The best of the Brazilians

When the hype around Kaizer Chiefs’ 50th birthday began to build-up, there came a sudden announcement from Mamelodi Sundown that they too were born in 1970 and were a half a century old. It was a surprise that given that the club’s

It was a surprise that given that the club’s own website details its history as stemming from Marabastad Sundowns, later also called Pretoria Sundowns, who were a team from the grey area in the city that was later the subject of cruel evictions by the Apartheid regime, in the same way District Six in Cape Town and Sophiatown in Johannesburg were turned from multiracial communities into whites-only areas.

Sundowns have since admitted their history is unfortunately murky but point to 1970 as the year doctors Motsiri Itsweng and Bonnie Sebotsane bought the club.

That, however, was only in 1979 and it was nly in that they reached the top flight of professional football in South Africa, with Dave Barber as their coach.

Marabastad Sundowns, where the careers of Bernard ‘Dancing Shoes’ Hartze, Ingle Singh and Vincent Julius were forged, and where Patrice Motsepe’s father Frank ‘ABC’ Motsepe played, is one of the legendary clubs in the country’s history.

But the current