Neglected open velds have become a familiar feature across Dawn Park, with many of them overgrown with tall grass, bushes and thorny shrubs. For many residents, waiting for the municipality to maintain these spaces has become a common experience. But members of Dawn Park's newest football club, Ubhejane Legends FC, rolled up their sleeves, contributed their own money, and transformed one neglected space into a training ground for themselves and their community.
Every weekend, early in the morning, a group of 35 older men come together to practise soccer on an open field near their estate. These men are known as Ubhejane Legends FC, a soccer club consisting mostly of residents from Ubhejane Lifestyle Estate, along with a few others from Indlovu Lifestyle Estate.
Founded over a month ago, the initiative to start the club came from Simphiwe Msibi, a resident of Dawn Park who recently moved to Ubhejane Lifestyle Estate. Before moving to Dawn Park, Msibi regularly travelled from Kempton Park to Dawn City to play for a legends football team. After settling in Ubhejane Lifestyle Estate, he and a group of men from the estate decided to establish a similar team focused on players aged 35 and older.
The purpose of the club is not only to offer these Legends an outlet to play a sport they love but, more importantly, to help them stay fit as age and responsibility make it harder to maintain active and healthy lifestyles.
From Bushes to Football Pitch
One of the biggest challenges facing any local team is the question of space: "Where do we play?
V Gule, one of the Legends and a resident of Ubhejane Lifestyle Estate, says they are not even allowed to play soccer on the streets inside their complex. For Msibi and the Legends, however, this question was easier to answer because not far from their estate stood a neglected open veld with a goalpost already in place. They took refuge on this field and turned it into their training ground.
The Ubhejane Legends, however, were not the first team to settle on this field. Long before Ubhejane had a team, the neighbouring Indlovu Lifestyle Estate also had a legends soccer club. It was this team that first cleared the overgrown land and erected a goalpost.
Mkhalimi Fatule, another Legend in the Ubhejane team, was among the first people involved in preparing the field sometime last year. He says the team initially organised a tractor to clear the overgrown veld but soon discovered it would not be enough to complete the task. They then brought in a grader, which cleared the remaining grass until only a sandy playing surface remained.
It was Mkhalimi himself who built the goalpost using broken boom gates that he had gathered from his estate.
The Indlovu team eventually disbanded because of a lack of commitment from many of its members. Inevitably, the field was neglected once again as bushes and thorny shrubs reclaimed the land. Then came Msibi and the Ubhejane Legends, who brought the space back to life by each contributing R100 towards clearing the field once again.
More Than Football
For Msibi, the purpose of this soccer club extends far beyond the love of the game. Its most important purpose is to "keep dads fit."
As homeowners, family men and working men, staying in shape becomes increasingly difficult. As Msibi puts it, "Sometimes you think you are fit and then next thing the doctor tells you that you have a sickness because of your body."
Msibi says the club has already begun changing lives. One player told him he believes joining the team will help him lose weight, while others have said they prefer playing football to simply running on the streets.
Msibi himself has noticed a change in the players.
"People are happy now," he says.
A Club Owned by Everyone
Although Msibi started the initiative, he does not see himself as the owner of the club. Pointing to the players around him, he says:
"These are the shareholders of the club."
Because everyone contributes towards maintaining the field each month, he considers every member a stakeholder.
"My thing was not to be a chairman," he says. "I just wanted to keep the community happy and fit."
Since its formation, the club has also received support from community members within the estate, some of whom contribute funds to the team. Even the estate's managing agent has pledged to help raise money towards purchasing jerseys.
Challenges
Although the Ubhejane Legends are able to maintain their field through their monthly contributions, Msibi says they still need assistance going forward.
"We need the councillor to keep it up, to help us because it's not playable..."
Although the field is clean enough for training, it remains uneven, posing a risk to players.
Mkhalimi experienced this first-hand during practice when he injured himself and had to leave the field. He says he landed awkwardly because of the uneven surface and fell to the ground.
Msibi says they have appealed to the councillor but have not yet received a response.
Despite these challenges, the mood during training remained light, with jokes and encouragement flowing throughout the morning.
Looking Ahead
Just over a month after its formation, Ubhejane Legends FC is already looking forward to playing its first match on 9 August against a team from Dawn City. Msibi says the match will either be held at a sports facility in Sunward Park or locally at their training ground if a second goalpost can be organised in time.
Although the club currently focuses on older men, Msibi says they hope to involve younger boys in future.
"If we have enough boys, maybe 11 or 12, then we can organise a game for them."
Another long-term vision is to establish a netball team after several women in the estate approached Msibi asking for their own sporting outlet.
His concern, however, is that they have very limited space within the estate, with only a small park available. He hopes that, if funding becomes available, they will be able to build a netball court where women can also exercise and keep fit.
"The vision is to have a netball team just to keep everyone in the estate, or in the surrounding Dawn Park, fit," he says.
At the end of a two-hour practice session, the Legends walked off the field covered in dust. Jerseys were stained with sand and knees scraped from tackles on the uneven ground, yet smiles spread across their faces.
Standing nearby, a man carrying a loaf of bread stopped to watch for a few minutes before saying he would return the following morning to join the team.
In just over a month, 35 men transformed more than an abandoned field. They built a football club, created a place to keep fit, and demonstrated what can happen when neighbours work together.
Msibi hopes that same spirit will spread throughout Dawn Park because, as he puts it:
"Without us this place will go down, but with us it will rise."
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