A colourful soccer life well lived as Simon Raphael Selepe turns 80

Simon Raphael Selepe, who turned 80 on 4 April, still vividly remembers his colourful career as a young footballer growing up in Alex and later rose through the ranks to be president of the local football association.

After his playing days, Selepe rose within the ranks of the beautiful game to become a top referee, football administrator, and secretary general and later president of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association.

Selepe was one of the founding members of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), which later became the present day National Soccer League (NSL) which was a splinter group formed by Selepe, Abdul Bhamjee, the late Dr Leepile Taunyane, Kaizer ‘Çhincha Guluva’ Motaung and Dr Irvin ‘Iron Duke’ Khoza in 1985.

The NSL gave birth to the Premier Soccer League, a professional football body that has arisen both in stature and financial standing to become one of the top 10 richest leagues in the world.

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“I had no clue then [1944] as a young player from my school team at Lima Holy Cross Primary School in 2nd Avenue and later Immaculata Secondary School [established by the Holy Cross Sisters of the Catholic Church in 1920 based in Alexandra Township] that I would one day become the president of Alex African Football Association [Aafa], later known as Alex Football Association [Afa],” said Selepe

“I was still naïve and loved the game and never realised I was destined for greater things in life,” added Selepe, who is still a Catholic to this day.

Born in 166 4th Avenue, Alexandra in 1937, Selepe’s late father, Simon Mogale Selepe, who died in 1963 in Alex, was conscripted

into the British Army in 1939 during WWII and sent to Egypt. Selepe is one of 11 children, three boys and eight girls, and two of the boys and one girl are still alive.

Selepe played for his school team, Kangaroo FC, an affiliate of Aafa and his soccer prowess attracted the attention of another Alex football stalwart, the late Simon Noge, who recruited him to Alex Gunners, which was a splinter team of Alex Moroka Lions.

“In those years, a club had to have its own referee affiliated to the Alex Referees Association and after my career as a player, I then joined the referee’s department in 1955 to 1985, and was later promoted to assistant recording secretary at Afa and later became the secretary of the body,” Selepe said.

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From 1975 to 1988, Selepe gained the presidency of Afa and resigned in 1988 when then president of the South African Football Association Solomon ‘Stix’ Morewa, as the mother body of football, made an unfair ruling on a matter involving Gunners and Arsenal. Selepe then devoted his energies to his work with the NPSL.

He has worked with various luminaries of Alex football such as Roger Sishi, Moss Selolo, Oupa Tsiane, Taunyane, a Mkhwanaziand Mabitsela and Khoza.

In between, Selepe at one stage was jailed for selling political books, was a secretary of the Transvaal Referees

Association and a ticket control officer of Premier Soccer League.

He now devotes his retirement years to reading and writing books.

Edited by Beryl Knipe

To wish Simon Selepe a happy 80th birthday, WhatsApp your messages to 079 439 5345.