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Luc Eymael is no palooka

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ON A MISSION:  Luc Eymael returns to Celtic in his first Free State derby. (Samuel Shivambu, BackpagePix)
ON A MISSION: Luc Eymael returns to Celtic in his first Free State derby. (Samuel Shivambu, BackpagePix)

Johannesburg - South African football has had its fair share of adventures when it comes to importing soccer coaches.

Some came to this country and performed wonders, while others turned out to be palookas.

One can think of many, dating back to the 70s, when what was then known as “black football” had just turned professional.

For those who might not be too familiar with the goings on at that time, South African football was once segmented as “white”, which was represented by the National Football League (NFL); “coloured and Indian”, whose clubs played in the Federation Professional League; and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) for black clubs and players.

Several white players came to South Africa to participate in the NFL and a few of them ended up making this country their home.

Some, such as the late Eddie Lewis, Joe Frickleton, Jorge Santoro and Walter da Silva, later had a field day as coaches in the NPSL.

Some did so without even having been trained to coach, but they used the experience they gained in their countries of birth and in South Africa as NFL players.

There was talk, even back then, that some achieved results just because of their skin colour; talk that lent itself to the famous Setswana saying setlhare sa motho o montsho ke lekgowa (a black man’s medicine is a white man).

It was said that some achieved what they did because black players worshipped them and followed their instructions to the T. But put a black coach in charge, and results would not be forthcoming.

However, one can argue that, despite not being trained as coaches, the likes of Lewis, Frickleton and Da Silva knew something about football. This was proven by their successes with clubs such as Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows.

Frickleton and Lewis had already been quite successful as coaches of Highlands Park and Wits University in the NFL before it merged with the NPSL.

South African football was later joined by Briton Jeff Butler and Augusto Palacios, the Peruvian who came to these shores as a player in the 80s.

Butler came with a glittering CV and won a string of titles with the Phefeni Glamour Boys – until journalist Thomas Kwenaite burst his bubble and exposed him as an imposter after he had been appointed as the first Bafana Bafana coach. This led to his being summarily fired.

After mesmerising us with dazzling football displays on the field for the likes of Witbank Black Aces, Palacios graduated to becoming a coach and eventually ended up as the senior men’s national team coach.

Just as had happened with Butler, British journalist and author Simon Kuper poked holes into Palacios’ CV when he wrote in his book Football Against the Enemy that Palacios’ appearances for the Peruvian national team “depended on which interview you read”.

This poured oil on to speculation in South African football circles that it was another Palacios and not our Augusto who represented Peru at a World Cup.

However, “Njenje” still insists it was him. To date, no one has managed to provide concrete evidence that it wasn’t him.

The kind of football he played when he first came here was of the highest order and he could, just maybe, have been to a World Cup.

But his stints as coach at Chiefs, Pirates (several), Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana have indeed been dramatic, and mostly ended dramatically.

Now we have the maverick Belgian Luc Eymael, who turns 60 on September 20. His CV says he was a footballer at some stage in his life, and today he guides the affairs of Free State Stars in the Premier Soccer League.

The swashbuckling Belgian arrived on our shores with great aplomb at Polokwane City and immediately had several fights with the hacks.

However, he proved in his first season that he was no palooka, guiding City to their highest finish in the league.

He has managed to keep Free State Stars in the top four for quite some time and they have attained the unfamiliar tag of “title contenders”.

Whatever happens at the end of the season, Eymael is fast proving that he knows at least a bit about football.

smseleku@citypress.co.za

Follow me on Twitter @Sbu_Mseleku

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