The most amazing player

For as long as he remembers, Andries Mosehle has been ridiculed for being the footballer with one arm, but yet he was been able to play competitive football for close to a dozen years, spending a quarter of that time in the National First Division.

While most able-bodied players don’t make the cut in professional football, Mosehle was a one-armed wonder who never felt he could not take up the challenge of competing like everyone else on the pitch.

Mosehle was born on the last day of June in 1990 in Brits, North West, but suffered the misfortune of having his left arm amputated before celebrating his second birthday after a freak accident.

“I was run over by a car when I was 18 months old, so I don’t even remember when I had both arms,” he says.

“I was told that my mom was going somewhere so she thought she could sneak out quickly without me seeing her, but then I saw her and followed her outside the gate of our yard. As I came outside a car came speeding.

“By the time the driver braked, the wheels were already on my arm ad about to go over my head and that is when everyone screamed. I was told I was actually lucky to even come out alive and to have survived that accident,” he discloses.

Mosehle says his disability didn’t discourage him as he went on to fulfil his dreams.

“It has always been something that has propelled me into wanting to do whatever I want to achieve because I believe there is a reason and a purpose as to why I survived that accident. I have always been trying to change perceptions about people in our physical state.

“It is all about the mind and if you have a positive mindset you can achieve anything. I still believe that I am on the right track of doing what I want up to now, be it as a player or a coach. Belief is something that I have never been short of,” he stresses.

Staying positive

He is assertive in his belief that certain people with disabilities can do as well as able-bodies persons.

“I know that from a young age I was always competitive, fearless and even rough to such an extent that my mom used to say I will hurt myself. Losing my arm has never been so much of a factor in my life because

From being amputated as a toddler and then mocked for having one arm through his school years, Andries Mosehle was still able to pursue his dream of playing professional football and at his peak earned the admiration of Kaizer Chiefs. For all the challenges he faced, he was able to break barriers, turn heads and earn a living from the game. He is now in semi-retirement but hopes to continue serving the game as a coach. He spoke to KICK OFF’s Lovemore Moyo about his inspiring tale of rising against all odds.

it never stopped me from pursuing anything that I wanted to do.

“I have always been positive and confident in myself. Growing up it was never easy, but it also wasn’t that difficult because I had to grow a thick skin at a young age. From my experiences I know how kids can be mean, so growing up I had to adapt to an approach of, ‘before I get attacked, I need to attack myself first’.

“I had to make my situation bearable by making it a joke so much that every time they made fun of me, I used to laugh as well, regardless of how deeply it hurt me.

“Instead of shying away I had to embrace who I am and change people’s perceptions, hence I went into football. I know that a lot of people feel that you need both hands to play football and that I wouldn’t be able to achieve the little that I did.

“There are a lot of players with both arms who couldn’t even play in the NFD, let alone last three years like I did. There are now a lot of people who still look up to me up to this day and always say, ‘if this guy could do it then I can also’.

“I have always wanted people to know that it is not about your physical status but your mindset. Whatever you set your mind to, you can achieve,” says Mosehle.

His football abilities earned him a scholarship at Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sport School in his teens.

Though he wasn’t in the SuperSport Academy, he rubbed shoulders with Kamohelo Mokotjo, Kermit Erasmus, Thandani Ntshumayelo, Thato Mokeke, Sherwyn Naicker, Masibusane Zongo, Ronwen Williams and Tshepo Gumede, who attended the same institution, stayed at the same hostel and were his teammates when playing in the school team.

‘I had nothing to prove’

From school he played for Southdowns Academy and Berea Albion, coached at both by Steve Haupt, then moved FC AK in the First Division, had a stint with Highlands Park in the ABC Motsepe League and featured for Highbury FC, Maccabi FC and Alexandra United.

“The one thing that I managed to do growing up as I got to understand the game was to make sure that I was always physically fit,” he says. “Whenever I am fit, everything is just easy for me because I don’t get to find myself in situations whereby I must use my physical strength.

“When it comes to falling, I don’t know how I never get hurt. I would be lying if

I said, ‘this is what I do to protect myself’. Whenever I am caught up in physical contests, I don’t know how it is that I avoid getting stuck, so that is why I always tell people that it is all by the Grace of God.

“I don’t need to know how God does His

“I WAS TOLD I WAS ACTUALLY LUCKY TO EVEN COME OUT ALIVE AND TO HAVE SURVIVED THAT ACCIDENT.”

things but all I need to is to be graciously grateful that I am able to do what I am doing, and I am good at it,” he says.

It wasn’t always his abilities as a footballer that caught the attention, but rather the fact that he played the game with one arm.

Those who underestimated him before games were left crawling on the ground and he never expected any favours from match officials, who were amazed at just how he competed.

He didn’t pull out of tackles and was even red carded against Vasco da Gama in an NFD match.

“What I loved the most about stepping onto the field was when people laughed at me, yet were unaware of what was coming their way. By the time they realise what they are up against, the damage was

already done and I had built up so much of my confidence that I was already flying.

“It was something that I used to like because everywhere I went, I used to make a name for myself and leave people talking about the one-armed guy that played here. My motivation came from being looked down upon and then getting worked up when they wanted to prove a point to me.

“They didn’t realise that for me it was already an achievement to step on the field against people with both arms, so I had nothing to prove. All I had to do was enjoy myself because nobody expects anything from me.

“I also wanted officials to see me the same way as everyone else and others were even amazed, so much that after the game, they would be asking me how I performed like that.”

‘Komphela told me he liked me’

However, what was always bound to happen was the fact that having one arm would work as a deterrent to opportunities in the PSL. After all, he was perceived to be severely handicapped.

“I can’t dispute that this is true,” he interjects. “However, I am such a positive person that I try to make the most out of every situation that I encounter. I have always told myself that not everyone will look at me as an asset.

“Most people see a liability in me, which has hampered me a lot because I couldn’t even get the slightest of opportunities at the times when I felt I deserved them. It is one thing that I knew will happen when I got into football and in as much as I tried to break those barriers, I couldn’t run away from the fact that not everyone is open-minded enough to see me as an asset to them.

“It is something that pushed me all the time and I knew that I had to do five times more than everyone else because the spotlight is always on me. Every time I step onto the field everyone wants to see what this one-armed guy can do, and I never had the opportunity to rest. I had to be twice as fast as everyone is to make up for everything.

“Sometimes I would love to believe that there were people that were interested but because of the person that I am and where they were at that time, they couldn’t take me.

Coach Steve Komphela once told me that he liked me when he was at Chiefs, but I knew very well that he doesn’t have all the powers. Worse is that at that time he wasn’t doing well with Chiefs.

“Maybe it would have happened if Chiefs was doing well, and he wanted to give someone like me an opportunity. A lot of noise would have been made about me being one-armed, more than about my football abilities, which is normal with people without football brains. There are coaches that I met who believed there was something special in me, but with the limited powers that they had they couldn’t get me to where I believed I should be. But

“EVERY TIME THEY MADE FUN OF ME, I USED TO LAUGH AS WELL, REGARDLESS OF HOW DEEPLY IT HURT ME.”

then this is something that I must just live with,” he says.

Ultimately, he didn’t even get opportunities for trials. Why?

“The moment prospective clubs heard who I was it made them lose interest. I have never had an opportunity to go for trials, but then the coach says I am not what he needs? That was the chance that I always begged people for … just for them to have a look at me on the field.

“I only went on trial at FC AK and got signed. If I had both arms, I will have played in the PSL. My close friend Thabang Monare talks about how much I deserved to play in the PSL because I always took pride in my work-rate when we played together at FC AK. He even says I was failed by South Africa, but I laugh it off,” he notes.

Moving on

Now happily married as a father of two Mosehle is glad to have overcome the mental anguish that he has had to deal with.

“My battle has always been more ppsychological than it is physical. I was the gguy that people would just stare at once and tthen say, ‘he can’t do this or that’. So, I had to ttrain myself to be mentally strong and never l et people’s sentiments – some of them vvulgar, nasty, offensive and inhuman – get tto me.

“I had to deal with all of this on the field from f fans and I remember even when I was w young, parents of the opposition also taunted me about my physique, but it made me stronger as a person.

“The same values that I grew up with can now be passed on to my sons. I tell them every day that this world will challenge you, so it is all about being strong,” says the 30-year-old.

Mosehle left Alex United earlier last year. “For a person like me, I have had to break a lot of boundaries and I feel like at my age not many people are open to giving me a chance, so I would rather prepare myself for coaching because that is my next step in life.

“I had put all my energy into making it into the PSL, but I haven’t had the luck to do so,” he concludes.

Mosehle is doing an English LFA online course for a certificate in scouting which he plans to complete soon. He is also waiting to do CAF D Licence via SAFA.

“THEY DIDN’T REALISE THAT FOR ME IT WAS ALREADY AN ACHIEVEMENT TO STEP ON THE FIELD.”