Whoever came up with the saying “fortune favours the brave” must have had Siyabonga Ngezana in mind.
Had the Steaua Bucharest defender been timid, he’d have allowed the dismissive voices of his previous club’s followers, who disapproved of him, in a bid to derail him never to recover.
The former Kaizer Chiefs defender didn’t fall in the fan favourite category during his time at the club. Football being the fanatical sport it is, fans express their joy and vent their frustration in equal measure. Only the brave withstand the pressure and don’t allow the sting of criticism to break them.
Ngezana survived a barrage of attacks that greeted every costly mistake. Rather than mire in his misery and partake in a pity party, he chose to drown out the noise, keep his head down and knuckle down to the business of playing football.
His is a success story that has come out of a torrid time for Chiefs. Ngezana, a product of the academy of the Phefeni Glamour Boys, graduated to the first team and persevered past the persecution from some among the Amakhosi supporters, who perceived him to be a weak link in their rearguard chain.
Summit of log standings
His painful path includes being part of the 2019 team that sat on the summit of the log standings from game number seven only to slip on the final day of the season and surrender the league title to Mamelodi Sundowns.
He suffered more pain when while ruled out by injury, he watched from the sidelines when Amakhosi’s gallant run to the 2021 Caf Champions League final — despite a player transfer ban — ended in agony as Al Ahly registered their record-extending 10th title.
Few thought a transfer abroad for Ngezana was feasible, let alone looming. But like a bolt out of the blue, Steaua — the beloved club of Romania legend Gheorge Hagi — were looking, and came knocking. Chiefs opened and accepted. Bucharest became his new home.
Bucharest brought with it a new lease of life and a change of fortunes. Almost two years after switching to the Supa Liga, Ngezana is a two-time Romanian league champion. A Super Cup title, being named foreign player of the season and inclusion in the team of the season, are further feathers on his cap.
His determination is paying off handsomely by playing Uefa Champions League football and call-ups to Bafana Bafana as Hugo Broos’s men lead the group C charge to qualify the country for the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the US.
Wine, women and song
Ngezana’s is a story of personal success, a tale of someone who turned the tables and, against the odds, left the comforts of home in pursuit of proving, not to critics but also to himself, that he is capable.
He is not the most talented of the lot. Many who are more gifted could not stay the course. They fell off the bandwagon, spectacularly succumbing to wine, women and song.
South African soccer is chock-a-block with sorry chronicles of careers cut short not because they left football but because football left them, as they did not respect the game.
Their inability to strike a balance between business and pleasure brought an abrupt end to careers at their zenith. Today, on the eve of Youth Day, they are referred to as examples of what could have been.
Thousands of our country’s youth are faced with myriad challenges. They are caught in a cobweb of drugs, drink and disease, drowning in a sea of despair in a dysfunctional society, where dreams are born to die.
Sport is one agent they can use to get out of the ghetto, as it were. There are thousands who are more talented than Ngezana — teenage athlete sensation Bayanda Walaza and boxer Phumelela Cafu, who are featured on these pages, will never get a chance to prosper because of scant opportunities.
Any young person looking for an example of perseverance personified must look no further than Ngezana. He is an example worth emulating. Borrow from his book.
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