I messed up

Tokelo Mokhesi: That last-minute stunner you scored against Spear of the Nation in the semi-final of the ABC Motsepe League play-offs in June took La Masia to the pro ranks. Life-changing stuff!

Tshidiso Tukane:

Indeed, the goal has changed the lives of the Westbury community and everyone who worked hard to ensure the club gets to this level. It was a great feeling being the one who scored that goal. The goal doesn’t just change their lives only, mine too, so we are all exman). cited, ntjaka (my

TM: Having disappeared pro football scene, ing in the third

TT: It wasn’t easy, my brother, belot cause you face a of obstacles. I needed to have a strong mind, you get me? Not to say that I didn’t want to get back to the top level, but once you lose your professional contract, other teams question why you left, why this and that happened. Some might not even consider giving you an opportunity to see how you can still contribute, so wherever you are, you just have to keep a strong mind and believe as anything is possible. So, I just told myself, ‘You know what, if it means that I have to fight my way back up the hard way and be the one that promotes a team, I will do so.’ You can’t always depend on favours, some days you need to do it yourself. I was strong mentally and for me to get back up to the prohad fessional set-up, I to help a team get up as well. I nearly did it with Polokwane City Rovers, but unfortunately we lost at the play-offs. The following year, in 2021, I joined La Masia and I told the guys that it was possible to get promoted, we just had to believe in ourselves and through that and hard work, it actually happened. It wasn’t an easy journey, my friend, because I’ve played in the ABC Motsepe League for a long time and people would say, “Ag man, why don’t you quit? Give up, man.” It is much more difficult to get up from the ABC Motsepe League as it is a jungle, but the positivity we had as players and the belief that I had in myself that I actually belong up there, even if it takes three to four years, if it is meant to happen it will happen, and it did happen.

TM: You spoke about obstacles! TT: Ja, it is always that people are very judgemental. Some may never ask the right questions as to why this guy lost his contract as a professional player and some will take whatever they hear from people and judge you on that. When things are not going your way, people will actually dig a deeper hole for you to get into. So, there are a lot of things, but as a person, you need to understand that life is not easy and it was never meant to be easy. There are situations you find yourself in that will push you to quit, but I didn’t, regardless of the challenges that I faced. I think it is more of people saying that it was not meant for him anymore and keep saying the negatives, this and that. Others will even go out of their way to make sure that you’re still where you are, at the bottom, you know, but you need to motivate yourself and believe that you can.

TM: Go on. TT: from the you’ve been playtier for years…

To be honest, my brother, people had this picture about me, (that) maybe the reason the boy lost his PSL contract was discipline and that if le rona re mofa monyetla le rona o tlore mathata (we also give him an opportunity, he’ll become a problem in the team)

because for one, you don’t just lose your contract as a player, there has to be something that contributes to that. So, yes, there are wrongs I’ve done

He may not have played for a big team, but on the evidence of what he was able to offer during his time at Jomo Cosmos and Mpumalanga Black Aces, Tshidiso Tukane was up there with the Jabu Pules and Steve Lekoeleas of this world when it comes to talent. Diminutive and stocky, as well as possessing a penchant for unleashing a shot from distance, he could pop up from anywhere on the field to conjure up a memorable moment when the chips were down. But football dealt the Sebokeng-born star a big blow and he literally lost it all – the cushy PSL contract, the fame, the fair-weather friends, you name it. But with the assistance of those close to him, he managed to find his way back to the Beautiful Game and has now finally returned to pro football with Motsepe Foundation Championship new kids on the block La Masia. His is a riveting story of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, as told to Soccer Laduma’s Tokelo Mokhesi. and I admit that I too wasn’t as discipline d as I should have been as a professional player. Unfortunately, mistakes happen and we all learn differently. Some of us have to learn the hard way. I took it like that to say I messed up and I had to deal with it, so I can’t necessarily point fingers at people and say, ‘No, this guy did this and that.’ Sometimes we let ourselves down because we work so hard to get into the professional set-up and when we do get the opportunity, we take ourselves down again. So, like, if I’m the reason that I lost that contract, I’ll be the reason to get it back again.

TM: Are you referring to your contract that got terminated at Mpumalanga Black Aces? TT: Yes, eo (that one), ntjaka.

TM: What really happened? TT:

I would say my behaviour too wasn’t appropriate. You know, we got too excited. For some of us, football has always been a challenge and we have never gotten to be comfortable. It has always been a struggle. So, the minute I felt comfortable, I sort of stopped what I was doing, which was working harder than everyone, and I got excited, so the discipline was no longer where it should be. Unfortunately, I lost my contract and wherever I went to look for a job… you know there is always a point of reference to say, ‘We want to sign ‘Dona’, but why did you guys let such a good player go?’ and the point of reference will obviously say, ‘Ag, this guy, we loved him, but he was not as disciplined as he should have been.’ So, ja, maybe that was another thing that blocked my way into getting back and, at the time, I was also not in a good space and kinda let go and said, ‘Ag, man, I can do without football.’ There was a time when I took about a year or two without playing the game because of being frustrated, but then you can never get away from something that you love. Whenever I saw guys playing, I realised that I actually missed the game. You know, you have those two or three individuals who always believed in you, they’ll come and encourage you and say, ‘Hey, man, I think you can still contribute to the game.’ People like Isaac Mphasane, who was coaching at Swallows FC at the time, and Swallows was in the Vaal area. He fetched me from home and said to me, “Dona, I know you’ve decided to stop playing football, but you are still young and I still feel that you can help and contribute positively in the game.” I said I too missed the game and I was actually waiting for somebody to come and lift me up and build me. So, I decided to go and play for Swallows and the mandate from Panyaza (Lesufi) was for us to try and get into the Last 32 of the Nedbank Cup and if we did so, the team would buy a status in the NFD. We did that and got into the Last 32, but unfortunately, before we could even play that game, I had a fallout with Swallows and I left. This was not due to discipline or anything like that, it was other things, a money issue. I then parted ways with the club and they actually bought the status in 2019, so it was just one of those unfortunate incidents because now this was supposed to be a breakthrough. I was like, ‘Oh, man, I could have just delayed the decision a little bit longer and stayed in the team and things would have been okay.’ But then after that, I was like okay, if this could happen, perhaps I could play for another ABC Motsepe League team and this time around I could actually help the team without them buying a status. So, I decided from there to give it my all and then I played for several teams like Alex United, but nothing much happened there. I then moved from one team to the next in the ABC Motsepe League, which was even more difficult, my brother.

TM: What do you mean? TT:

Yeah, you know teams in the ABC Motsepe League are not run as professionally as they should be. We faced a lot of challenges because now you’ve been a pro player and you know how players should be treated in a pro set-up, so now you are fighting all these things, (having) battles with club owners. ‘This is not right, you can’t treat players like that.’ Other players in that league don’t have much to say because they’ve never played in a pro league. They accept whatever that is being put on the plate, so it was even more difficult fighting for players. With you having played at the highest level, you have to be the voice of the players and fight and the management themselves will feel undermined and say, ‘Since you’ve been up there, you think you know better.’ The environment doesn’t become conducive as well for you because you have to fight as a player and when you play on the field as well you find that opponents are also telling you c**p, that, ‘Hey, you think this is PSL. This is not PSL!’ So, you need to be very strong. I was fighting against a lot of things, the supporters as well. When you go play away games, people would be like, “Isn’t that Tukane who used to play in the PSL? I wonder what happened to him, and he acts like this is PSL.” But this is all part of life. Nobody ever said to me life was going to be easy, so I took it like that, (that) this is just a journey I have to go through and I just need to stay strong and positive and soldier on, and I did so. Even now I can guarantee you that it still won’t be easy because for every level, there is a different devil. We might think that now those battles that I fought in the ABC Motsepe League are over and the NFD is going to be easier – that’s not how it is! I’m going to face a different devil now, I’m going to face different obstacles again. We now have to fight to get into the DStv Premiership. I don’t know what the season ahead has for us, but we need to remain positive and have our own goals and fight to achieve them.

TM: Earlier, you mentioned that you got too excited at Aces.

TT:

Well, you know when you become a professional player, you have lots of friends, so you will start doing funny things and friends will come with their own things as well. There are new friends that will come and help you in a positive way and there are those who will come and take you on the wrong path, but like I said, I’m one person who doesn’t like blaming people. If I take a wrong decision, I don’t want to say a friend of mine was an influence on that decision because at the end of the day, that person didn’t grab my hand and force me. I had a choice to make and you know when something is wrong and right. So, I feel that perhaps I was getting comfortable and forgot my goals, what I wanted in life. I’d say I started being that person who started going out a lot, partying with the guys. Because it was something I didn’t do much of, I started doing more of it with the guys. Even though I did drink alcohol every now and then, I was that type who would drink at home, just chill with my wife or family or some of those friends who came to my home. That was my type of fun. But now I had friends who were like, ‘Hey, man, let’s go out clubbing.’ That meant if I went to a club, I would come back a

“Whenever I saw guys playing, I realised that I actually missed the game.”