It will become one of those great quiz questions on South African soccer in years to come. Which team beat runaway champions Mamelodi Sundowns in four out of four matches in the 2006/07 Premier Soccer League season?
The answer, of course, is Ajax Cape Town, who have been like a breath of fresh air this campaign. If you asked me to name my team of the season, it would be Ajax, who finished fourth in the league and reached two cup finals — one of which they won.
And all this with no sponsor, a squad with an average age of just 20 and having sold arguably their most effective player of the past few seasons in January as Brent Carelse left for, ironically, Sundowns.
Of course, there was plenty of salt to be rubbed in the wounds of Brazilians coach Gordon Igesund — until the start of this season in charge at Ajax — who is very much from the school of thought that you will “never win anything with kids”.
But Ajax found an excellent mix of experience in the dressing room as well as youthful exuberance (and no shortage of skill) on the field of play. Coach Muhsin Ertugral, who is likely to head for Galatasaray after being offered a mega-bucks deal to become assistant manager at the Turkish giants, is an excellent mentor and always managed to get the best out of what was at his disposal.
And then there was the acquisition of experienced goalkeeper Hans Vonk, who returned at the start of the season to the country of his birth, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge acquired in Europe. His contribution on the field was immense, but his mentorship of the youngsters off it, complementing the work done by Ertugral, was a major factor in the club’s success.
A colleague was telling me how in the dressing room before last weekend’s Absa Cup final in Durban against Downs, the young Ajax players were so pumped up to beat their more illustrious opponents that Ertugral and Vonk had to go around one by one and calm them down.
But experience off the field can only take you so far, and a lot of the credit must also go to the likes of Clifford Ngobeni, Nazeer Allie, Franklyn Cale, Bryce Moon and Terror Fanteni for consistent performances throughout the past nine months that have seen each of them receive international recognition at either full international or Under-23 level.
Fanteni apart, all of these players have come through the Ajax youth system, as have Andre Petim, Brett Evans, Dominic Isaacs, Granwald Scott, Nhlanhla Shabalala, Mfundo Shumana, Mkhanyiseli Siwahla, Coburn Woodington and Clayton Jagers, making this easily the most productive development system in South African football.
No club can come close to producing such an array of talent from within their own structures, but with no sponsor and little money to spend in the transfer market, Ertugral had no choice but to throw the youngsters in at the deep end.
The gamble, if that is what it was, has paid off handsomely and everyone at the club deserves praise for an excellent season. With the impending exit of Ertugral comes a new challenge, though: to find a coach who can build on the work of the past nine months and perhaps even turn this unit into title contenders.
Nick Said is editor: special projects for Kick Off magazine