Last Kaizer Chiefs captain to lift trophy reveals why he retired
Last Kaizer Chiefs captain to lift trophy reveals why he retired
Former Kaizer Chiefs captain Tefu Mashamaite has revealed why he retired from professional football in 2018.
Having won the league title with Amakhosi in 2015, Mashamaite made a surprise move to BK Hacken in Sweden. He only spent one year overseas before returning to South Africa to join SuperSport United. His stay in Pretoria lasted just a season before signing with Baberwa.
Speaking to Sports Talk With Big Joe, the former Kaizer Chiefs captain said occurring injuries led to him retiring.
“For me, it was a series of things that led me into deciding to hang my boots,” he said on Sports Talk With Big Joe podcast.
“I got injured in Sweden and when I came back, I got injured at SuperSport United twice. So within a period of two seasons, I had three injuries that required me to do operations.”
Ex-Kaizer Chiefs captain talks about his injuries
Mashamaite, a late bloomer, started his career at Bidvest Wits before joining Chiefs in 2011.
“My career has never been the same after injuries so I just felt like maybe it’s time to put my tools down. People always ask me how come you never announce your retirement, so I’m always like no I never introduced myself when I started playing, so the way I came it is the way that I leave,” the ex-Kaizer Chiefs captain explained.
“It’s not like in American football where everything is drafted and announced. In South Africa, announcing retirement is basically for the media.
“At the end of the day, what happens after announcing? Because at least in England they honour you even in Latin America. I saw [Arturo] Vidal the other day, they honoured him with everything, said the former Kaizer Chiefs captain.
Mashamaite was the last Kaizer Chiefs captain to lift a trophy in 2015. Since then, the Glamour Boys have tasted little to no success in almost a decade.
Tefu says he is a scholar before a baller
Last year, Mashamaite revealed he was furthering his studies.
“I am a scholar before I am a baller. We live in a very reductionist society and people tend to put others in a particular box and that’s not always the case. From 2005 when I graduated, I delved into something that was educational in a sense,” said the ex-Kaizer Chiefs captain.
“Football has its own educational spaces that you can dive into but for almost the last 20 years I have taken that direction and I feel like I can inspire the youth.”