Manchester United midfielder Quinton Fortune is coming good at just the right time
Neal Collins Quinton Fortune’s name is finally going up in lights in England, nearly 10 years after his arrival at Heathrow. On Tuesday night at Old Trafford the 23-year-old from Cape Town finally proved beyond doubt that he has the quality to succeed at Manchester United, the world’s richest football club. Not bad for a lad from Kewtown, one of the world’s toughest suburbs. Bradford boss Chris Hutchings said after Fortune’s two goals in their 6-0 Premiership defeat: “He was bloody hot. You take a look at kids like that on the United bench and that gives you a fright. I wouldn’t look too far beyond United for this year’s champions after what I’ve seen tonight.” For Fortune, who also scored twice against Bradford last season (so far all four of his Premiership goals have come against Bradford), this was the biggest night so far since his arrival from Atletico Madrid 18 months ago. With a casualty list featuring stars like Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Denis Irwin, Ryan Giggs, Dwight Yorke and Jaap Stam, the fact that Fortune rose to the occasion was not missed by canny boss Sir Alex Ferguson. He said: “This was good for United because it showed that he can do it. Quinton and the other youngsters are now standing on their own two feet. I thought this was a good opportunity to challenge Quinton and I was right. “Quinton is a finisher. He’s a good scorer and he has got a good appetite to get into the box, and he’s quick.” The only downside for Ferguson is that Fortune is now off to the Olympics with South Africa. The manager growled: “He’s going away now for about a month and we’re disappointed. But for the boy’s sake, it’s a great experience and he’s only a young lad.”
Fortune’s goals came in the 23rd minute (a left-footed volley when he came steaming in on the far post to connect with David Beckham’s cross) and 71st minute (a stunning 25m effort which left the Bradford keeper standing), as United destroyed the Yorkshire Terriers to go top of the Premiership.
Wednesday morning’s headlines included “United’s super Fortune”, “Fortune favours United” and “Fortune chases gold” as the young South African went top of the popularity charts. It’s unlikely though that all this hype will get to Fortune. There is a level- headed feel to Fortune, perhaps inspired by that tough upbringing in Kewtown, where he was the youngest of five children. His dad was a cleaner at the University of Cape Town, his mother works in the city library. Fortune’s most memorable quote has to be: “Where I came from, you either play football, go to church or become a gangster.” But it’s not just a meaningless sound bite. He says: “I chose to play football and I was lucky to be good at it. If I hadn’t been, I don’t know what would have happened. There were gang fights, shootings and plenty of crime. “I can remember playing in football matches as a kid when the players had to lie down on the pitch because someone would start firing bullets during a game. It was a very poor area, so there was always a certain amount of glamour attached to being a gangster.” More recently, other events have kept things in perspective for the boy who arrived with English-born scout Colin Gie from Cape Town aged 13. While at Spurs under Terry Venables, he helped the posh public school Forest Gate to become a force in football for a couple of years but work permit problems and the departure of Venables saw Fortune leave London after four years for Spain and Atletico Madrid. The return to England and Manchester United – the club of most boys’ dreams – has made him something of an international celebrity.
The UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) invited Fortune to visit Uganda’s war orphans last summer. Fortune, who also saw 12 fans die when he turned out for South Africa against Zimbabwe earlier this year, said of his trip to war-ravaged Uganda: “It was an unbelievable experience. It’s difficult to describe but it was very humbling.
“I went to the village of Gulu, where Unicef is trying to help these kids who survived the war. They were abducted and forced to walk hundreds of miles to the Sudan by enemy soldiers. These kids, all under 15, had been forced to carry all the soldiers’ equipment. If any of them dropped a bag, they would be killed – not by a soldier, by one of their brothers, who was forced to fire the gun. “The kids find it too horrible to talk about, so they draw pictures. They’ve given me a book of their drawings. I don’t want to forget what I saw. It reminded me how lucky I am to be where I am. “I pinch myself every day to make sure all this is really happening, that I am playing football for Manchester United. Every day is a joy for me.”