It was 30 years ago, but Gordon Igesund remembers it like it happened yesterday.
You would expect that with the passing of time Igesund’s memory would have faded, but he remembers how they assembled the team, planned pre-season and executed the campaign with owner Kaycee Reddy and team manager Afzal Khan.
Against all odds, the Mighty Maulers, as Manning Rangers were known, recovered from a 9-1 loss to Kaizer Chiefs in the Coca-Cola Challenge, a bridging competition as the old National Soccer League switched from a winter to summer season, to win the inaugural Premier Soccer League (PSL) title in its first 1996–97 season.
Rangers went on to establish themselves as strong competitors in the opening half-decade of the PSL at their Chatsworth Stadium stronghold in Durban until, having been allowed to fall into decline, they were relegated at the end of the 2004–05 after years of financial struggles.
This season marks the 30th anniversary of the PSL. Igesund made history as the first coach to claim the championship title with unfancied and now defunct Rangers.
The brainchild league of Orlando Pirates owner Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Chiefs counterpart Kaizer Motaung to replace the poorly administered NSL, was bringing in a new era of genuine professionalism and financial turnaround to South African domestic football.
This week in Cape Town, Igesund went down memory lane with Sunday Times as he reflected on “an amazing time for us”, when a team of no-hopers came out on top of fancied and resourced sides Pirates, Chiefs, Moroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns.
To be able to sit here and think about the things that we used to do is fantastic.
— Gordon Igesund
With Reddy, Khan and others behind the scenes, the Maulers created an environment for a strong squad of working professionals such as Grant Johnson, Liswa Nduti, Innocent Chikoya, Mark Davies, Bradley Muir, Clinton Larsen, Warren du Pont, Marcus Mphafudi, Solo Ndimande, Simon Makhubela, George Koumantarakis and, soon after their title, Keryn Jordan and Gilbert Mushangazhike to thrive.
There was excitement in the country at the start of the PSL, which promised to take local football to another level.
“I don’t think it crossed anyone’s mind at that stage that we will go into another level in our football. All we wanted to do was just to be part of it and play,” Igesund said. “We had teams like Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows, Kaizer Chiefs, Santos and all the other teams that got together to play.
“To be able to sit here and think about the things that we used to do is fantastic. We are grateful for everything that everyone has done because our kids are on a different level because they can be what they want to be.
“If they want to be professional football players, they can do it because it is a good league and that’s important.”
Ahead of that season, the focus was firmly on the big Gauteng teams, but Igesund and Rangers had other ideas.
“I inherited a team of players from the lower leagues. We put the team together and I remember we played against Chiefs and they beat us 9-1.
“It was Red Nose Day [the charity drive popularised in South Africa in the 1990s] and we went to the match with our red noses on during warm-up. Chiefs hammered us and after the game everybody was showing us the ‘nine’ sign with their hands.
They were a team that refused to lose. They will defend with their lives and when we were 1-0 up, we will win the match.
— Gordon Igesund
“It was an embarrassing situation but also a big learning curve for us. When we got back to Durban, Mr Reddy was waiting for us at the airport.
“I said to him that we were outclassed and he told me to fix it. I worked closely with Afzal Khan and we went out there to look for players.
“We went to all the amateur clubs in and around Durban and we got players like Davies, Muir and also recruited established players like [Marcus] Mphafudi and [Charles] Yohane.
“We got a team together and started playing. After the loss to Chiefs, we won one of the games 9-0 and that’s how our run started.
“Halfway through the season, I actually called the players and told them we can win the league. Obviously they felt like I was talking nonsense, but we were a team that might not have had the greatest players but they were good professionals and wanted to play and win.
“We won our first 11 games away from home. We had Grant [Johnson], Larsen, Koumantarakis, Jordan, Makhubela and we went on to win the league by eight points. That was an absolutely amazing time for us.
“They were a team that refused to lose. They would defend with their lives and when we were 1-0 up, we would win the match.”
Igesund said credit must go to people like Khoza, Motaung and Jomo Sono and many others for building the PSL into an attractive and competitive league.
“A lot of credit has to go to a lot of people. We were out of international football for a long time and players of that era like Teenage Dladla and Jomo Sono missed out on opportunities.
“They missed out on opportunities to play for the national team because we were banned by Fifa. A lot of good work has been done by Dr Irvin Khoza, Dr Kaizer Motaung, Jomo Sono and many others.
“All of us played a role to get football to where it is now. We have come a long way and we keep on looking to get better. We are still behind in certain areas, but we are playing international football and recognised.
“We are going in the right direction, the league is fantastic. Over the last few years, it has been dominated by one team, but that has changed. I am proud to be part of the South African football history.”
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