Black Africa midfield playmaker and Brave Warriors coach Rusten Sukhile Mogane says it is always a great honour to be elected to fight for the country’s honour.
The retired star, who led Black Africa to many cup victories, also doubled up as coach of the former Namibian cup kings the Lively Lions, as Black Africa are also known.
The former midfield star also made history when he was selected for the star-studded South West Africa side that participated in the provincial Currie Cup tournament in South Africa at the age of 17.
“My selection for the South West Africa team sent shock waves throughout the country. I was only 17 years old at the time and still a pupil at Augustineum High School,” Mogane says.
“Looking at the vastly talented players the country produced during that era, it was really a great honour to have been elected among the best players to go fight for the country’s honour in a top tournament like the Currie Cup.”
The selection came as a complete shock, given the fact that Mogane only started to play serious football when he migrated to Augustineum from Dobra High School.
“Only a year before this, I couldn’t make it onto the first team of Döbra,” he says.
In fact, Mogane only played for the third team of the Eusobio school hostel team after arriving from Don Bosco Boys Primary School at farm Goas south of Karibib.
Mogane did not only shine on the football pitch, but he was also a brilliant sprinter who dominated the 100m and 200m junior races in the then central region.
However, he had to be content with two silver medals at the nationals at Oshakati, and that also turned out to be his last races on the track because of his love for football.
“My football career is quite a remarkable one. I became an integral part of Benfico Bucks, which was one of the school hostel teams at Augustineum, and very soon, after a few good matches, I was part of the school team.
“I later even captained the school team. We always played against other teams and even went as far as Khorixas and Okakarara, where we played against Cornelius Goreseb High School and Okakarara Secondary School, respectively,” he says.
Mogane says he vividly remembers their battles against Döbra and Martin Luther High School. Augustineum also played friendly matches against the likes of Orlando Pirates.
Mogane was spotted by Pirates during one of their matches and they invited him to join them.
Soon the news reached his late father, uncle Simon Mogane, who was a committee member of Black Africa, who told him to join his club.
Mogane became the youngest player in BA, who boasted some of the top players in the country at the time.
“I played rightwing first because I was fast and I was a very good dribbler. But when Moses ‘Crooks’ Casper joined us later, I was drafted into the midfield where I assumed the playmaker role after Albert Louw left,” Mogane says.
“By then, I was an established player for the South West Africa team, and I was constantly called up for the Currie Cup and Impala Cup tournaments in South Africa. It was quite a remarkable journey with the Zebra team.”
POLITICS AND UNIONS
Before he started to take his football seriously, Mogane participated actively in the students’ politics under the influence of his childhood friend Bennie Petrus, who was also an influential midfielder for Pirates in the 70s.
“Bennie was actually the one who convinced me to ditch Döbra for Augustineum because it was closer to home and within walking distance.
“We played for Benfico Bucks and the school team together. But later, we were also responsible for the mobilisation of the pupils and convinced them to participate actively in the struggle for the liberation of our motherland,” he says.
After finishing matric, Mogane enrolled into the vocational training section at Augustineum, where he was trained as a motor mechanic, but he later decided to continue training as a teacher.
After qualifying as a teacher, Mogane started teaching at Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School in Katutura. He is a founding member of the Namibia National Teachers Union, and he was chairman of the Nantu branch at Shifidi.
However, after the formation of Nantu, Mogane decided to quit politics and returned to his football career while keeping tips on the political front of the struggle.
He set the tone for his coaching journey when he enrolled for a preliminary coaching course that was conducted by former Manchester United and England defender Viv Anderson under the South West Africa Football Association (Swafa).
After independence, he also attended another coaching course by another former Manchester United star Sir Bobby Charlton in Botswana before he and former Life Fighters coach Herman Katjiuonga attended their A licence coaching course in Germany.
“That course in Germany opened the doors for me to enter the post-independence national team set-up. But like they say, Rome wasn’t built in one day, and I first started coaching the under-17, under-20, and under-23 teams,” Mogane says.
“I was later appointed head coach of the senior national team with the vastly experienced Peter Ueberjahn as my technical adviser. Together, we made history by qualifying the Brave Warriors to the 98 Afcon in Burkina Faso.”
COACHING HIGHLIGHTS
Apart from qualifying for the Afcon, Mogane also points to reaching two Cosafa Cup finals, during which Namibia lost to Angola plus the two famous victories over Bafana Bafana as the highlights of his national team coaching career.
He says he is greatly indebted to Ueberjahn, who was co-opted by the German government to Namibia, for his unselfish and professional conduct throughout their journey together.
Mogane has coached several teams in the Namibian Premier League, including African Stars, Orlando Pirates, and Tigers, before he finally decided to concentrate on youth development.
“I’m very happy with my achievements at senior level, and I’m happy to dispatch my knowledge to the youth. I’m currently based at Rundu, where I’m tasked to set up the youth structures of Rundu Chiefs. It is a slow process,” Mogane says.
“So far, we have all the junior structures of which the under-13 and under-17, which is also known as Young Chiefs, are two of our most important components. The under-13s are very competitive, and Young Chiefs is our reserve side.”
Mogane says he is satisfied with the progress he is making, adding he deeply appreciates the support he receives from Rundu Chiefs owner and chairperson Agrippa Haindongo.
