Those who follow the beautiful game closely would probably gladly admit that football in Mzansi would probably not have been the same without Daine Klate’s left foot gracing it for a decade and a half.
Even his greatest critics would have to take a bitter bite of humble pie and admit that, in that time, few players made kicking leather with the left as beautiful a sight as that slight wizard from Gelvandale, PE.
It is a left foot that mesmerised defenders and befuddled goalkeepers, a left foot that enthralled and terrified spectators in equal measure, depending on which side one rooted for.
From Supersport United and Orlando Pirates to Bidvest Wits and Chippa, when Klate’s foot caressed the football, one could logically conclude that more often than not, one of two outcomes was possible: the ball could either find the head of an attacker or, in a more direct fashion, the back of the net.
As good and sweet as that left foot was, it is hard to imagine that it almost did not make it onto the football field.
When he was only five years old, Klate was hit by a car, breaking that precocious leg. Growing up in the rough streets of Gelvandale, Klate lived a stone’s throw away from a shebeen.
One day, one drunken driver got behind the wheel and, with over a ton of metal in his intoxicated hands, hit a young Klate, breaking his tiny leg.
From Near Tragedy to Footballing Greatness: Klate’s Record-Breaking Journey
It was a miracle that he could still use it afterwards, let alone play the game up to such a high level with it.
Three years after that car almost stopped history on that remote corner in Gelvandale, Klate began taking the first tentative steps on a record-breaking journey in the South African game. Like all journeys, it started with a few baby steps. It would all end in diski immortality for the leftie from Gelvandale.
“Playing football started down in PE at school. At the age of 8, I started playing structured football for club Glenville Celtic, and by the time I was 14, I moved to the Transnet School of Excellence,” Klate remembers.
Cavin Johnson recalls how, even at that tender age, Klate and his precocious left foot already stood out from the rest, something that led to his selection ahead of 100 other boys in a gruelling trial in September 1999.
“We identified him when he was very young in PE for the Transnet School of Excellence,” Johnson tells FARPost.
School of Excellence: More Than Just Coaching
Over the years, a lot has been said and written about the contribution of the School of Excellence to the success of South African football. Credit has been given to the coaching staff in large parts, and rightfully so. After all, these were the guardians who became the architects of one of South African football’s most celebrated talent nurseries. However, little has been said of the young boys, like Klate, who left home barely into their adolescence, who left their comfort zones as they were beginning to discover who they indeed are and made a new life away from the support and protection offered by parents and guardians.
“He has to be given credit for coming from PE to spend most of his life in Johannesburg, go to school, not to have his parents around, it is difficult,” adds Johnson
Klate has not forgotten how hard those first months at the School of Excellence were. He remembers how, in those days when he was far removed from the loving embrace and protective umbrella of family, he found himself wondering if maybe he should go back home. In the bright lights of Gauteng, the familiarity and warmth of his native Gelvandale looked tantalising.
“The first couple of months were tough, but with the support of my family and friends, encouraging me, I stuck out the year,” Klate tells FARPost.
Klate’s Tough Choice at Youth Academy
According to his younger brother, Chad Klate, football was not his only love when growing up in PE. So good was he in the game of cricket that in the end, he had to decide between the two sports on the cusp of his move to the School of Excellence.
Daine Klate and former Bafana Bafana player Elrio Van Heerden used to interchange football and cricket comfortably during their childhood days.
“Daine Klate is still an avid cricket player; even now, he plays cricket in PE with underprivileged guys at the Gelvandale Cricket Club,” Chad tells FARPost.
His friends, including Wayne Parnell and Ashwell Prince, made it professionally.
“He played provincial cricket and soccer, and the School of Excellence opportunity had to move him to soccer because they only offered soccer. He couldn’t play cricket anymore after choosing the School of Excellence,” adds Chad, a former football journalist.
“Matatazela”: The All-rounder With Natural Batting Talent
Exceptional bowling, incredible wicket keeping, and an incessant desire to score runs. The man nicknamed ‘Matatazela’ was such an all-rounder. “He’s a great bowler, but I think he is at his happiest batting. His strokes, the way he hits the ball, the technical ability – it’s just natural. He stopped playing when he was 13, so he didn’t receive much coaching. So everything he has now is just natural,” explains Chad.
Like most footballers that are cream of the game, Klate’s professionalism is not something that only visited him and decided to stay while he was at the School of Excellence. The leftie remembers how he and his one-time cricketing buddy Van Heerden were putting in the hard yards while other youngsters were resting on their laurels. That drive and determination would stay with him throughout his career.
“The other boys in PE used to train once a week; Elrio van Heerden and I used to train five times a week. By the time the weekend matches came, we had five sessions under us while others had one,” Klate says.
However, it was at the School of Excellence where Klate developed some of the finer aspects of the game. Mzansi Coaching Legends Shaped Klate’s Number 10 Play. Although he possessed a naturally gifted left foot, a switch to the wing wouldn’t happen until later in his career.
“We used to play a 4-3-3 formation at the School of Excellence, and I was one of the two number 10s behind the striker. The switch happened because I could cross the ball, and I was technically good,” he explains.
From Schoolboy to Star: Coach’s Hunt for Teenage Football Prodigy
SuperSport development coach Kwanele Kopo tells the tale of how he went on the hunt for the then teenager’s signature, tracking him from his time at the School of Excellence to PE after his stint at the famed academy had come to an end.
“When I saw him at the School, the qualities that stood out were his speed, his excellent crossing technique and accuracy, his ability to beat defenders in one-on-one situations, and his ability to score from direct free-kicks,” Kopo tells FARPost.
Despite a classic left foot that seemed to weave spells around the ball, what also stood for Kopo was Daine Klate’s brainpower. Unlike many other prodigies, he was a thinking footballer. Armed with such a keen football brain and a terrific ability on the ball, he had all the ingredients to make it at the highest level. He would soon become the first of the many fine products Kopo would deliver from the academy straight to the top flight
“We played a friendly with our first team a few months after he had joined us, and he scored directly from a free-kick. The late Thomas Madigage [who was SuperSport’s Assistant Coach] came to ask me who this boy was. Madigage then told me to bring him to the senior team’s training the following week. It was such a satisfying moment as I had spent a lot of time and effort for months to profile him and recruit him to the club,” adds Kopo.
Prolific Career and Trophy Haul for Klate After Academy Graduation
After graduating from the Tshwane side’s academy, Klate had one of the most decorated careers in South African football history. His trophy cabinet bulges with silverware, having amassed an astounding 15 trophies in as many years. These include a hattrick of titles with Matsatsantsa and another triumph with Bidvest Wits later.
Having won the league title with three different clubs, all under different circumstances, all those triumphs are memorable to Klate for various reasons.
“The sweetest for me was my third league title with SuperSport when I was the Player of the Season that year. I think I had a fantastic season, played my best football, I was the top scorer for SuperSport,” says Daine Klate, who went on to win the treble with Bucs.
Despite his many successes at the top level of the game, the failure to garner more Bafana caps has always been a cloud hanging stubbornly above an otherwise bright career.
However, two years after retirement, South Africa’s most capped youth international has no regrets about his career, despite a paltry 13 caps for Bafana. These days, his attention is once again focused on ploughing back to the game that gave him so much as he continues to earn his coaching badges.
Coaching Aspirations and Youth Focus:
“I’m on part two of my A license, and then I will complete my pro license when they allow us to. I am into youth football, coaching in the MDC [Chippa United], but my passion is for youth,” says the 36-year-old.
Besides the friends he had to turn his back on when the beautiful game was calling, Klate is also making time for the love he abandoned when his marriage to football took a severe and permanent turn – cricket.
“I am currently with my family here in PE, my friends, but for the most of the day I am on the soccer field coaching, but I am an easy-going guy, and you will find me in the hood I grew up, chilling with the guys I grew up with so I live that way, or you will find me by the beach playing cricket,” he says.
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