SOUTH AFRICANS IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Do not scroll down yet!!! (the correct answers are below). Can you guess the surnames of these
SOUTH AFRICANS IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE? And……. GO…!!!
- Quinton ……….
- Mark ………….
- Phil …………
- Benni ………..
- Steven ……….
- Lucas ……….
- Shaun ……….
- Aaron ……….
- Gary ……….
- Dean ……….
ANSWERS:
- Quinton Fortune – Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers
One of only two South Africans to ever play for Manchester United, and the incredible Sir Alex Ferguson. He spent seven years at Old Trafford and was a very able deputy in the holding midfield role. He won league titles and an FA Cup medal with the Red Devils.
- Mark Fish – Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic (1997 – 1998, 2000 – 2005)
He certainly made a splash in the Premier League (sorry, it’s irresistible). He made over 100 appearances for Charlton after a successful spell at the Trotters. Fish was also famous for some wonderful performances in the 1996 African Cup of Nations and 1998 World Cup for Bafana Bafana.
- Phil Masinga – Leeds United (1994 – 1996)
Fondly known as “the other South African who played for Leeds”, he’s a man of many distinctions. He remains the only Bafana player with an FA Cup hat-trick to his name, and received South Africa’s first ever international red card, playing against Zambia in 1992.
- Benni McCarthy – Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United (2006 – 2010, 2010 – 2011)
In his debut season for Rovers, he was positively rampant. He bagged 24 goals in his first ever season of English football. He moved down south to West Ham after notching 52 goals in 150 games for Blackburn, but it all went sour.
- Steven Pienaar – Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland (2007 – 2011 and 2012 – 2016, 2011 – 2012, 2016 – 2017)
The only South African to play for three different top-flight clubs in England excelled for Everton, winning their player of the season accolade for the 2009-10 season. He left Sunderland just a few months ago, as he was powerless to stop the David Moyes banter express plummeting towards the Championship.
- Lucas Radebe – Leeds United (1994 – 2005)
This guy was so good, five blokes from Leeds named their band after his first club and became global superstars. The former Kaizer Chief’s defender is perhaps the most-loved South African to grace the Premier League, as the Leeds faithful adored him for his brutal, uncompromising style of defending. He was initially signed as part of the Phil Masinga deal, to ‘keep Phil happy’ so he’d have a mate abroad. However, Radebe gloriously upstaged him with 201 appearances for United.
- Shaun Bartlett – Charlton Athletic (2000 – 2006)
He wasn’t exactly prolific, but on his day he was unstoppable. The Capetonian formed a formidable partnership with Jonathan Johanssen at the turn of the millennium, and our Shaun is still widely regarded as a cult hero for The Addicks.
- Aaron Mokoena – Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth (2005 – 2009, 2009 – 2010)
The marauding centre-half knew his way around a crunching tackle, and marshalled the defences of both Rovers and Pompey as if he were a war general. He chalked up 177 appearances in the English Premier League, and earned himself the nickname of ‘The Axe’, due to his ability to chop down an attacker. Hard to disagree!
- Gary Bailey – 1975 Cape Town City 1976–1979 Wits University 1978–1987 Manchester United 1988–1990 Kaizer Chiefs
is a former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Manchester United. Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, he grew up in South Africa, but went on to be capped twice for England.
- Dean Furman – 2003–2006 Chelsea 2006–2008 Rangers 2008–2009 Rangers 2008–2009 Bradford City 2009–2013 Oldham Athletic 2015– SuperSport United
SOURCES: The South African Wikipedia
