So it’s technically off-season now mos, the time for gossiping about who’s going where and who’s joining who.
It’s also the time for some players and coaches to let loose, some go home to their parents and families and entertaining business ideas or the needs of childhood friends and family members, while some go on nice getaways.
This is a time where a footballer’s career can be destroyed by one bad call.
The recent incident of assault involving Thembinkosi Lorch on his girlfriend is one of the typical examples of just how bad things can go wrong for a SA footballer during the off-season.
Back in the days we used to hear stories of how some of amaGrootman, Bafana Bafana stalwarts at that, invested in their WAGs’ studies, etc.
The relationships turned sour for many of them and when there was little to fall back on, those lovers were nowhere to be found.
Nobody’s perfect.
Sometimes such arrangements work out and they are amazing examples of how awesome it can turn out for a player when they find the Posh to their David Beckham.
I’m sure there are a lot of footballers who benefited from supporting their spouses, who in turn are taking care of them now. It’s a really beautiful thing.
But we also have to admit that there’s a problem somewhere because footballers are constantly in the news for domestic violence or cheating during the off-season.
They are falling into the same traps that hurt former professionals in the past.
We need to bring these conversations to light to give guys another opportunity to reflect before they make these big decisions.
We need to make players aware and consider the pros and cons when they have to make these choices.
No choice is wrong or better than the other, as I’ve pointed out, it has worked out for some to have a spouse they can trust, but it hasn’t worked for some. It’s life, nothing is guaranteed.
AmaGrootman mustn’t share these stories with sadness all the time, you know.
It has happened and it sucks for sure, but we have to start showing guys that such things do happen.
As one of the greatest rappers of all time, Tupac Shakur, said: “Life goes on.”
Just like on the field of play, there’s still a lot to play for after disappointment.
Give the guys a glass of fine Cape brandy for the pain, and let’s give them a platform to share their stories with a smile rather than frown.
Kids, Cape brandy is adult things, you must stick to milk, juice, soda and water wena!
They were very happy when they were making those decisions to support the love of their lives at the time.
That should be something to be cool about. That the relationship didn’t work out is another thing.
This goes for all those “friends” who leech off pro footballers during the off-season as well.
We need to make players understand that these kinds of people exist and bring up these topics up in conversations with them during the off-season.
We need to help the current crop understand that the challenges they’re faced with today are not unique to them. It’s the kind of stuff that happened to many legends of the game in the past – like Itumeleng Khune in his party days.
It is, however, really important that we find a different way than the current “danger, gevaar” warnings we keep sending to players about “saving money” and “investing”.
It’s already enough that insurance and funeral plan adverts are constantly reminding us of what can go wrong and the cost of it all.
Let’s have more fun when we’re sharing information. Nobody has time for the same old boring talk and cautionary tales.
We’ve already realised that the way we’ve been doing it hasn’t been landing with the players, how else can we approach this thing?
dailyvoice@inl.coza