Deep Dive Of South African Football Through The Eyes OF Coach Gavin Hunt

Welcome to the deep dive. OK, today we're really jumping

into something special, a world just full of passion.

South African football. We've got insights here from

someone who's, well, he's properly lived it decades in the

game. Yeah, first as a player, then as

a coach who's pretty much seen it all, hasn't he?

From like the grassroots level right up to winning the big

trophies. Absolutely.

So what we're doing here, our mission is to dig through all

that experience and pull out the really key stuff.

You know, the big lessons, the surprising stories.

The things that really tell you what makes South African

football tick based on his journey.

Exactly. We want to understand it better

through his eyes. And there's a lot to cover.

Playing days, the the shift into coaching, building teams.

Navigating the club scene and player development.

The whole 9 yards. It's a proper insider's

perspective. Some sharp opinions in here too,

which is always good. OK, let's dive in.

Where better to start on the pitch?

His playing days. He was at Hellenic right from 81

to 94. That's the one came up through

amateur clubs apparently got scouted from like inter school

games. Which says something about how

talent spotting worked back then, doesn't it?

Totally different era. He really paints a picture of

the 80s being you know, genuinely semi pro, meaning you

had your day job. He mentions being a Rep.

Driving around football was strictly evenings.

You trained after work. You got paid, but it wasn't your

not. At all.

And that, he says, just flipped completely with the PSL FARA

late 90s. Suddenly it's full time pro.

Yeah, full time and the salaries, crucially took a big

jump. More money, sure, but a totally

different lifestyle for the players.

And that leads him to a really interesting point, doesn't it,

about player quality then versus now?

It does. His take is that the older guys,

maybe they had more like game intelligence.

And why is that? Simple reason, they just played

so much more football. He talked about potentially

playing 20 games a month. School, club, all combined 20

games a month. Wow, compared to now?

Compared to now, where he reckons some juniors might only

play 20 games in a whole year. That's a massive difference in

just time on the ball in real games.

Exactly. So, OK, modern training is maybe

more scientific, you know, fitness, diet plans, breaking

down skills. But his point is that the sheer

volume of actual play taught those older guys something

fundamental about the game itself.

The game was the teacher. He remembers the big teams back

then too. Chiefs and Swallows, he says,

were the absolute giants in the 80s.

And Pirates, Big club, obviously always a big name, but he

recalls them actually struggling a bit in that decade.

Nearly got relegated at one point.

Just picking up the odd. Cup and he mentioned some names

that have kind of faded, like Low United.

Yeah, reminds you how things change at the top.

He also talks about playing in some real legends like Team

Outage de Ladla. What do you say about him?

Describes him as just a pure natural footballer.

Flair. Incredible ability, Could

apparently get the ball from the keeper and just glide up the

pitch with one twos. Wow.

Yeah he uses his great image. Says if there was snow De Ladla

wouldn't even leave footprints, just floated.

Effortless talent. Amazing.

So how does someone go from playing against guys like that

to wanting to coach? Well, funny story, actually.

He says it started purely for money.

Extra cash, Really. Yeah.

Coaching kids at schools while he was still playing senior

football. And get this, he was earning

more coaching the school kids than playing.

No way, that's wild. Crazy, right?

So that kind of blanted the seed, the coaching bug when he

was still pretty young, early 20s.

Started with kids, then moved. Up yeah.

Found coaching little kids tough but quickly got picked for like

prevention and national under 16 setups.

Still very young himself. But the real push in the senior

coaching came later. Yeah, a bad injury ruptured his

Achilles. He was about 3233.

Ouch. Big one out for nine months.

And this was, you know, before everyone had great medical aid

or the kind of rehab science we have now.

So recovery was tough. Very tough and it hit his day

job too. Being a Rep meant driving

couldn't do that. Bosses weren't happy.

So playing career basically over job under pressure.

What did he do? A friend offered him a chance

coaching Vasco de Gama First Division side.

He did it for maybe 3 months completely for free for.

Free just to get a start. Just to get his foot in the

senior coaching door. Serious dedication.

And that led somewhere significant right to seven

stars. Exactly 7 stars.

And this is where that famous story starts spotting a young

Benny McCarthy. How did that happen?

He says literally day one he walks in, sees the 17 year old

kid Benny and just knew told people this kids going to

Europe. And he was right.

Spot on end of that season Benny was sold to Axe Amsterdam for

$1,000,000 which was huge money back then.

Incredible foresight. What was seven stars like as a

club? He reckons it had unbelievable

potential, good infrastructure, big sponsors involved, Adidas,

Pick and pay and the owner Rob Moore he felt was really ahead

of his time, very forward thinking.

And the idea behind the club? Brilliant concept representing

the seven townships around Cape Town trying to build that

community connection. He even coached some big ex

Chiefs names. They're like Chipper, Missinga

Trevor Methinkulu. So why didn't it become a

powerhouse? That's his big regret, actually.

He really believes it had all the pieces but somehow didn't

fulfill that potential to become a top top PSL club.

Interesting. So after seven stars.

Back to Hellenic, his old club. He describes them as really well

structured, massive focus on youth.

They kept winning the Celtics, Colts league producing players

constantly. So that's where he really got

into that produce and sell model.

Yeah, he really embraced it there, developed the talent,

sell them on, keep the club running.

It became a pattern in his career, really.

And he was still doing another job alongside this.

Yep. Still working as a sales agent

for Mitre football gear while coaching Hellenic.

That's partly why he didn't jump into seven stars full time at

first. Had a decent job he wasn't ready

to ditch. Apparently earned double at

Hellenic while doing the agent work too.

Juggling quite a bit, Was it smooth sailing at Hellenic?

Not always, He mentions hitting a rough patch in his third

season. They sold some key players.

Main striker the keeper Mel Bontang, Bradley August.

And couldn't replace him properly.

Struggled to, yeah, lead to some friction and quite a dramatic

exit, apparently. Yeah, left abruptly, but then

the owner called him back later, said he'd made a mistake, asked

him to return. Did he go back?

No, by then he was already looking at his next move.

He reflects on it, though, says Hellenic felt like a marriage

made in heaven in some ways, being his old club.

But maybe the club just needed a bit more patience during that

rough spell. Which brings us to a pretty big

change of scenery. Venda Black leopards.

How on earth did that come about?

Bit of a random connection. David Adela, who was high up in

police security and also involved with PSL security put

him on to them. Leopards had just been promoted.

And this was right before the season started.

Yeah, like weeks before, completely out of the blue, he

says he packed a small bag, thinking he was just going for a

weekend visit. And ended up staying a year.

Exactly. Big adjustment, he says.

The heat, obviously very different from Cape Town, the

whole cultural environment. And this experience really

shaped his views on something specific, didn't it?

Infrastructure. Oh massively.

This is where he gets really critical about the lack of

proper facilities at so many PSL clubs even today.

What kind of things? Seeing players having to get

changed in their cars before training, he says that's just

not acceptable for a professional league.

It drives him mad. He makes a strong point about

club sales too. Yeah, that clubs often sell the

franchise, the name, the bus, maybe the players, but not

actual assets like training grounds, proper offices.

He feels there's no legacy being built, nothing left behind for

the future of the game. Serious concerns, but despite

all that, on the pitch at Leopards.

Fantastic season. They were flying second on the

log, the halfway stage he calls it a match made in heaven with

the players attitude and the local.

Support any standout players he mentions.

Yeah, Coxwell Asia apparently bought him for just 10,000.

Ram became a brilliant player for him.

Others too. Lundo Siquiv, Hilu, Liefa,

Kosha, Clement, Mazi, Guko. And they had that famous win

against Chiefs. Oh yeah, beat Chiefs 3 nil at

Chiefs home ground. Massive result.

So why leave if it was going so well?

He saw Swallows as the next logical step up for his career.

Slightly better money too, admits David Adela, who

connected him was pretty upset about him leaving Leopards.

Does he think they could have sustained it at Leopards?

He questions it, wonders if they could have kept that momentum

without more serious investment. Plus he mentions the difficulty

of attracting top players to actually live and settle in

vendor long term. Fairpoint.

So on to swallows. Did that move bring more

recognition? Definitely raised his profile

yeah, but wow did it start rough.

First game lost back against Leopards ironically.

Then soon after they got hammered 5 Noah by Pirates at

Rand Stadium. Supporters can't have been

happy. Not at all, he says.

Things got so bad after that Pirates game he actually needed

a police escort to get out of the stadium safely.

Angry fans. Intense, but he turned it

around. He did stabilize things.

They finished fourth that season and actually over the six years

he was there, they were pretty consistently in the top four or

five. Working with the owner, Leon

Prince. Yeah.

Mentions working with Leon Prince.

Acknowledges the financial struggles Prince had just

keeping the club going. Like Hellenics, Swallows was

often a selling club, needing to move players on to balance the

books. And there's a classic story from

his Swallows time involving player management menu Pimar.

Ah yes, menu Pimar, he calls him.

Probably the biggest underachiever he ever coached.

Brilliant football brain. Technically gifted, but.

Lazy. That's the word he uses

apparently. Found him running laps at a

racecourse after another club and let him go.

So you pick him up. Brought him to swallows, got him

fit and basically made him the main man.

Built the team around his ability.

And Pienaar eventually moved on. Yep, went to Chiefs, more money,

bigger club appeal. But the coach here predicted he

wouldn't be the central figure at Chiefs like he was at

Swallows and apparently that's how it played out.

Different environment, different demands.

Interesting dynamics. So 6 good years at swallows,

mostly top five finishes. Why move on then?

Ambition, really. He felt they'd hit a ceiling at

swallows without major reinvestment.

Coaches, especially ambitious ones, want to win trophies,

right? Makes sense.

And he makes a really short point here.

Says people judge coaches by trophies, but sometimes the best

coaching happens with limited resources, just getting

consistent results. It's way easier to win when you

have all the best players. Like his example, put Pep

Guardiola at a lower league club.

He's not winning the league, is he?

It's all about context resources.

Absolutely key insight. So that desire for trophies led

him to Super Sport United. Exactly.

Super Sport offered that chance to really compete at the top,

but that first stint, wow, it didn't start well at all.

What happened? Major resistance from the

players. They were really loyal to the

previous coach, he said. He walked in day one and nobody

even really greeted him or introduced him.

Just awkward silence. That sounds like a nightmare

start for a new coach. Totally.

He describes a real culture clash.

The players were used to long team talks before training.

Starting late, he wanted them out on the grass working

straight away. And results weren't good

initially. Terrible bottom of the league.

After five games, he got called into a meeting with the

management. Pressure was on.

Big time. But he stood his ground,

basically said look, if you wanted the same results as last

year, finishing 7th or 8th, you should have kept the old coach.

I told you on day one we could win the league with this squad.

Gutsy and what happened? Amazingly, they turned it

completely around, won the league that same season.

Incredible turn around, made a few changes, moved a couple of

players out, brought a couple in just.

Phenomenal. But then there's another huge

story from that time. Take O Modisy's departure.

Yeah, he tackles this head on, says the media story.

That he didn't want Tikko or the Tikko didn't fit his style is

absolute rubbish. So what does he say happened?

He says the chairman sold Tikko just a week before the season

started. He actually wanted to build the

team around Modi's. But the perception was

different. Completely.

He insists Tikko was the fittest he'd ever been during that

preseason under him. Admits maybe they clashed a tiny

bit on the training ground because he pushed him hard.

Maybe harder than Tecco is used. To but the idea he wanted South

Africa's best player gone. He says it's nonsense.

Why would any coach want that? Makes sense, and despite losing

Tecco, he went on to achieve massive success there.

Unprecedented really. Won the league title three times

in a row with Super Sport. Just total dominance for that

period. Yet he still faced criticism.

Yeah, he mentions this weird thing where people started

saying he was a league coach, not a cup coach.

Found it pretty baffling given the league titles.

Which kind of leads us into his coaching philosophy, how he

deals with players. Right.

He's quite blunt about it, contrasts his approach with

coaches who maybe, you know, hug and kiss players for sure but

aren't actually straight with them.

He believes in honesty. Absolutely.

He argues that real, lasting respect comes from pushing

players. Being truthful, even if it

ruffles feathers in the short term, tells them what they need

to hear, not always what they want to here.

Does he give an example? Dane Clayte is his prime

example. He uses this funny analogy.

Calls him a bottle of tomato sauce.

Tomato sauce. Yeah, like sometimes you have to

give the bottle a good rack on the bottom to get the sauce out,

he says. Clayte needed that directness,

that push to really unlock his consistency as a goal scorer and

creator. And the relationship now.

Yes, those are great friends now.

The honesty worked in the long run.

But it doesn't always work. No, he contrasts Clayte starkly

with Massen Duana. Zongo calls Zongo maybe the most

naturally gifted player he's ever seen in that group.

Just incredible talent, but someone you just couldn't push.

The harder you push, the more he resisted and ultimately he feels

Zongo massively underachieved because of that.

Talent isn't always enough. Not on its own.

He also talks about Bibi Mutombo from that same era.

Talented kid, but he felt Mutombo was played wrong in the

youth teams. Always as a #10.

What did he do? Moved him deeper at Super Sport

into a number six or eight role. Said.

It completely revitalized his career.

They ended up selling him for good money.

But he thinks Mutombo maybe should have stayed at Super

Sport. Yeah, that's his feeling.

Calls him a super sport player. Thinks he would have been

handled better there. Had a better overall career than

going to Pirates where he felt Mutombo just became another

number and got a bit lost in the system.

Is that a common theme? He sees young players struggling

at the big clubs. Definitely, he mentions Mitombo,

Maimilangu, others. He thinks the whole football

environment has changed. It's not just player and coach

anymore. What else is involved?

Agents, owners, CEO's, friends, family, everyone's got an

opinion, everyone's in the player's ear.

He feels it really undermines the coach's authority,

especially at the bigger clubs. He mentioned owners talking

directly to players. Yeah, bypassing the coach

entirely. Having conversations the coach

knows nothing about. He really believes coaches need

more overall control, more like the old school manager figure.

Like Alex Ferguson. Exactly.

Someone who manages the player totally on and off the pitch.

He thinks South African football often gets it backwards,

focusing too much on the owner's power rather than empowering the

coach who's there day in, day out.

Makes you think. OK, so after super sports

dominance, he moves to Bidvest. Wits.

Why Wits? Well, Super Sport was starting

to sell players again, becoming more of a selling club.

Wits came along offering a different proposition, a project

with investment, but smart investment, he says.

Now you're talking my language. Smart investment how?

Not just throwing money around. Exactly.

They weren't trying to outspend chiefs or pirates on massive

transfer fees. Their genius, he says, was

dominating the free agent market.

Picking up top players whose contracts had expired.

Precisely. He names the core of that title

winning Wits team. Tyson, Platswayo, Sheba, Villa,

Kazi, Bangani, Kumalo all came in as free agents, says Brava.

Lacazi was maybe the only big money signing.

Incredible business and the results followed.

Step by step, third, third, second, then first, they won the

league and cups, he emphasizes. They were consciously building

that team. Over time, squad depth became

key. Looking at the bench and seeing

players who could easily be starting.

And he makes a bold claim about that Wits team relative to

Sundowns. Very bold.

He says flat out that Wits was the only team that could have

genuinely challenged Sundowns during their dominant run.

He reckons Sundowns feared coming to Mill Park, their home

ground. Thinks they would have stopped

the eight titles in a row. He genuinely believes so, says

Wits. Would have taken one or two of

those titles off. What was the?

Key to Witt's success off the pitch.

The relationship with the CEO, Jose Ferreira.

He calls Ferreira the best CEO I've ever worked with and deeply

regrets he's not a football anymore.

They had daily contact, Ferrer watch training.

That close bond was vital, he says, for navigating the tough

times and keeping the coach motivated.

That support structure sounds crucial.

Any memorable games from Witt's? The big one is that MTN 8 final

win against Sundowns. 3 nil and Sundowns were playing the

Champions League final just the next next week.

People talked about wits showboating in that game.

He dismisses that, says they were just keeping possession

brilliantly under pressure. If anything they should have

scored a couple more from those moves.

It was control, not arrogance. Such a strong period for Wits

which makes the end so sad. The club being sold.

Yeah, really sad, he says. He kind of sensed it might be

coming. Changes in the ownership's

focus. But the impact was devastating.

The Academy shut down staff losing jobs overnight.

Just gone. And the impact on the league.

He argues strongly that selling wits, really weak in South

African football overall, took away a highly competitive, well

managed, smart club that was pushing the top teams.

A real loss. So after Wits disappeared, he

ends up at Kaiser Chiefs. During the COVID bubble, no

less. Yeah, describes it as a dream

job, based purely on the history, the glamour he

remembers from the 80s. But the timing, he says.

It just wasn't right. What were the challenges?

Huge challenges. The COVID bubble itself was

weird and isolating, then the massive FIFA transfer ban

couldn't sign anyone to refresh the squad and he felt the

existing squad was well, visibly declining in quality and fitness

levels. Tough circumstances, yet they

had that incredible run in Africa.

Unexpectedly brilliant, Yeah. Got Chiefs out of the Sea CAF

Champions League group stage for the first time ever.

Reached the semifinals, which was a massive achievement given

the league form and the player ban.

Which makes his exit even more bizarre.

Totally controversial. Fired after they won the

quarterfinal just before the semis, which they then went on

to win under the interim coaches reaching the final.

He openly wonders what discussions happened behind the

scenes to lead to that. Looking at Chiefs now, what does

he see as their main challenge? Competing with Sundowns

financially, especially for the top local talent, Sundowns can

just offer transfer fees and widgets that Chiefs and even

Pirates struggle to match consistently.

So what's his solution for Chiefs?

Focus strategically on signing the absolute best 5 foreign

players they can find. If you can't always get the very

top locals, you need truly elite foreigners to bridge that gap.

He sees that as a key difference to Sundowns.

Yeah, points out, Sundowns spends big on foreigners, too,

though he does question the value sometimes mentioning

potential language and cultural issues with some signings.

But the principle is top foreign talent is crucial if local

options are limited by finances. And this brings us right back to

that eternal debate, especially at Chiefs style versus win.

Yeah, he gets asked this all the time, and his answer is

emphatic. At the highest level, winning is

everything winning. He doesn't buy into the play

beautiful football even if you lose idea.

Not at the sharp end, no. He uses examples Chiefs winning

the Ned Bank Cup recently with functional football.

Old Chiefs coaches like Jeff Butler, Joe Fickelton, they won

trophies but weren't always lauded for style.

Even Man City, he says, didn't win the League One year despite

everyone praising their amazing style.

So the result is king. For him, yes, chairman shouldn't

ask how did we play then they should ask did we win.

Style, he argues, is something you can layer on top once you've

established a winning culture and consistency.

Like the spring books. Maybe not always champagne

rugby, but they know how to win. Powerful perspective.

So after Chiefs he went back to Super sport second time around.

Return for a second spell. Notice the difference straight

away though. Budgets were tighter, player

quality available was maybe a bit lower than his first

dominant spell did. He get the back up the table.

Yeah, got them back into the top 4 after they'd slipped, but it

was still fundamentally a selling club.

Mentions factors like selling key players again, even having

to change home grounds affecting results.

And his second departure, how did that come about?

He kind of links it back to that same dynamic, winning versus

expectations. If you're not winning

consistently, especially after previous success pressure Bill.

And as he says, usually the coach is the one who pays the

price. Seen as the problem.

Looking at the PSL now, what's his overall take?

He sees a widening gap, a worrying one, between the have

Sundowns leading the pack, maybe chiefs and Pirates behind them,

and the have Nots, and it's almost all down to money,

spending, power. He wonders about sponsorship for

smaller clubs, too. Yeah, questions why sponsors

might hesitate? Asks rhetorically.

Where's the money going? Suggests maybe a lack of

transparency or visible impact makes it hard for smaller clubs

to attract big corporate backing.

And Sundown's dominance purely financial.

Largely, yes. Their ability to just go out and

buy players, pay the fees, pay the wages.

Other clubs simply can't compete at that level consistently.

Even Chiefs and Pirates struggle to match Sundowns pound for

pound in the market now. Why is it so hard for others

like a wits or super sport to sustain a challenge then?

He reckons they need to be fundamentally 10 points better

over a season just to stay close because Chiefs and Pirates, he

argues, have this built in advantage their massive fanbase.

How does that help? Motivation.

Playing in front of huge, passionate crowds home and away

gives players an extra edge, he says.

It's just harder for players at smaller clubs to consistently

find that same level of intensity playing in near empty

stadiums week after week compared to the buzz of a Derby.

So what's he doing now? He's currently out of a job,

right? Yeah, and he's very open about

it. Says it's driving him crazy.

He's a coach. He wants to be on the training

pitch working with players. What kind of opportunity is he

looking for? He calls it a realistic club,

somewhere that understands its budget and doesn't have crazy

expectations. Good youth set up decent

training. Training facilities are

important and crucially, supportive ownership, open

communication, willing to ride out the bumps together.

Patience seems key. Hugely.

He uses Stellenbosch as a great example.

They stuck with their coach for years, built something steadily

and now look, they're really competitive.

He hates the constant chopping and changing of coaches,

believes it holds back the overall development of players

and the quality of football in the league.

And just briefly, he touched on the upcoming CF Champions League

final Sundowns versus Esperance. Yeah, described Esperance as a

good side. Determined, solid defensively,

likely to play on the counter but capable of scoring,

especially away. Notes Sundowns have advantages

now. Yeah, like travelling with big

squads, the league helping with fixtures, things South African

clubs didn't always get in the past.

He thinks Sundowns might actually prefer playing away

where teams attack them more, but stresses how vital that

first leg at home is. Need a good lead against a team

like Esperance who carry that away a goal threat.

And the pressure on Sundowns. Immense, he feels given their

investment and how far they've come, anything less than winning

the whole competition this year would be seen as an

underachievement, even with the league title secured.

Winning just breeds more pressure.

To keep winning sometimes means changing players, maybe even the

coach eventually, just to maintain that hunger.

Final thought on 2 legged ties. Especially in Africa with away

goals, defense is critical. Can't just be about scoring.

Need that solid foundation over the 180 minutes.

It's a balancing act. Wow what an incredible journey

and so many sharp insights shared there from playing in the

semi pro 80s seeing the PSL change everything.

To discovering Benny building teams at 7 stars Leopards.

The ups and downs. Managing players like Clay

Zongo, Mutombo, the successes and the what ifs.

Winning those three league titles back-to-back, The

brilliance of that Wits project built on smarts, not just cash.

Then the frustration of the wit sale the chiefs experience, the

infrastructure problems, the style versus winning debate.

It covers so much ground. It really paints a picture of

the complexity of South African football.

It's not just tactics on a board, is it?

It's about the environment, the money, the personalities, the

history. And the need for patience, for

honesty, and ultimately that drive to win.

So thinking about everything we've just unpacked, all those

experiences, those strong opinions, what's the one thing

that really sticks with you? What are you going to be mulling

over next time you're watching a game?

Deep Dive Of South African Football Through The Eyes OF Coach Gavin Hunt

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