Kids, once upon a time, there was MXit and it was, believe it or not, the biggest social media platform in South Africa.
Facebook and Twitter were there, but weren’t happening at the level MXit was at. Instagram and Snapchat were nothing but an idea in the minds of some whizzkids.
Yes kids, in 2010 when the Fifa World Cup was in town, SA’s leading social media platform was MXit.
Look at any of your parents; mom, dad, auntie or uncle, maybe even your big brother or sister, look them straight in the face now and ask them what their name on MXit was, and wait for the answer.
It was a social media phenomenon like no other, but I’ll let your parents tell you more about it.
I don’t want to be held responsible for telling your kids that you have a crazy past.
Through that very platform, the dreams of four young footballers were achieved, as Capetonian Nazan Klaasens, Jonathan King, Khayalethu Nzimande and Reyaad Pieterse were selected to attend The Chance trials at the prestigious Nike Academy in the UK.
COMPETITOR: Jonathan King (left)
Klaasens was a left wingback, Pieterse from Johannesburg was the goalkeeper of the group, King was a rightback and Nzimande the midfielder were both from Durban.
Two of the youngsters won contracts to stay for the year at the Academy – it was joy for King and Pieterse but the end of the road for Klaasens and Nzimande.
King suffered a devastating injury which disrupted his progress at St George’s Park, while Pieterse thrived and even earned an invite to train with Tottenham Hotspur.
He signed for Shamrock Rovers in Ireland before coming back home to join Chiefs and has also played for Bafana Bafana, SuperSport United and currently Mamelodi Sundowns.
LOCAL BOY: Nazan Klaasens
This is what I can remember, I’m sure there’s much more they can tell us about their journey since then. We are all very aware that MXit is no more.
So I thought, how about I let you guys drive the other conversation right here on Diski Business with an interactive feature where you ask the questions to the four guys about their whereabouts and what has happened since.
That whole The Chance concept was launched with the official opening of what is now the Nike Football Centre in Soweto when the World Cup kicked off with a street-style tournament called the Nike Cup.
CHASING THE DREAM: The Chance
That’s where some guys signed up for the trials, while most of the others did it through the MXit platform.
They were able to follow their journey through posts and interaction with some of the SA local football stars.
Here’s your chance boys and girls, send your questions on Twitter to @umjaka with the hashtag #TheChanceCatchUp and we’ll ask the four The Chance Alumni and get back to you with the answers.
FOR THE RECORD:
THANK you Mr Dennis de Sa for the correction to last week’s column.
I stated incorrectly that there were no Western Cape teams involved in the old NFL and Mr De Sa correctly pointed out that Cape Town City and Hellenic had joined in the ‘60s.
We appreciate the feedback please keep it coming.
Let’s fix the history for the sake of our youth.