World Cup 2010: Gordon Gilbert - The Jock who became a Bok

Published on Saturday 29 May 2010 21:02

ALTHOUGH HE was brought up in Scotland, Gordon Gilbert was born in South Africa, where he now lives and works. For a few weeks every summer, he is back in Perthshire, telling people what it is like over there, and why it is special, but too many of them just don't get it. Too many of them have no idea about the host nation of the 2010 World Cup finals.

Gilbert grew up in Crieff, turned professional with St Johnstone, and won the Third Division title with East Fife in 2003, but his career in Scotland doesn't begin to compare with what he has gone on to do in South Africa. He has been playing there for the last five years, initially in the First Division with Tuks and Mpumalanga Black Aces, then in the Premier League with the capacity-crowd-pulling Kaizer Chiefs. Last season, he was on loan to Moroka Swallows, also of the top flight.

The football has been great, the lifestyle even better. "People have the wrong impression of South Africa," he says. "People who have never been there think that there are elephants roaming about the streets and monkeys climbing the trees in your garden. Once you've been there, you realise how far that is from the truth. You see how beautiful it is, how the crime and all the negative stuff is blown out of proportion. It's certainly not a third-world country in my eyes."

As it happens, 27-year-old Gilbert could be back in Scotland next season – with several clubs interested in signing the left-sided defender – but not before he has soaked up this summer's finals. With tickets for many of the matches near his home in Pretoria, including Germany against Ghana, he wants to experience as much as he can of an event that could be a force for good in South African football, and maybe even society.

Gilbert, born in 1982 to Scottish parents, spent the first eight years of his life in what is a sports-mad country. His younger brother, Kenny, also born there, took to motorcycling, eventually becoming South African National Cross-Country champion. He now races professionally in the United States. Add to that two older sisters – one a pilot, the other a chef in Cape Town – and it is quite a family.

The turning point for Gilbert came when East Fife won the league, thanks largely to the goals of his pal, Kenny Deuchar. "That was when I decided that I really wanted to make something of myself. It made me realise that I had something. I learned a lot from the more experienced boys, and being part of a promotion-winning team made me hungrier for success."

After a spell with Tuks, who represent the University of Pretoria, Gilbert came into his own with the Black Aces, where a string of impressive displays, including one in front of a sell-out Johannesburg crowd at the 2008 Nedbank Cup final, won him a move to the Kaizer Chiefs. "As soon as I heard that they were interested, it was a no-brainer," he says. "It was life-changing."

While their standard is more Championship than Premier League, the Chiefs are the Manchester United of South Africa, filling stadia everywhere they go. Claiming to have upwards of 16 million supporters, they epitomise the fanaticism that exists in South African football. Gilbert has goose-bumps thinking about the atmosphere, and how it will be even better in the World Cup finals.

"I don't know if you've heard of these vuvuzelas, horns that are constantly being blown during the match. My stepdad, who has watched football all his days, came over to watch me in the Nedbank Cup final, and he said he'd never experienced anything like it.

"The noise is unbelievable. They are up dancing, playing the drums, getting very emotional about the outcome. For the players, it is just brilliant."

With a little more luck, Gilbert could have been playing for South Africa this summer. In 2008, he represented their B team against Botswana, and in the early part of this season, allowed himself a dream or two. "When you look at most of the players in the squad, I play with or against them week in week out. I was right there. It could have been reality. Every day it was in the back of my mind, but it wasn't to be. I still believe I can play at that level. I'm still young enough to play in the next one. That's my ambition."

Gilbert, who regards himself as "70-30 Scottish", will be right behind South Africa next month. Despite fears that they would become the first host nation to be eliminated in the first round, Bafana Bafana have steadied themselves since the return of their Brazilian coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira. In meltdown as recently as last year, they now find themselves on an 11-match unbeaten run, including last week's 2-1 defeat of Colombia. "I think they'll get past the first phase," says Gilbert. "They've got the nation behind them. I know what it's like to play in front of these passionate supporters. I can only imagine what it will be like in the World Cup. I think they'll do well. I'm not going to say they will win it, but they will surprise a few people. Definitely."

The biggest surprise could be off the pitch. This, says Gilbert, is a chance for South Africa to end the ignorance, an opportunity to silence the likes of Phil Brown, the Hull City manager who argued that terrorism at this year's African Cup of Nations in Angola should place a question mark over the World Cup finals 1,500 miles away. "I thought you would ask me about security," says Gilbert wearily. "Yes, it's in Africa, but you cannot compare South Africa to any other African country. Sierra Leone, Togo, all these places, there is absolutely no comparison. It's night and day. What goes on there will never go on in South Africa. It just won't happen. The security is very tight, the police are very strong. In South Africa, it is illegal immigrants who commit the crime, people who can't get work in their own country. It gives the people of South Africa a bad name, but it's not their fault."

In some ways, the question is not what South Africa can do for the World Cup, but what the World Cup can do for South Africa. It will be another important fillip for the country's football, a predominantly black working-class sport that has been taken more seriously in the post-apartheid era. "South Africa is what it is today because of the British and European influence," explains Gilbert. "When they came over, rugby and cricket were the main sports, so all the money and attention went on those while football took a back seat. But football is definitely picking up. It started happening ten or 15 years ago after (Nelson] Mandela came in. More money, more energy has been focused on football. They televise almost every single Premier League game now."

Whether the finals will help football to bridge the racial divide is another matter. Gilbert is one of few white players in South African football. Another is Matthew Booth, who plays for the national team. There will be plenty talk these next few weeks of the Rainbow Nation, of the game's potential to unite black and white, just as there was after the 1995 Rugby World Cup – when Mandela famously donned the Springbok jersey – but is it realistic?

"There are more black guys getting pushed into playing rugby and cricket through the government quota system," says Gilbert. "And the whites are slowly getting into football, mainly because apartheid is dying off. The younger generations are being brought up together. It's more acceptable for white guys to play football now, and it's more acceptable for black guys to play rugby.

"But it's difficult for me to think that, just because we've got the World Cup finals, everybody is going to mix overnight. Yes, they are now living and working together in the same country, but the cultures are very different. If you go to a rugby game, the guys are very reserved. They're not blowing horns like they do in football. Will there be more whites in football because of this? I don't know. What I do know is that South African football will be the stronger for it. People are not going to look down on it anymore."