Drinking and ill-discipline ruins football careers, says former Chiefs striker

It’s been one rollercoaster career for former Kaizer Chiefs, Moroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns striker Edward Manqele since he blasted into the top South African league at Ea Lla Koto in the 2011/12 campaign.

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In that season, the striker was lethal in front of goals for Stars, as he found the back of the net 11 times, which saw him attract interests from several clubs.

Manqele opted to sign with Downs in 2012, but things didn’t go so well as he ended up being sent out on loan to Swallows, where things look to be getting better for him, and spells with Chippa United and Kaizer Chiefs followed.

Injuries, however, and some off the field issues saw him attract a lot of bad publicity, which ended up affecting his performances.

Now all grown up and looking back at his career, having also played at Royal Eagles, Real Kings, Chippa United and Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila – the striker owns up to his mistakes and now his main aim is to help youngsters not to fall into the same trap.

“What I have learnt in all the years that I’ve been is that you have to be disciplined because football is a short career and anything can happen unexpectedly. You see, when you are disciplined and humble you will go places. But you know in football, there is no therefore. You might find a coach who likes you, gives you game time and then he leaves. When a new coach comes, you find that you’re not his favourite,” Manqele told Phakaaathi.

“Those kind of things disturb you as a player. That’s when you need to have a big heart, if you don’t, you end up doing wrong things. You start drinking and doing all the wrong things. I know because I have been in that situation before. But, I don’t regret anything that happened because it was a lesson to me.”

Now 34-years old, Manqele is now playing for GladAfrica Championship side Pretoria Callies, where he wants to be a good example to youngsters and help the team achieve their goal of promotion to the DStv Premiership.