FORMER Lesotho and Bloemfontein Celtic goalkeeper, Ronnie Malefetse is unhappy about the sale of Phunya Sele Sele after the South African Premier League side on Tuesday announced its decision to change hands.
sports
Aug. 20, 2021
STAFF REPORTER
3 min read
Former Lesotho goalie saddened by Celtic sale
Bloemfontein Celtic players before the club was sold
This after the hierarchy of the club announced it was struggling to keep up with the financial implications of running a professional football team.
The Bloemfontein-based club has relocated to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and will now be known as Royal AM.
Malefetse is one of several Lesotho born players, who donned the club’s colours and enjoyed a lot of success with them having won the now defunct Mainstay Cup with Celtic in 1985.
Keteng ‘Lekoaetose’ Mosala, Tšeliso ‘Frisco’ Khomari, Seephephe ‘Mochine’ Matete are some of the prominent Lesotho footballers who also played for Celtic in the 1970s and early 1980s.
They were followed by a generation that included among others Lehlohonolo Seema, who went on to captain and coach the team after retiring along with the likes of Lebajoa Mphongoa and the late duo of Tšeliso Thite and Motlatsi Shale.
Likuena striker, Motebang Sera is the latest of the Lesotho players to join Celtic and is in the squad that has relocated to Durban after being bought by Royal AM.
“Let me narrate a bit of my history with the team. I started playing for them in early 1970s while I was still playing here at home. Celtic were at the time still playing in the lower division, I would cross to Bloemfontein with other local players on weekends to play there and come back home immediately thereafter,” Malefetse said.
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“The team was eventually promoted to South Africa topflight football in 1984 and that’s when our brother, Mosala who was already playing for the club was given an assignment to recruit players in Lesotho.”
Others like Matete, Khomari and ‘Valdes’ Leleka to mention a few were already in the books of the club around that time, he said.
“I have heard about the team’s financial problems over the past couple of years and it is sad to be sold because it has always opened its doors to players from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Botswana and Malawi,” the former Lesotho prominent goal minder said.
“The sale of the club is going to hit hard on young players from Lesotho and the Free State province itself. It’s a sad end to a rich history of a club that was not only loved in the Free State, but the whole of southern Africa.
“We had a big connection with the club as Basotho as you can see with the story of Seema, who played for the club before he later coached it,” he said.
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