21 Feb 2018

At the height of his playing days, Naphtally ‘Scara’ Kebalepile set the local football scene alight with an amazing repertoire of dazzling footwork. Simply put, Scara had magic in his left foot that could make the ball talk.

To be honest, despite his popularity, in terms of international football ‘Scara’ did not really make the grade. In the local league he was one playmaker known to combine pin point passing, exquisite vision and a natural left foot.

 During its successful campaign in the elite league, his childhood team Extension Gunners boasted a crème of the crop in the mold of Joshua ‘Jojo’ Mogotsi, Tornado Bokole, Kenneth Jere, and Joe Tembo amongst others, and in turn dished out beautiful football.

The high point of his career was the 90’s when he joined a Gunners team that hauled every silverware that was on offer. In his maiden season Scara won the President’s Cup and went on to be crowned Castle League Champion from 1991 to 1993.

In between the years ‘Scara’ produced another polished performance to help his team win the coveted Coca Cola Championships, the Supreme Challenge Cup and the inaugural Kabelano Charity Cup. His individual performance was finally recognised when he won the Coke Cola cup flair player of the tournament. The facts don’t lie. Scara had the football fans eating from the palm of his hand.

Kebalepile who is a month shy off his 50^th birthday was born and raised in the dusty streets of Woodhall location deep in the heart of Lobatse.

“I started off in the dusty ground right here in Woodhall. It is where we played football every day with the likes of Chicken Dennison (nephew to former Notwane dribbling wizard William Paymaster Dennison). I made the grade at Maletamotse Football Club U15 when I was still a student at Newlook Primary School.

I went to Itsoseng in Lichtenburg to do my Junior Certificate and played for a couple of teams there including Junior Chiefs, Shepherd Bucks and Giant Aces,” reminisced Kebalepile early this week.

 On his arrival back home ,Kebalepile was immediately signed by Maletamotse and later recruited by Lobatse Stars. In the late 80’s he was spotted by Horatio Mahloane who was a star player with Gaborone United and invited him to join his team. Kebalepile only stayed for one season with the Gaborone giants before his father and former Gunners iconic chairperson Rashid Chopdat travelled to Gaborone and took him to Peleng to join Gunners.

“I came to Gunners in 1988 and found an intact team that was hard to crack into the starting lineup. They had amongst others Jackie MacLeans, Tebogo Motswagae and States Hirschfield. That’s where the ball started rolling,” he reflected.

 And his style of play, considered being one of the best skilled and entertaining players, something of a fan’s favourite, what made him so special?

“When I was still with Junior Chiefs I used to watch a certain gentleman called Elias Hotane play. He actually taught me that football was not all about playing but entertainment.

He could talk to the ball and it responded quite obviously. He took me to their training sessions and I learnt a few tricks and could even wake up at the dead of the night and try a few of his tricks. That is how I got to learn to communicate with the ball. The rest is history,” he said.

Scara had a few moments that can go down very well as his personal best. But the greatest moment would obviously be the time he spent at Extension Gunners. Undoubtedly they had the best team and the best management during that time.

 It was under the guidance of the Zambian coach Kenny Mwape that Gunners became unstoppable.

Scara had a stint at Notwane and won a few medals with them. Notwane also had some of the finest players the country has ever had in the late Shono Madonsela Ngaka, Maybin Chama and Robo Khonzapi amongst others.

His national team call up came immediately after Gunners played Township Rollers and that was in 1990 to be precise.

He never really made the break in the national team line up mainly because of a number of reasons known to the technical team then. He actually carried an injury into his first camp against Mauritius.

All he now remembers is that he featured for the Zebras when they went through a string of embarrassing losses in CAF Qualifiers. One of the games was the 6-0 drubbing Zebras suffered against Cote d’Ivoire.

 The two players that gave Scara sleepless nights were Jomo ‘Nobody’ Mosweu and the best midfielder TAFIC has ever produced, Mmoloki ‘Besto-Bell’ Sechele. According to him the two were amazingly talented.

He admits that he still struggles to identify a single player who plays entertaining football.

“I have watched Dirang (Moloi) several times and eh…..ok, he can show class ha a batla. I also think that this Gunners youngster Mothusi Cooper is coming off age,” he said

And his memorable game was a 2-1 victory against Gaborone United in a league encounter in 1991 where Steve Zulu and Isaac Ncenga were on target for mapantsula.

Scara has retreated back to his home town and engaged in social Sunday soccer up to date. He joined a team called Dipashasha where he plays alongside other former greats such as Motswadi ‘Ten-ten’ Motswadi, Marshlow Motlogelwa and Golebaone ‘Lollipop’ Mogotsi who all have their roots in Lobatse. ENDS