Radebe’s inspiring climb from hoodlum to hero

LONDON, (Reuters) – Lucas Radebe is a personal friend  of Nelson Mandela, a FIFA ambassador and one of Leeds United’s  finest players of modern times but he still vividly recalls the  grim Christmas when he nearly turned his back on what was  destined to be a brilliant future.

He had his bags packed, an airline ticket in his pocket and  was ready to secretly escape from Leeds and fly back to  Johannesburg.
It was that Christmas of 1994 that he made the best decision  of his life. He took his hand off the doorknob and stayed.
His first few months in the north of England had been tough  and he hated the place which now reveres him as an adopted son  and one of Leeds finest players of modern times.

“I arrived there knowing nothing about Leeds. Going overseas  for me was like walking into a dark room blindfolded.
“I had no idea what to expect, I didn’t know anything about  Leeds United — and when I arrived it was horrible, I hated it,”  he told Reuters in an interview.
By the December he had started just one match in four  months, made a few brief appearances as a substitute, and  explained how he came to be facing a swift return home.
“Nothing was happening for me and I wanted to go. Breaking  into the first team under Howard Wilkinson was tough. I hadn’t.

“I was only used sparingly. I never played in the big games  and I was getting depressed and homesick. Me and (teammate) Phil  Masina used to save up 50 pence pieces to phone home from a  payphone. That’s how bad it was.

“It was December 1994. The worst part was the weather, it  was horrible and I thought, ‘my bags are packed, I’ve got my  ticket, I am just going to go’. I wasn’t going to tell anybody,  I was just going.”

But he changed his mind, won a place in the side at the  start of a glittering decade of good times and is now lauded as  a Leeds great as well as being a personal friend of former South  African president Mandela, who has described the 41-year-old as  “my hero”.   He also works as a FIFA ambassador and his new  autobiography, “From the Streets of Soweto to Soccer Superstar,”  tells his astonishing life story which has seen him rise from a  Soweto hoodlum who stole and hijacked cars, became the victim of  a street shooting, but is now one of Africa’s best-loved  footballers.

“I got involved in crime, gangsterism, hijackings. We made  sure that when tomorrow came we had something in our stomachs.  But that’s the lifestyle I knew growing up,” he said.

“There were no role models, we didn’t have access to TV or  international events, it was a day-by-day existence and  survival of the fittest.”
Radebe’s lucky break came through his parents. They sent him  away from Soweto at 15 to school in the rural homeland of  Bophuthatswana.
There he began to develop into such a superb footballer that  he was signed by Kaizer Chiefs. After three years there, reports  of a talented centre-back were circulated to clubs in England  and Scotland.

“I know Dundee United were interested and I could have gone  there, and some clubs in London. But Leeds made the best offer  and I went there instead. I was already 25, I wasn’t young but  had no real idea what I was heading for. I had never been out of  South Africa, I didn’t have a clue,” he laughed.

PERSONAL TRAGEDY
Personal tragedy has blighted his life too including the  death of his 34-year-old wife Feziwe from cancer two years ago  leaving him to bring up his three children alone.
But everything would have been different if he had opened  that door in his digs in Leeds all those years ago and gone  home.

“Standing there, I realised the opportunity I had, and the  responsibility I had, not just of representing myself but also  my country and of the chance to open some doors for other  African players.

“I changed my mind. I thought I would rather fail having  tried than not try at all. I had been through all the dark days  of apartheid, I had been shot, I had had nothing but I survived.  That’s what transformed me.

“Coming through that childhood in which I saw many of my  friends killed or jailed, built my character and helped me face  the challenges in Leeds — and George Graham coming in as  manager was absolutely brilliant for me. He gave me my chance  and the great days began.”

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
In his decade with the club, Leeds challenged for honours,  reached the Champions League semi-finals and between 1998 and  2002 finished between third and fifth in the Premier League.
Their recent revival after slipping down to the third tier  in England pleases him and he was given a hero’s welcome when he  went back to visit Elland Road last week.
But right now other matters are occupying his thoughts —  not least the legacy the World Cup finals will bring to South  Africa and Africa as a whole.

“If somebody had told me in my lifetime that we would have  hosted the World Cup in Soweto, I would never have believed it.  It was a tough, tough place to grow up, I played football in the  street, we had little in the way of facilities.

“But just the fact that Soweto hosted the World Cup was a  triumph in itself.”
He says the opening day of the World Cup was one of the most  emotional of his life.
“I was doing TV with Francois Pienaar, the winner of the  1995 Rugby World Cup and when both teams came out, I am telling  you, we looked at each other, we had goosebumps, we were like  kids. It was such a great achievement, it was the greatest  thing.”
The stadiums, he says, will serve as an inspiration to  future generations.

“I am sure the World Cup, the new stadiums, everything, will  take us to another level. We don’t want to be like Japan  or Korea who demolished the stadiums after spending so much  money on them in 2002.

“For me they are an investment for youth, for the grass  roots of the game. The stadiums stand as a symbol of inspiration  for the upcoming generations and can pay dividends for the young  for years.”

And what of the former Soweto bad boy who is now friends  with Mandela?
“That is truly amazing. I go round to see him with my kids  for lunch or tea sometimes. He has been an amazing friend since  my wife died and, well, it’s a long way from where I started.”