some schools here where I stay. I have also been approached by the owner of one SAB League team here in Parys and I should hopefully be with them soon,” he reveals.
‘Fame got into my head’
Though days tend to be dark with no stable income coming his way, he is lucky that he has always had a supportive family and gets coaching gigs from the Ngwathe Municipality, which helps him send money to his two kids, who are staying with their respective mothers.
“The problem is that I’m not employed anywhere which means I always have to try and make ends meet by conducting coaching clinics. I’m also lucky in that our local municipality helps us out by calling us when they are conducting clinics for which we then given something afterwards,” he says.
“That money helps patch up here and there. You know life still needs to go on. I stay with my mom, sister and aunt. It is nice because I left them when I was young [to go to Harmony Sports Academy].
“I THINK REFUSING TO SIGN THE CONTRACT EXTENSION THAT CELTIC OFFERED ME WAS A MISTAKE BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE RESULTS OF FAME.”
“I have two kids and they stay with their moms. I look out for the kids when I have something because I remain a father and that will never change,” says Nhlapo.
If it wasn’t for the knee injury picked up prior to the start of the 2009/10 season, Nhlapo could have been still playing football, regardless of the level, but now must only to deal with memories of a career that has been flushed down the drain.
All he can hold on to are the temptations that keep lingering in his head, considering that he is still only 31, and is brave enough to admit that it was a blunder not to accept the contract extension he was offered by Celtic ahead of the 2010/11 season.