Former Pirates star falls on hard times: ‘I have no income!’

Lucas Thwala is a retired South African football defender who last played for SuperSport United in local football circles. He also had a successful career at Pirates between 2004 and 2012, while he featured in over 20 games for Bafana Bafana.

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The 41-year-old has now spoken about the challenges faced after retirement, and how it is difficult to encourage youngsters to pursue football as a career.

“I am helping people with aerobics. I have been doing it for six years now… for free,” Thwala told Soccer Laduma. “I can’t charge people because if I do, the municipality will also charge me for using the hall. I just do it to help the community; I am not working and I have no income.

‘I don’t know what more to do, we are not recognised as ex-players. There is no way I can’t fit [in] at any position in sports both at the provincial level and local municipality.

“It is unfortunate that the young players look up to me and get discouraged about pursuing football when they see us doing nothing. We motivate them and tell them that football is a good career but then they ask ‘What has football done for us?'”

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Thwala featured in nearly 100 games for Pirates

Such a story will once again resonate with many after the South African Football Association recently called for more help to be provided to players after retirement.

Thanks to supporters in Norway, it was reported last month that around R2-million has been raised for former Chiefs and Bafana keeper Emile Baron, who has fallen on hard times.

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Baron – who played in several games for the likes of Bafana Bafana, Chiefs and SuperSport United – retired in 2013 following a career-ending tackle. He was compensated R400 000 from the PSL’s insurance, but according to him, that fell way short of what he was supposed to receive, and back in 2019 he was said to be exploring the legal route if Bidvest Wits failed to contribute financially following the career-ending injury.

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In the years since then, Baron is said to have been living in poverty and relying on handouts to support his family.

Back in his playing days, the talented keeper featured in over 100 games for Norway club Lillestrom, and became one of the team’s fan favourites. It’s now reported that stories about Baron’s struggles caught the attention of the official supporters’ group of the club, as well as other fans and followers, who have launched a fundraising drive amounting to 1.1 million Kroner (R1.9m).

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As reported by TimesLive, Baron and Lillestrøm communications head Morten Stokstad has stated that “4,961 individuals” contributed and that nearly R2m was raised by early April.

In another article by the publication, South African Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe praised the gesture from the people of Norway, but admitted more needed to be done locally.

“I think it’s not a one-off solution that’s needed. We need to ask: are we empowering the players so that when they finish their playing days they are still economically sustainable? And of course, as much as sometimes it sounds harsh, you can’t have a situation where you have someone who has played, got a lot of money and that money vanishes. It means somewhere, somehow [something has gone wrong].

“We are meeting with the [SA Football] Players’ Union to ask, ‘What do we do to equip players?’ Because it’s not an isolated case — you have many players who are in those dire straits. It needs all stakeholders in the country to say, ‘What do we do to educate players on financial literacy, how do we support players after they’ve finished playing?’.

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Another sad story recently came to light

Recently, in another example of a player falling on hard times, the terribly sad situation facing former Sundowns player Khayelihle Shozi came to light again this month after an image emerged which showed the once highly-regarded local football player still living on the streets.

Various rumours had swirled around about what could have led Shozi astray, with talk ranging from “witchcraft” to “mental health issues” to an “emotional breakdown” after he was sent off in his last appearance for JDR Stars against Cape Town All Stars on 18 September 2021.

Well-known ex-Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane recently responded to the photo of the former player looking to be in a troubled state, and even suggested he would be willing to offer him a job.