Paulse rekindles love for the game

36-YEAR-OLD DECIDED TO GIVE IT A GO AGAIN AFTER TAKING ROGER DE SA‘S CALL

Before I could get into my interview with Nathan Paulse, I couldn’t resist asking him whether he feels like Cape Umoya United’s messiah – after all, he came out of retirement to play for them.

After a prolonged chuckle, he gathered his thoughts and reverted to the diplomacy you’d expect from a seasoned striker.

“I don’t like to think of myself as the team’s answer. I feel we all rely on each other, though there may be a few key players,” he told Phakaaathi.

Paulse’s curriculum vitae carries names such as SuperSport United, Swedish side Hammarby IF and Ajax Cape Town, where he arguably played his best football. Last month, the 36-year-old had to find his boots, brush off the dust and come out of a year and some three months of retirement to join Umoya – the National First Division franchise formerly known as Platinum Stars.

A lot had to change in is life, for example, he had to turn his back on SuperSport TV as their Mother City-based analyst.

“I am a little disappointed that I can’t continue because I watch a lot of English Premier League football and I see they are involving the players who are still active in their analysis, like Watford captain Troy Deeney. He does some games every now and then,” he said.

The goal-getter has had a few clubs knocking on his door asking him to join, but only one man managed to talk him out of retirement – Umoya coach Roger de Sa.

“I have had calls over the last year and throughout this year, but I was unfortunately not in that space to play,” he revealed.

“To be honest, it was the fact that I worked well with De Sa at Ajax and we were still close. It was in June when he sent me a text and threw the question at me, do I still want to come back and play for him.

“That caught me off guard because everybody knew that I was done playing and I was doing work for SuperSport. I was coaching the juniors. A lot of people had been saying to me that I had retired a bit too early and I could have gone on for four more years or even more.”

Having to return to the pitch at the back of a year’s absence, Paulse says it felt like returning from a long-term injury and what was most important was to align his mindset to the task.

“From a fitness point of view I have been doing well. I have been doing 100m and I was playing team sports. I am very eager in terms of staying fit. I have played five-a-side and I have been at the gym often.

“My main concern was the mindset, the attitude and the intensity. I am a player who likes to give my all and in order to do that you have to be mentally fit. Also having to adjust to a level of high intensity was my challenge.”

He has already hit the ground running as he scored on his debut against TS Galaxy on the opening day of the NFD.

“When I played the first game, people were surprised that I played all of it and, for a person my age, going through with no injuries. It is just how I look after myself and game by game the intensity keeps coming back.”

The idea behind Paulse coming out of retirement is to help Umoya make the top flight. If they do, however, manage to gain promotion to the Absa Premiership, what is next on the Paulse script?

“You need to be aware of yourself in terms of what you can and cannot do. Ideally I would love to give my all this season and see how it pans out. It has to do with God’s plan and I don’t like to pre-empt things,” he explained.

“I can do well this season and maybe get into different roles within the club but for now I am enjoying being back on the pitch. When people say I am old, I can’t run anymore, I can’t move and I can’t score … I just shock them.”

A lot of people had been saying to me that I had retired a bit too early