When the 2006/07 season began, none could have predicted that midway through the season a small side like Silver Stars would be leading the log.
The high-flying ”Tycoons” — an ironic nickname for a side run on a shoestring budget — have done exactly that and, even better, clinched the inaugural Telkom Knockout Cup in December.
These achievements go against the grain of local football. Fans expect the big three (Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns) to dominate the top positions, as they have done over the years.
Silver Stars, who seem to prefer industry over flair, are intent on breaking the trio’s monopoly. They are perceived to be driven more by a desire to win than a wish to give spectators an aesthetic display.
But club coach Owen Da Gama disagrees with this assessment and insists that his side plays attractive football as well — he labels their approach ”positive”. ”We can’t play like Real Madrid, we can’t play like Barcelona but we can play like Silver Stars. We can’t be anything but ourselves,” says Da Gama.
He should be best placed to comment on ”playing like Silver Stars”, having taken the team from the amateur ranks in just four years and shaped it into an emerging force in five.
Da Gama’s own rise mirrors that of his team. Once an obscure player, so successful has he become that he won the league’s Coach of the Year award last season.
Shortly after joining Moroka Swallows as a player in the 1980s, Da Gama came from the bench in a Soweto derby against Pirates to score the winning goal, thereby initiating his reputation as a soccer heavyweight among the Birds faithful as well as the local soccer family.
He later spent eight years playing for clubs in various European leagues, eventually winning the Irish Player of the Year award.
Stars grabbed the attention of the local football fraternity when they knocked Orlando Pirates out of the first round of the Absa Cup in 2002 even though they were still campaigning in the first division (now the Mvela Golden League).
In their first year in the premiership, they made it to the Coca-Cola Cup final where they lost to Kaizer Chiefs. Then, this season, they won the Telkom Cup.
Stars have become stronger and sharper as the season has unfolded. Their good run has convinced Da Gama that they have what it takes to go all the way for league honours. Winning the Telkom Cup has inspired a sense of self-belief in the players as well, giving them a convition they might otherwise have lacked.
The club’s goal-getter-in-chief, Hareaipha Marumo, told the SABC after the cup win that it had suddenly dawned on his teammates that winning trophies was not only for others.
Their recent achievements are made sweeter by the fact that the club features no real ”stars” within its ranks — their best players have been leaving the club at the end of each year since their memorable victory over Pirates.
First it was the industrious Sailor Tshabalala, who left to join Pirates, then Oscar Ntwagae went to Mamelodi Sundowns, and Edward Williams to Supersport United — but he returned to the Stars this month.
Katlego Mashego was the latest export to a ”bigger” side when he joined Supersport United.
Last season’s Footballer of the Year, Surprise Moriri, only gained respect for his abilities after he quit Stars, drawing the attention that got him into the national squad. With the exception of Williams, who has never worn a national cap, the former Stars players received their national call-ups only after they had left the team.
Without a cult of personality hanging over the squad, Stars’ strength can be ascribed to the team’s collective work ethic, the leadership provided by the experienced Willem Jackson (who played for Bafana Bafana in the World Cup in 2002), the well travelled midfielder Dingaan Masanabo, and the highly promising Wayne Sandilands between the goalposts.
Da Gama says his philosophy dictates that after players make it to the top level they should be left to play the game as they understand it.
”Having played here and in Europe I realise that the game is different. South African players like to express themselves [as opposed to Europeans who prefer to play a more structured game].”
Da Gama was reported to be furious during the Christmas break because the Mamelodi community had put pressure on one of Stars’ most strategic players, Koketso Mmotong, to join Sundowns. But Da Gama knows it is only a matter of time before the richer clubs come raiding his Cinderella side.
Surprisingly, he is not bitter. Instead, he praises the role of his players in lifting standards. He says players from smaller sides are always looking to make their names against the big sides.
This he knows from personal experience. ”If I had not scored the winning goal on my debut for Swallows against Pirates coming from the bench, it would have taken people longer to recognise me.”