The scientific and anecdotal evidence for writing down goals is quite overwhelming. At least theoretically for many.
Innocent Maela discovered the life-changing magic of scribbling one’s dreams when he was on the brink of quitting the game he loves so much.
Growing up in Witbank, Maela always yearned for the big stage. Before he was converted to a left-back, Deco, a name he earned, dreamed of playing for his boyhood club – Orlando Pirates.
His older brother, Nqoba Mahlangu, tells a story of how the talented full-back would juggle a ball on his way to the shops whenever he was sent to go and buy bread.
“He’d grab his ball when he was sent to the shops. Mom would question how much longer it would take him to get to the shops juggling a soccer ball. He wouldn’t do it any other way; he loved his football from a young age,” Mahlangu tells FARPost.
That led to stints with two amateur sides in his hometown Witbank – Celtic FC and Tsetse Fly. The first of those came at the age of 9.
After eight years of playing amateur football, he caught the eye of Thabo Senong, who went to Mpumalanga scouting for talent in 2009.
Months before he turned 18, he joined the Bucs’ development side the following year. At that stage, his dreams seemed to be all coming together. It felt like several steps towards the utmost goal. He was out of amateur football, turning out for the academy of one of the continent’s revered clubs.
INNOCENT MAELA JOINED PIRATES
Of course, having joined Pirates as a striker, being converted to a left attacking winger was quite exciting. But before he even settled into the new position that still allowed him to bang in goals as he always loved, he was moved to left-back.
“I can tell you now; no left back starts off wanting to play left-back. A lot of us start somewhere else and then switch later,” says Maela, whose childhood idol was Patrice Evra, the Frenchman who made his name with Manchester United.
With time, he grew to love his new position. His young mind was made up.
After all, it all made sense – his half-brother Tsepo Masilela was playing the same position for Israel side Maccabi Haifa and Bafana Bafana.
“Tsepo was of great help to me. I remember how I used to talk to him a lot on the phone when he was in Israel, and he would be advising me on how I could make a career out of football,” he tells FARPost.
It was inspiration galore for him. Deco is that apple that did not fall far from the tree. His dad Eric Masilela is a Witbank Aces legend who shared dressing rooms with yesteryear stars like Lawrence Siyangaphi, Harris Chueu, Steve Makua and Thomas Ngobe, the father of Dumisa Ngobe, a former Bafana midfielder.
“My father played a huge role because he also played football. He was the only one who believed I could play football professionally, not so much my mother,” he says.
His mother never really cared whether her starlet son had what it took to play at the highest level. All she wanted was her bread to come speedily.
Nonetheless, Mahlangu singles out one thing his mother equipped them with that carried Maela through his ‘dark days’. It was faith in her God.
“Our mom would take us to her church in Witbank. They still know Ino there,” he says.
MAELA ALWAYS HADA BIBLE IN HIS CAR
His former teammate at Pirates, Mthokozisi Dube, then reveals that the man always has a bible in his car. His repeated references to the hand of God in his life then make sense. Perhaps his spectacular rise in the last four years is the result of the power of a praying mother.
But then again, there’s that little note that seemingly made all the difference. It read something like, “I’ll go back to Orlando Pirates and fight for that left-back position”.
“It was quite fascinating to me when he showed it to me once we both got back to Pirates from loan. I remember we were in the bus going to a game,” says Dube, who spent five years away on loan at Roses United, Royal Eagles and Bloemfontein Celtic.
Those that claim to be scholars of the word of God would be quick to agree that Maela’s inspiration to write down his dream of returning to Pirates after a lengthy spell away on loan was taken from Habakkuk 2verse2.
To affirm the claim, Maela confesses he has read Habakkuk, the 35th book of the bible, with only three chapters and 56 verses.
The particular verse that resonates with Maela’s move reads, “I will give you my message in the form of a vision. Write it enough to be read at a glance.”
NOT YET TIME TO COME TRUE
Out of curiosity, this writer then read verse 3, which further says, “Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.”
It aptly describes the journey and many turns Deco’s career took.
Of course, when he wrote those words down, despair had crept in. A long two seasons away from Pirates on loan at Witbank Spurs, first from 2012 to 2014, and then Thanda Royal Zulu in Richards Bay, where he spent another three seasons. It seemed slow in coming, as the verse suggests.
“It was very tough,” he admits.
His childhood friend Andile Mtsweni, who joined the Soweto giants’ development side together with him, ended up quitting the game for an 8 to 5 job after being loaned out. He explains the difficulties of a youngster hopeful of donning skull and crossbones sent away for years as if forgotten.
“When it happens, it feels sad because you want to be around Pirates, a club you’d have grown to love. A lot of things go through your mind because you’re young and you don’t understand at that point. You think the club is ditching, but when you grow up, you realise it was necessary for your development,” says Mtsweni, who left Pirates at the end of 2011.
The Human Resource Management graduate sums up what his friend Maela was going through after Amabhubesi narrowly survived relegated in the 2015/16 season.
ALMOST QUIT FOOTBALL
“I almost quit football when Thanda Royal Zulu survived relegation; I told my mom I’d been on loan for four years, going to 5. I made it clear that if nothing happened (Pirates recalling him), I’d quit football and go back to school because I’m still young. She said to me, ‘give it one more shot, son’,” he tells FARPost.
Quitting football and going back to school was seemingly working for Mtsweni, who had moved on and was enjoying his life. Interestingly, Maela had dropped out of the University of Johannesburg earlier in his career after just two months to focus on the world’s most beautiful game.
At that point, the words he had inscribed on paper were almost forgotten. None of them made sense. It seemed his beloved Buccaneers had failed him.
However, the following season was to change it all. It was the 2016/17 season.
“We won the 2016/17 NFD and gained promotion to the PSL,” says Maela, who captained the Richards Bay outfit during that season. He had undoubtedly grown – enough to be trusted with the armband. Again, approaching age 25, he felt he was of age.
SILVER LINING
There was a silver lining. At least then, even if the Bucs didn’t recall him from loan, he’d face them and show how much he had developed into a top left-back.
“Winning the League with Thanda was a silver lining in my career,” he says.
But he and many others suffered a major blow a few days later. Thanda sold its PSL status to AmaZulu 3 days after the players had sweated to get the team into the PSL.
“At that point, I thought maybe things were not meant to be. I was back to square one,” explains the Bafana fullback.
But the words he had inscribed on that diary of his were about to come to life. It was time for them to spring to full manifestation. And much more.
“Days later, the chairman called me to tell me they had been following my development, and I was ready to come back to Pirates,” says Maela.
While he was still celebrating his imminent return to the Bucs, Bafana coach Stuart Baxter drafted him into a 20-man squad for the 2017 Cosafa Cup.
“It felt like God was making up for what seemed like delays in my career,” he adds.
A few weeks after the Cosafa Cup, Maela had the safest landing – picking up the Man of the Match award on his Pirates debut. The full-back assisted Thamsanqa Gabuza’s solitary goal as the Buccaneers recorded a 1-0 win over Chippa United.
MAELA WAS A REVELATION FOR PIRATES
Innocent Maela was a revelation at Pirates that same season as he established himself as one of the club’s key players. He made 26 appearances for the club across all competitions, earning himself a place in the Bafana squad that won the Four-Nations tournament in Zambia in March 2018.
He was in the 23-man squad that represented the country at the Africa Cup of Nations finals held in Egypt. Goodness and mercy were pursuing the ardent believer.
“If I were to pick my most memorable football moment, it would have to be the goal I scored in the derby,” says the 29-year-old. Of course, it was his second goal for the Sea Robbers after getting his first goal in the 2-2 draw with Cape Town City earlier last season, but he cherishes his second even more. A header from a Justin Shonga corner-kick levelled matters before Vincent Pule grabbed the winner after tapping an Augustine Mulenga cross into an empty net.
“That goal will always be special because it was in a derby,” he says.
Maybe, just maybe, when Maela wrote those words, he was deciding what he was ordering on Earth’s menu. Today, the man is living his dream after making his 100th cap for the Bucs in December 2021!
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