Call back the football past
IT’S exactly a year ago (23 October) that Donald Murray Mack passed away in a car accident, from which his wife, Miemnie survived.
Many will not be familiar with the name, but those who played their sport – especially soccer - in the Empangeni region in the period 1970 to 1990 will remember only too well this feared opponent.
Belated tribute to soccer star Donald Mack
In a ZO article I wrote in 1993, I posed the question: ‘Who is the best soccer player ever to have come out of Zululand?’
Bearing in mind that the sporting-politico scenario has changed drastically since then, and based on knowledgeable input from local round ball pundits, Donald Mack was the name most chosen.
It was agreed that Donald would have made it to the very top of the professional ranks had it not been for a terrible motorbike accident, from which he barely survived, and a series of medical surgeries, family tragedies and other ‘bad luck’ interventions.
In the early 1970s, at the age of 20, the Transnet midfield maestro had been offered trials at both Highlands Park and Durban United.
He featured often on the ZO sport pages,
generally in goal scoring mode, even while playing with a metal plate in his head following the bike crash.
Donald also starred in local cricket matches, playing for the then Spoornet side, and after retirement, showed his skills on the pool table.
Our thoughts go out to his wife Miemie and sons Keith and Gareth, the latter – like his dad – a staunch Chelsea supporter.
Word is that when Donald came out of surgery after the near-fatal bike accident, his first word was ‘Chelsea’.