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‘El Capitan’ no longer exists.
The spirit and memory of Johannes ‘Ryder’ Mofokeng will live forever in the hearts of the Kaizer Chiefs football family.
Amakhosi’s longest-serving captain, and one of his most inspiring players, passed away on January 2, 2021 at the age of 68.
Mofokeng joined Kaizer Chiefs in February 1970 from the amateur club White City Lucky Brothers.
He was discovered by Buti, the brother of Kaizer Chiefs president Kaizer Motaung, while participating in an amateur game in White City, Soweto, in the early 1970s.
He was part of the Chiefs reserve team from 1970 to 1973, before making his official debut for the Chiefs first team in a league game against the Kimberley Dalton Brothers on August 5, 1973, when he was 21 years old.
Mofokeng was named captain of the Kaizer Chiefs first team by coach Eddie Lewis in 1975, a position he diligently held for a decade until 1985.
During his time with Chiefs, Mofokeng earned 25 official honors with the club, 21 as club captain.
He was part of the Chiefs team that won the club’s first league title in 1974, a season in which the Chiefs scored 106 goals and conceded just 27 in the league, as the team lost only three times in its 30 games that time. season.
He won five league titles with Chiefs in 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1984 and was captain during four of those seasons in 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1984. No player in the club’s history has captained the team with more titles than him.
He was captain of the Chiefs team that won quadruple in 1984, under the guise of the recently deceased Joe Frickleton, as they won the league title, the Mainstay Cup, the JPS Knockout and the Sales House of Champions Cup.
Mofokeng participated in more than 300 official games for Chiefs, but only managed one goal in a 1979 Cup game against Blackpool at Kwa-Mashu.
His contribution to the history of the club is immense and, at the time of his passing, he was serving as a senior and revered member of the club’s development structures.
“The loss of Ryder is incredible. Words cannot describe how I feel right now. Ryder was one of us and he served the club with distinction as a player and a member of staff. I want to thank the Lord for having given us the opportunity to share the life and times of this legend. His is the name etched and set in stone in the Kaizer Chiefs history books. He accomplished it all as a soccer legend. He won and raised a lot of trophies for us. At this time, I wish to express my deepest condolences to his family, ”said a shocked Kaizer Chiefs president, Kaizer Motaung, upon learning of Mofokeng’s passing.
Mofokeng, a right-back who wore the club’s “number 2” jersey, was the team captain in some of its most important and special victories.
The victory he was most proud of occurred at Rand Stadium on April 12, 1975 when Kaizer Chiefs became the first ‘black’ team to beat a ‘white’ team, when they defeated Hellenic in the Chevrolet Champions of Champions in the first stormy days of multiracial soccer in South Africa.
Hellenic had won the first leg 4-0 at Cape Town’s Hartleyvale Stadium and their then-coach Frickleton once boasted that a black team would never be as good as a white one.
“I will walk naked on Eloff Street in Johannesburg if a black team beats a white team,” Frickleton once said.
Kaizer Chiefs, however, proved the Scotsman wrong when they beat their Hellenic ‘white’ team 2-1 in the second leg.
Frickleton never kept his promise, but spoke during the club’s 50th anniversary celebrations last year, Mofokeng still cried when he described the excitement of that day.
“It was very emotional,” he reflected. “Those were still the darkest days of the apartheid regime, where blacks were said to be inferior to whites. Then we as a black team beat Hellenic who was a white team. I will never forget it, it is one of the most memorable moments of my life. Of all our victories in the 1970s, this was the biggest victory for Kaizer Chiefs, ”said Mofokeng.
‘Ryder’ also led the Amakhosi to their first multiracial league title in 1979, a year after the formation of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), ensuring that they were the undisputed best team in the country, while South Africa was still in control of apartheid segregation.
Mofokeng did not lose the importance of that victory in the league title.
“When we played against white teams like Lusitano, Highlands Park or Wits University,” he recalled, “it was a real war on the field. Although we also had some white players on our team by then, the idea that they might lose to a mostly black team really infuriated those teams.
However, he enjoyed playing against Arcadia Shepherds, “who were true sportsmen.”
For the Amakhosi, Mofokeng was one of the club’s most important athletes, unifiers and ambassadors.
When Lucky Stylianou became the first ‘white’ player to become a Kaizer Chiefs regular in the late 1970s, he made special mention of the great role Mofokeng played in welcoming him.
When Stylianou first arrived at the training ground, the first person to greet him was Mofokeng, who took his hand while introducing him to all the players.
“The captain, Ryder Mofokeng, took me by the hand in the traditional African way and introduced me to the players. No amount of money can buy the kind of love that I received as a member of Amakhosi, ”Stylianou said as he paid tribute to Ryder’s tremendous display of leadership and warmth.
While he captained star Amakhosi players such as Nelson ‘Teenage’ Dladla and Pule ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe, he was always assured of the utmost respect for his leadership.
In recent years, Mofokeng was absolutely dedicated to the development of bringing in the next generation of Amakhosi players.
He was also passionate about the youth of South Africa as a whole.
After an incident of gun violence at Jabulani Technical School, Mofokeng felt compelled to write the following words.
“School violence represents unacceptable and unethical behavior in the education sector. This type of violence has serious psychological consequences for students, families and, most importantly, teachers. Many teachers are leaving the profession due to endemic violence. Now is the time for state intervention, ”Mofokeng said, in another example of his strong sense of leadership, empathy and duty.
Amakhosi rarely lost a cup final with Mofokeng leading the way in the 1980s, which he attributed to the club’s great sense of unity.
“We had one spirit and one voice. When we went out into the field, we were always together, ”Mofokeng said.
Motaung says that Mofokeng’s enormous contribution to Amakhosi had “left us with so many fond memories to calm us down and give us strength” and that messages of condolences and condolences have leaked from everywhere, from club legends, past and current players and supporters. .
“Captain my Captain, as Ryder was affectionately known, Rocío sleep peacefully. Legends don’t die, they replicate. May God be with the family and give them strength as they cross this valley of darkness. We are guided by Psalm 23: 4, which reads from the Good Book: Although I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, because you are with me; your rod and your staff will give me encouragement, ”added Motaung.
As our ‘Captain’ leaves the field for a higher calling, we will always remember him and hold him high as one of the most beloved members and leaders of the Amakhosi family.
RYDER MOFOKENG’S STORY IN KAIZER CHIEFS
February 1970 – Joins the White City Lucky Brothers Chiefs and joins the club’s reserve ranks.
Kaizer Chiefs Reserves: 1970-1973
Kaizer bosses: 1973-1985
Chiefs first team debut: 3-0 away win in League 5th August 1973 against the Kimberley Dalton Brothers.
Honors with Kaizer Chiefs (25)
League titles (5): 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1984
National Cup Competition (Nedbank Cup) (6): 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984,
League Cup (formerly Telkom Knockout Cup) (2): 1983, 1984
Top8 (MTN8) (6): 1973, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1982, 1985,
House of Champions Sales (6): 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984
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