DEDICATION
4.4 Boys’ team sport
4.4.1 Brendon – soccer
“Nothing can stop me from playing soccer.”
94 Brendon is a passionate white soccer player from KZN. At the age of 10 he knew that he was going to become a soccer star, the ultimate aim being to make the sport of soccer his profession. Although he has his sights set on playing international soccer, he wants to play for his country first, but being white he is not sure what his chances are:
I want to make soccer my profession to make it my career. I would like to play for Manchester or for Barcelona or for AC Milan. I would like to play for my country, but I am not too sure that I will make it. Soccer is going down a bit, not the way it used to be, but I would like to play for my country. Get the caps. B1
Brendon is a soft-spoken individual with a pleasant disposition:
I am a very shy person but I am a different person when I play soccer. I just want to excel in everything I do. I play soccer, so I do not get to go to all the parties. I am committed to my soccer. I think I am having more fun than them (friends). They may think it is hard when I train and do the hurdles, but for me it is all about becoming the best player. B2
Brendon is in Grade 9 and is only 14 years old. He does well in school and has this to say about his achievements:
My aggregate is 76% or something. But the subjects I am really good at are Mathematics and EMS. I achieve 80% and 90%. B3
When Brendon is not training, his favourite past-time is to relax and play his drums. He is an only child, but does not see himself as been spoilt by his parents:
I just lie around, watch TV and become a couch potato and I play the drums.
Just recently I bought a set of drums just to try to relax and play them. I am not spoilt as I still have to work for the stuff that I need. If I want something, I have to achieve or do well or save up. B4
His mother and father completed their matriculation examinations and run a business.
Brendon lives in an affluent suburb of Durban. Brendon’s father is a South African but his mother is of Irish decent and believes that she needs to be there for him. She is also the secretary of the soccer club he plays for and very involved in her son’s soccer life.
95 He related the involvement of his parents in his sport as follows:
My dad played rugby, judo and hockey at school and my mom I think played softball. My dad and mom are not soccer people. Only when I started to play soccer, they became more involved in soccer. B5
Brendon is the only white boy playing in an all-African team. He started at a young age and plays with his team predominantly in the townships. He is therefore exposed to the African culture in an intimate way, and playing with the boys in the team his relationship with them goes further than just being on the field and training together:
I have made lots of friends through playing soccer. One of my friends from the first team was the goalkeeper who was 12 years old. When he received a bad knock on his head and died, his funeral was my first African funeral I attended.
I had to walk behind an open casket. I was representing the team and had to toyi-toyi in the streets chasing after his coffin and the hearse. It was a very sad funeral. He was so young. B6
Being the only white boy playing soccer in the club, Brendon has endured many setbacks, because of this but even though the odds were stacked against him he persevered.
It is the passion of the game I guess, I just love playing soccer and nothing can stop me from playing soccer. B7
Brendon attended former white schools when in primary school, and now that he is in high school he attends Hikmat High, a private school which caters for his soccer needs and allows him flexibility for his training and match schedules.
I was supposed to go to Weston Boys but they are very strict as I could not leave when I needed to or when I had to play for my club. I had to be committed to the code I was playing for so I moved schools. It is not a sport school, but whenever I need to go they let me off and they are very supportive of what I do. B8
He plays for Barcelona Football Club in the U21 side which has predominately black soccer players in the team. As a white boy playing soccer he has weathered all sorts of hardships and insults from both black and white players and officials in his pursuit to be selected for the KZN team as well as for the soccer club. When he first started playing
96 soccer in the township as part of the club he was jeered at by the players and the spectators, but now he sees himself as being part of the township:
When the head coach of the academy gave me a chance to play soccer I was told
‘hey umlungu51what are you doing here, you must go back to where you came from’. But when they saw that I was really good at crossing the ball, they started cheering for me. When I first went there I was a bit nervous but now everyone knows me. I feel very proud when people know who I am in the township. B9
Brendon is the only white boy in the township and this gives him a different perspective of life in the township and the experiences of the people who live there:
When I went to the township it really opened my eyes to see what the people go through and how some guys come to training. They have no boots or shin pads but they just want to play soccer. One boy I played with, he just loved soccer.
His parents died and he lived in a dog house. This just opened my eyes to see how they suffer52 and how much they enjoy coming to training. B10
Racism is an issue in soccer and besides himself having been a victim of it, his mother (who is the club secretary) has also experienced it:
My mom was asked by the coach at one of the tournaments to register the team.
One of the selectors wanted to know from my mom what she was doing there and told her to go back to where she came from. My mom already knew that I was not going to make it. So sometimes I have not been chosen because some of them are really racist, but now it is starting to get better as they know me and it is easier for me. Last year I played for Umlazi and I went for trials for KZN. This year I could not make the tournament and my coach told me that all the guys were asking where the white boy who plays soccer was. B11
51 A Zulu word which means 'white person'. Originally ‘umlungu’ referred to the white foam that collects along the shore of the beach.
52Social spaces of sporting excellence - Brendon is exposed to life in the township learners as he has to travel there for his club training.
97 Comment by Professor Srinivasen S. Pillay on Brendon’s self-portrait:
Brendon’s psychological profile is notable for his perseverance, independence and determination. Underlying this is his love for soccer, which motivates him in the face of the adversity he has to face. The adversity most faced is that he is part of an “out- group” because he is white. (You see this in his drawings that show how spectators have changed their attitudes toward him.) He has had to face unfair rejections to stay connected with the team and community. This suggests that he transcended the focus on prejudice and instead switched his focus to his love of soccer and achievement.
Studies show that empathy promotes social behaviour, but that empathy is greatest for people within one’s own group and that this reflects in EEG (brain-wave) patterns (Gutsell & Inzlicht, 2011). Brendon would have had to face the lack of empathy from most people he encountered, but he still succeeded. Thus I would say that Brendon’s psychological profile illustrates that he has trained his brain to focus much more on the positive – and he has derived the strength to do this by connecting with his love of soccer. Love is one of the most powerful redirectors of attention (and stimulators of motivation), and is probably at the core of his ability to succeed despite the prejudice he has faced.