Never one to take curling shots, the legendary Benni McCarthy is still shooting from the hip. Just as it was the case during his halcyon days, McCarthy is still rifling thunderbolts, but this time it is not on a manicured lawn at a jampacked stadium.
Bafana Bafana’s all-time leading scorer is hammering with scorchers, slaying with swag, and showboating with shibobos and tsamayas in his latest offering – a pulsating biography coauthored with veteran journalist and broadcaster Mark Gleeson.
In Benni: From Gangland to Greatness, the man from Hannover Park in Cape Town details his rise from the gang-ridden neighbourhood to the shining lights in Europe, where he set the scene alight with his breathtaking goals.
McCarthy’s dazzling career, adorned with glittering medals, has seen him soar to greater heights in Europe, winning the UEFA Champions League and hitting lows such as missing out on the FIFA World Cup on home soil in 2010. He lets readers in on his feelings when those unfolded. He lifts the lid on what led to his tumultuous relations with coaches, club bosses and the South African Football Association, with whom he had battles aplenty.
His former coach, Jose Mourinho, under whom he flourished at FC Porto, is one of the towering figures in McCarthy’s journey, and The Special One aptly wrote a befitting foreword for arguably the best forward to come out of Mzansi. Many football lovers and avid readers would marvel and revel at an outspoken Benni, who was given a nod by Manchester United for a coaching gig and had his confidence boosted by Cristiano Ronaldo, whose approval helped him settle at the Red Devils.
FARPost’s Hosea Ramphekwa highlights Ten Quotable Quotes from Benni’s book:
ON 1998 AFCON AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
We hadn’t had any of that muti nonsense before. Obviously, I had heard about the use of muti in South African football and understood it to be part of the culture for some, but this was my first experience, and I felt it was weird. I wasn’t into it at all. For the game, our socks had been soaked in some substance, and we had to wear them like that. To me, it was such an unnecessary distraction and deviation from what had driven our success up to then, and it might have messed with some players’ minds, too.
ON MARK FISH STANDING UP TO PHILLIP TROUSSIER AT FRANCE 98
The whole tournament in France was largely a miserable experience for me, even though it was supposed to be a career highlight. Not many players can boast of playing at a World Cup, but frankly, most of the time, I wished I were injured and didn’t have to be there. I fantasised about punching Troussier. Mark Fish nearly did after a scarcely believable incident in training where the defenders were doing an exercise.
ON THAT SHIBOBO: SCORING SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST-EVER GOAL AT THE WORLD CUP
Scoring South Africa’s first World Cup finals goal gives me a place in the history books, I suppose. I couldn’t sleep the night before, so I kept playing my song ‘Shibobo, which I had recorded with TKZee. I was singing along to ‘Benni’s in the 18 area.
ON BAFANA RETIREMENT
I was hated by many for a while for taking this stand, and that was also hard to take. I was no villain, rather a victim.
ON JOSE MOURINHO
He was asking me an avalanche of questions, just wanting to know about me. At first, I was suspicious about all the questions. Is he a policeman? Did I do something wrong? Is there an investigation into me? I was a bit hesitant at first because at my previous club, the coach didn’t even talk to me. Now, just one country away, is a guy who wants to engage me about everything. I was blown away.
ON QUINTON FORTUNE AND MANCHESTER UNITED SNUB
I lost a lot of love for Manchester United, and I even lost my friendship with Quinton Fortune. We didn’t speak after the first leg for about three or four years. When I went up to talk to him after the game, he waved me away, saying he couldn’t speak to me. It left me bemused that someone I’d known since I was 10 didn’t want to exchange pleasantries or have a little catch-up after the match. ‘Oh well? I thought to myself, ‘if that’s your attitude, then so be it, life moves on? But it did leave a sour taste.
ON BOBBY MOTAUNG IRKING HIM TO JOIN ORLANDO PIRATES
When someone asked Bobby Motaung about whether I was a target, he said Chiefs sign big fishes, not fishes who cannot swim anymore. Maybe it was a quip, but that kind of talk always gets my blood boiling, and my character is such that the fret thing I think of then is, ‘I’ll show you who is a has-been and who is not.’ So I got up early the next morning and went to see Irvin Khoza. When he started to talk about me joining Pirates, he didn’t need to expand much more. A chance to play against Bobby’s Chiefs would suit me just fine. If you want to be disrespectful, then I’ll show you who cannot swim anymore. I made up my mind then and there to sign. My only question to the chairman was: ‘When do we play Chiefs?’
ON BAFANA’S 2010 WORLD CUP SNUB
I felt it was such a cowardly thing to do. Why did they need to concoct a story to deflect criticism when they had already explained they didn’t think that I was fit enough? And that they had players in better condition who had been playing for their clubs throughout the season, I had been out for several months, and there hadn’t been enough time to get me ready. I could live with those explanations, but saying that I had been womanising?
ON GETTING FIRED AS AMAZULU COACH
Again, it was a sacking, as was the case at Cape Town City FC. It was a crushing blow to me; I would even go as far as to describe it as devastating. But it also came with a sense of relief because my working conditions had become strained, and I felt all the original promises had been reneged on.
ON LINKING UP WITH CRISTIANO RONALDO AT MANCHESTER UNITED
The manager made a simple introduction, and later, when I met the players, Cristiano Ronaldo was happy to see me, and that helped me immensely to be accepted by all the other players, especially those who’d never heard of me before. If ‘Ronnie’ was happy to see this guy and approved of him, then he must be okay. Obviously, I’d also have to convince them with my coaching and try to help them become better goal scorers.
ON HANGING OUT WITH NELSON MANDELA
We met the Dutch royal family, and some of them were on the boat with us too. I felt like a nobody, but as we travelled along, the cheers were deafening and Mandela joked it was only because he was with Benni McCarthy.’ Can you imagine? He was so engaging, so pleased to see me, I felt like I was his son. Everywhere we went, he was ‘Where’s Benni? even when I was sitting alongside him. ‘I’m right here, Tata,’ I said. What an experience. I was not yet 22, and to be in the intimate company of one of the greatest men of our times was so humbling. I still get goosebumps when I think about it.
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