Davies was cult figure for Rangers
First skipper to win PSL title
IT’S not that Mark Davies was the first man to put his finger prints on the inaugural Premiership crown in the Premier Soccer League era that makes him an exceptional man.
Nor is it that he achieved that by captaining the unfancied Manning Rangers to the feat against all the dominant football forces in the country.
But what makes Davies exceptional is that he only wore the Rangers jersey throughout a professional career that saw him make close to 300 starts in the league, turning him to a cult figure in Chatsworth.
Davies brought strong leadership, solid defence and sheer determination to the outfit where he, with players like Innocent Mayoyo, Clinton Larsen, Grant Johnson George Koumantarakis, Bradley Muir and Kerryn Jordan, went from unknowns to champions.
He and Muir formed a solid combination at the back that snuffed out potent opposing strikers like Daniel Mudau, Nkosinathi Nhleko and Raphael Chukwu, allowing the Rangers strikers to go forward with confidence knowing their backs were covered.
He did that job for over a decade after joining Rangers from amateur outfit Escombe FC in 1991 right up until he hung up his boots in 2002.
Davies was a solid man-marker who was the foundation to the Durban-based side Gordon Igesund coached to their first and only league title in the PSL era.
Davies and company also brought Caf Champions League football to the city in 1998, when they overcame Royal Lesotho Defence Force and Zambia’s Power Dynamos to reach the group stages.
In the group stages, Rangers were just three points away from the final, a spot that was taken by eventual champions Ivory Coast’s Asec Mimosa.
But the Mighty Maulers did finish ahead of Moroccan giants Raja Casablanca and Young Africans from Tanzania with Davies’ leadership skills coming to the fore in the demanding continental campaign.
“He is a vital cog in the side, both as skipper and a player. His worth to the side is unquestionable,” was how Igesund once described Davies.
Davies personified Rangers, strong and resilient and still holds the record for the most appearances in the now defunct club. He is part of an era that has escaped the city with clubs from Durban ever since – AmaZulu and Golden Arrows fighting to avoid relegation rather than for titles.
Battles for honours from these teams are rare as winter in the city with Arrows’ MTN8 victory in 2009 the last time in the past 10 years, “champions” was used as a prefix to a Durban side.
Being champions is a distant memory just like that of Rangers, but that era that is remembered with nostalgia by locals. In the absence of any new memories to change that, thoughts about people like Davies still brings smiles to Durbanites. That is just one of the things that makes him an exceptional man.