Lobatse — At the age of 48 Naphtaly 'Scara' Kebalepile, the 1992 Zebras striker is still active in football and continues to win awards. The retired player has fondly played Botswana football at both club and national level.
In an interview with BOPA at his home in Kanye Kebalepile takes us through his journey of success. He says, he started playing football at primary school level and also played for the development team of Maletamotse under 16 in Lobatse during his grooming stage.
He then relocated to South Africa to continue schooling in Lichtenburg. "It is in South Africa where they discovered my capabilities in football," he said.
"I played for clubs like Junior Chiefs and Chipa Bucks while in South Africa and I remember in 1983 when I was chosen player of the year while playing for Chipa Bucks. It was a great moment for me looking at the fact that I was a Motswana and being honoured in another country," he added.
He then joined Black Leopards FC in 1984 before coming home and played for Maletamotse which was a big team by then.
The veteran explains that in Botswana he played for clubs like Gaborone United ,Notwane and joined Extension Gunners in 1989."Those were my days, my name started to blossom when I played for Gunners. I was even called to the national team in 1992," Kebalepile says.
He remembers that his first international games was when they played Mauritius during independence celebrations in 1992.
He said he played international games against Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, Zambia, Swaziland and Mauritius. Kebalepile said he worked well with a variety of coaches including Kenny Moape, Fisher from Germany and Six Keatlholetswe.
Kebalepile remembers the most memorable game he ever played being the one when he played against Kaizer Chiefs in CAF tournaments while at Gunners.
"I am well remembered for dribbling Neil Tovey who by then played as captain of the mighty Kaizer Chiefs. "It was a very tough game and we played very well and unfortunately they won by flick of Eric September.
Scara talks of how they used to passionately play football. 'It is not like nowadays where players play for money. We were not paid but still played well. Botswana football has tremendously grown and today's players should take advantage of that as they even get the chance to play for other teams outside the country. We never had that chance at premiere league as we were regarded as amateurs," he says.
He said during their era just a stroke on the head meant a lot and meant that one has played very well. He however encouraged Botswana to learn from other countries and develop players at a younger stage.
He confirms that he retired from professional football in 2000 and is now playing for Dipashasha, a social club which mostly consists of retired players like Modise 'Lollipop' Motswadi, Daniel Nare and others.
He says during his retirement he has coached Maletammotse and Gunners development team, adding that he has gone for coaching courses and gained a lot of experience and skills about football.
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