Open Letter to Teko Modise

Dear Teko Modise,

Yours reads like a classic rags-to-riches story, just over five years ago not many knew about you, you were just a boy with a dream. I imagine your journey to a dream must have been something to cherish, and being a star player at Pirates is a mind blowing and sometimes surreal experience.

Having 75 000 fanatics scream your name in admiration of your skill and talent sounds like a dizzying experience, the after effects of such spells are known to be the swelling of the head, and ofcourse that animal called ego gets inflamed. Not every star suffers these unfortunate side-effects though. The inflammation of the ego and the swelling of the head have such depressing symptoms, which I’ll tell you about in a second.

It was not long ago I found myself in your presence at an Audi dealership, you drove a slick Audi S3 then but you were trying to trade it in for a spanking new Audi TT Coupe, I heard the salesman tell you nicely you didn’t qualify, that bothered me on so many levels;

Was my team Orlando Pirates not paying its star player enough to qualify for this lil’ beauty?

Why would you want a 2-seater as your only car? I wondered. I remember wondering why you were stretching yourself so thin financially.

But ofcourse your starlight shone brighter and not long you were rocking in a BMW 645Ci and Range Rover Sport.

In no time you had ballooned to be arguably SA’s biggest soccer star.

Black child, it’s possible. The message was loud and clear.

But then the symptoms of a swollen head and an inflamed ego started showing their ugly head. Teammates complained you were screaming at them if they did not pass the ball to you, you were at times travelling separately from the rest of the other teammates, reports alleged.

And I read an interview where you are quoted saying, ‘The overseas based Bafana teammates already treat me like I play in Europe’, that got me thinking, how were you treated differently from the rest of the other locally-based players?

Soon you had lost form, but then that happens to the finest players on the planet.

But after almost two years out of form, one thing is clear, you have a massive problem. Ntsie Maphike, the former Chiefs player now their development coach alleges that it’s a natural ageing process because you are in fact thirty-six years old, and not turning twenty-eight as you claim.

I’m not sure I believe that, you don’t look thirty-six, but then again judging age by looks is just a lottery at times, Julius is twenty-nine but looks forty-two, go figure!

You are losing your way Teko, you haven’t scored a goal in more than six months, I still read interviews where you say you have nothing to prove, you couldn’t be more wrong, you have so much to prove, in fact no SA soccer player has more to prove than you do. And you are going to have to come down from your high horse and accept to be treated like every other Pirates player. You are no Ronaldo, Ronaldo scored a mind-blowing thirteen goals last month alone! That’s what superstars do, they let their game do the talking instead of tweeting ‘’I can’t stand this BS, I wanna play!!!! I think this is deeper than football’’.

Maybe we should just accept that you’re not very smart and let you be Teko, so you think the coach has a vendetta against you? Why would he? You honestly think he’ll compromise the team’s chances by not playing the ‘best’ player in the team?

I heard you now roll in one of the ‘cheaper versions of the Astin Martin, but knowing your fetish for sports cars you probably blew half your life earnings on that car, that car is driven by overseas soccer stars earning millions a week! And your ego has ballooned to unprecedented levels, you probably think you should be in some exotic location shooting a Nike ad with Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, LOL, you are such an airhead with irredeemable arrogance. As a result, the skill has escaped you, you no longer got game, all you have now is a big head and a big ego, and that Pitso Mosimane dude keeps stroking your ego. Teko, no player in the history of football has been given more chances than you, recognize that.

Once you were a humble boy destined for stardom. You see, all the money you’ve made in your entire career, Steven Pienaar makes it in a few months, yet he remains so down to earth he does not think he’s superhuman, I thought that sober mindedness was going to rub off you, but clearly there’s not much grey matter behind that tired Mohawk of yours. Another thing Teko, you not a pretty-boy by any stretch of the imagination, so stop trying to look pretty, gosh! *rolling my eyes*

Now please sort yourself out, starting by apologizing to your teammates for treating them like lesser humans than you, or please go join other big egos at Sundowns.

If your real age is 28, it leaves you with just about five years of football, and a big Europe contract seem an impossible dream right now, but you can still make the best of playing locally, you already earn around R150 000 a month at Pirates, you are blessed to be where you are boy, there are many boys with more game than you but they never got the opportunities you got. Show some respect son! And respect that famous black and white jersey, hloniph’i-life boy.

 So do you have the will to bounce back? Do you still know how to be humble? I really hate to have had to write this letter to you, but you are a national asset, you play for my legendary team, so I had to say something.

Let’s see if you have the character to bounce back, for two years we’ve been waiting on you recapture your form.  Be grateful. Remember Steve Lekoelea, remember Thabang Lebese, yes it will happen to you too Teko!

Now go out there and break a leg, son. Time's not on your side.