- Ronwen Williams received the award for the goalkeeper of the competition
- He helped South Africa reach the semi-finals where they lost to Nigeria
- Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane? Which five players should have played in the Premier League? Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Hearing gunshots crackle while playing football was normal for Ronwen Williams growing up. So was the sight of a dead man lying on the side of the road on the way home.
“Gangsterism,” he calls it. “Because of poverty, everyone wants to be a gangster,” he says. “The shooting of guns, the violence, the pulling of knives, the drugs… it’s easy to fall into that trap. It’s their way of making money.
“When you heard gunshots, you ran for cover. It’s easy to be a target, but luckily I didn’t get any stray bullets. You could hear them when you were playing and as you came from the football field it was not unusual to see someone dead, shot near where you were playing.’
Williams is the goalkeeper and captain of South Africa. He grew up in Gelvandale, Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, where police have been fighting a losing battle against rising crime for years.
“My cousin died,” Williams says. “He was a security guard. A gun went off but it wasn’t his fault. A lot of people I knew from Gelvandale are in prison. You could choose gangsterism or you could choose football. Fortunately, there were no gangsters in my family.’
Football is in his genes, the whole family plays the game. Hazel, his mother, once a striker with Shutterproof FC, was still playing while six months pregnant with her son.
“My uncle said it must have influenced me because I was recognized at a young age by SuperSport United,” says Williams. “It meant I wasn’t exposed to the gangs because I went to the academy in Johannesburg.
Williams offers himself a moment of self-reflection. The 32-year-old has just returned to a hero’s welcome in South Africa after leading his country to third place at the Africa Cup of Nations, their best performance in 24 years.
In addition, he was awarded the best goalkeeper award after some impressive displays and a number of impressive penalty saves, becoming the first player in the history of the tournament to make four saves in one process – during the quarter-final against Cape Verde.
As much as South Africa praises its rugby and cricket stars, ‘Bafana Bafana’ is considered the ‘people’s team’. The subsequent outpouring of affection for Williams in recent days, he says, has been “crazy,” but overwhelmingly, his sentiment is vindicated.
“Since I made my international debut, there have been critics. I conceded five against Brazil and then five against France and that’s what they always told me: that I wasn’t good enough or I wasn’t big enough. At the Afcon I faced some of the biggest strikers in the world, like Victor Osimhen and Youssef En-Nesyri, but I kept them out. Now I have won a lot of people.’
For every Williams save, there’s a ritual: He looks up to the sky and says a prayer. It’s not God’s help he’s asking for, it’s his late brother Marvin’s.
The death of his older brother in a car accident 14 years ago left the then 18-year-old security guard devastated and ready to give up.
“When he passed, I was devastated,” Williams says. “He was my number one supporter, my best friend. He left home to be closer to me at the academy so I could settle in better. He had this amazing energy and I looked up to him. After the funeral, I didn’t want to go back to football.’
For three months, Williams ignored pleas to return until SuperSport youth coach Kwanele Kopo finally convinced him that a career in football was what Marvin so desperately wanted for him.
The following season he was promoted to the first team and hasn’t looked back. After 12 years with SuperSport, Williams joined Mamelodi Sundowns, winning the South African Premier Division title in his first season.
The tattooed sleeve adorning his left arm is dedicated to Marvin, and it is his brother who he still turns to for advice.
“I like to think he’s always around me, especially when things get a little rough,” Williams says. “I look up and have a little conversation with him about what to do, what he’s thinking. It relaxes me “.
It’s not just the mental tips that account for Williams’ incredible penalty save. He is quick to praise the analysts who help him prepare and admits to borrowing psychological warfare methods.
“I study as many penalties as possible. I can remember Liverpool’s Bruce Grobbelaar doing his wobbly legs and Moeneeb Josephs, the former South Africa goalkeeper, used to go crazy. He would take out his false teeth and shake them on the kick. He would take the crowd or line dance.
“I yell at them or if they look confident, I start telling them which way to go, just little things to put them off.”
At least Williams still has his own teeth. The big smile confirms his confidence following his Afcon exploits, which fueled his ambition to play in the Premier League.
“This has always been a dream of mine,” he says. “Afkon showed that I can play against the best and keep a clean sheet. I feel safe in my actions and I have so many good years ahead of me.’
Williams had a brief flirtation with Tottenham’s academy as a 14-year-old. SuperSport’s partnership with the London club saw Williams and his teammates spend time at Spurs, taking on hosts Manchester United and Hibernian in a tournament. They drew every game.
“Ryan Mason was the superstar at Tottenham, he was really impressive, but this experience gave us all the confidence that we could compete at this level. I just remember London as an amazing experience.’
If opportunity fails to strike for Williams, he wouldn’t be deterred by his biggest critic, his son Mikil, taking the opportunity at his expense.
The 11-year-old is a winger in Mamelodi Sundowns’ development squad. His father likens him to former Tottenham and Everton winger Steven Pienaar, one of South Africa’s most successful exports.
“If I come out of a game feeling pretty happy with myself, Mikyle will say ‘why did you kick the ball out three times, Dad?’ I like this. It brings me down to earth and keeps me humble.
“He’s only young, but he has great insight into the game. I hope he can go all the way. If I don’t make it in Europe, maybe I can live my dream through this. It’s a sacrifice worth making.’