Neal Collins
soccer
Lucas Radebe spent the tail end of the season injured at Leeds United. Quinton Fortune played at Manchester United only when Ryan Giggs wanted a rest. Mark Fish had an up and down time after the switch from Bolton to Charlton.
But if it’s a real South African success story in the English Premiership you’re after, try Shaun Bartlett: Bafana Bafana’s top goal- scorer has taken London by storm this winter.
The 28-year-old Capetonian arrived at Charlton on loan from FC Zurich in December. Since then he has played 20 times in the number 37 shirt and scored seven goals for the The Addicks, who were expected to slump into the relegation zone but, with a little help from Bartlett, ended up in a respectable ninth place.
Now Bartlett, with the coveted BBC Goal of the Season trophy safely on the mantelpiece after his wonder volley against Leicester, has made his move to south London permanent. Charlton came up with the 2-million transfer fee this week.
He says: “When I was first picked to play sides like Manchester United, I was absolutely nervous I couldn’t sleep. I’d only been in England a few weeks. But after the first few minutes, I’d had some good touches and I felt, ‘Hey, I can do this.'”
He could. Bartlett scored twice to force United to concede a point at The Valley then he breached the defences at West Ham, Newcastle, Leeds, Chelsea and, memorably, Leicester.
Bartlett insists: “I have said all along that I would like to stay with the club because I am happy here and have settled in very well since I arrived. I don’t think the situation would have changed even if our manager Alan Curbishley had decided to go to West Ham because I am determined to stay here.
“The two clubs are still busy negotiating, but I am hoping something will be sorted out soon. Having said that, I’m glad Alan is staying because my relationship with him has been unbelievable. Alan was the biggest influence in attracting me to the club.
“Charlton is like a family. Everybody gets along. That’s not always the case with a player on loan. When you’ve got five other strikers already there, they could make your life hell. At Charlton, they accepted me from the start.”
The irony is the 1,83m striker (he doesn’t look tall but has a knack of winning vital, goal-scoring heading contests) could have been a veteran of English football by now if his old club Cape Town Spurs had accepted an offer from Bristol City eight years ago.
Bartlett recalls: “I came over with Spurs when I was 20 and we played Bristol City in a friendly at Ashton Gate. I scored twice and after the game their chairman said he wanted to buy me. Spurs said no, but I would definitely have said yes.”
So Bartlett went back to Cape Town, where his roots were far from the troubled gangsterland of his Bafana Bafana team-mate Quinton Fortune in nearby Athlone. Bartlett admits to a “middle-class” background even under apartheid, and he had a Herschelle Gibbs-like talent for athletics, cricket, hockey and footie. He was also a dab hand at selling shoes and it was shoe-shop management that looked likely to provide the bulk of his income given the limi-ted budget at Cape Town Spurs.
But once apartheid had been dismantled and international football resumed for South Africa, Bartlett was given a more attractive shop window to work in.
He was just breaking into the Bafana Bafana squad when they won the African Nations Cup at home in 1996. The international scouts had done their work. Colorado Rapids made an offer to Cape Town Spurs and Bartlett was off to the United States.
The Rapids rapidly lost their attraction and he was off to the club with the most unfeasibly long-winded name in football. The New York/New Jersey Metro-Stars, coached by Brazilian World Cup winner Carlos Parreira, were next to enjoy Bartlett’s predatory skills.
But Major Soccer League was not what Bartlett wanted: “The football was very Ameri-canised, with shoot-outs from the halfway line and stuff. It wasn’t the greatest time for me career-wise it was fun but the level wasn’t that good.”
Then along came the 1998 World Cup in France. Bartlett was back in the shop window and, though Phillipe Troussier’s men failed to reach the second stage, Bartlett impressed.
FC Zurich took him to a third footballing continent and he settled fast in snowy Switzerland. The goals came easily particularly in the Uefa Cup, where he struck eight in eight ties in the 1998/9 season.
When he finished leading scorer at the 2000 African Nations Cup, Bartlett became hot property. And Charlton, ignoring the frequent calls from his national side, stepped in. With a record 22 goals in 52 games for South Africa, the next problem will be international interruptions.
Fish had retired from international football and Bartlett twice put Charlton ahead of his country’s African Nations Cup needs in the closing weeks of the season.
But the World Cup remains a potent lure. And as Bartlett explains: “It cuts both ways. I have to play fairly regularly for my country to keep my British work permit. I still regard it as a great honour to represent my country.”
Like Radebe, Bartlett is a potent symbol of the new South Africa. The legendary tale of how Nelson Mandela demanded an invitation to his wedding is now folklore in two nations thousands of kilometres apart.
Bartlett grins: “It was Mr Mandela’s grand-daughter Rochelle who called, she said he was upset not to be invited when I married Juanita in 1996. I was sitting in the church when I heard a huge roar. It was him. My grandmother was knocked off her feet, I can tell you. It was the best wedding gift I could have got.”