Former defence stalwart now self-made merchant

FORMER Civics and Brave Warriors defence stalwart Stanley Lesley Goagoseb will be remembered as one of the gentle giants of Namibian football.

Born and bred in Windhoek, Goagoseb earned a reputation as one of the most solid defenders of his generation, after starting out as an attacking midfielder.

“I was a free-scoring attacking midfielder, from my high school days at Ella du Plessis, where I started playing football seriously with the school’s hostel team. I even finished the 1994 season as the club’s top scorer during the formation years of Civics.

“I was first spotted by Civics while playing for the school hostel team, and never played for another club until my retirement. It was during my time at Civics that our then late coach Dios Engelbrecht converted me into a defender,” he explains.

Goagoseb started playing football at AI Steenkamp Primary School, alongside the late Lucky Richter, Henoch Uirab, Axab Auchamp and Phillip Muinjo, who all went on to become household names in Namibian football.

Goagoseb once tried out for Orlando Pirates, the family’s favourite team, however, the strongly built player was not regarded as good enough for the smooth sailing Buccaneers.

Pirates’ loss became Civics gain, as the no-nonsense fullback went on to serve both the exciting Khomasdal-based outfit and the Brave Warriors with aplomb.

The Godfrey Jack-coached Civics was formed by the likes of Ruben Prinz in 1983, and Goagoseb, along with many of his schoolmates, were invited to join what would become one of the country’s most successful clubs.

He went on to form a solid defense partnership with Harold Kaunozondunge, which propelled Civics to the summit of the Central Football Association League, which ruled before joining the Namibia National Soccer League in 1992.

Nicknamed Tiger because of his gutsy and robust displays on the football pitch, Goagoseb went on to play for the Civics until his retirement in 2003, admitting that he particularly enjoyed scoring against Pirates, as a revenge for rejecting him.

His impressive shifts with Civics prompted Brave Warriors coaches Rusten Mogane and Peter Ueberjahn to draft him into the most fantastic Brave Warriors team of all time, the class of 98.

His debut with the national team started with an away defeat against Madagascar in Antananarivo, and he was on the national team that got the better of the highly-rated South Africa side, during an electrifying encounter in the regional Cosafa Cup in Windhoek in 1998, but not before the Brave Warriors qualified for the ’98 Afcon.

The retired defender considers the 4-3 lost in their opening match of the ’98 Afcon finals as his most memorable ever in a Brave Warriors jersey.

The inexperienced Namibian side were trailing the more experienced Ivory Coast side, laden with international stars at 3-0 at half-time, to pull off the mother of all comebacks after changeover to the level the scoreline to 3-all, only to concede a late goal to eventually go down 4-3.

The match, which was Namibia’s first ever at the continental tournament hosted by Burkina Faso in 1998, caused a consternation throughout the continent, with South African football legend Ephraim ‘Jomo’ Sono, who also tasted defeat against Namibia in the 1997 version of the Cosafa Castle Cup, referring to the Namibian players as machines.

Goagoseb is now a self-made merchandiser who makes his living by buying clothes and footwear in Johannesburg, which he sells in Windhoek for a small profit.

“In this world you have to stand up for yourself, to put bread on your table. If you are not ‘connected’ you can forget about getting a good job.”

Although the business can be quite lucrative, there’s the constant threat of lockdowns due to Covid-19 virus.

“Right now we are moving unhindered across boarders through Botswana to South Africa. But with the fourth wave – we don’t know if we will be able to travel as freely as we do now.

“We are travelling to Johannesburg at least three times a week and the long distance is a challenge on its own. We can only hope and pray that the spread of the virus will not require another lockdown because it is going to have a very bad impact on our economy.”

Despite his 14-year marriage ending in divorce, Goagoseb is the proud father of seven children.

The former Civics star considers himself fortunate to have started off as a midfielder before converting to a defender, because it helped him understand the game much better.

He names former Egyptian national team winger Tarek Mohamed Soliman and Cameroon’s former red hot striker Patrick Mboma, as his toughest opponents during his playing days.

Goagoseb bemoans the current poor state of Namibian football, but admits that he misses travelling around the continent with the national team.

One particular incident which almost led to the arrest of the late former national team manager Eliphas Aupapa Shipanga in Cameroon, is still fresh in his mind.

“The Cameroonians treated us like trash and they didn’t adhere to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) rules of fair play.

“That irked the hosts who called the police,” he says.

Shipanga avoided arrest only after the players insisted on being arrested alongside him, as well.

Notwithstanding the shenanigans surrounding local football currently, today’s young players are lucky because this is a good time to play football.