Former Chiefs & Pirates keeper, Wade du Plessis opens up about mental heath

Robert Marawa speaks to former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper and local football legend, Wade du Plessis

Former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper and local football legend, Wade du Plessis says moving to Orlando Pirates was one of his biggest regrets and that he struggled with mental health towards the end of his career and beyond.

Du Plessis is best known for his time at Chiefs where he made 86 league appearances an won the league twice in a row in 1990 and 1991, two BP Top 8, the Bob Save Super Bowl and the Castle Challenge in a trophy laden stint at the Soweto giants.

Speaking to broadcaster Robert Marawa on #MSW, the now 56-year-old spoke fondly of his time at Naturena.

The regret is that I left the club I was playing for and I probably played over 100 games for Chiefs and I left them for personal and financial reasons. I worked a plan out because Mr Motaung didn’t want to see me leave Chiefs so I had to convince him that he had other options besides me and that made space for me to move.

Wade du Plessis, Former Kaizer Chiefs Goalkeeper

Who knows how many accolades I would have and how many times I would have played for the club. We missed home, we missed Durban. Gordon Igesund asked me if I wanted to come back to Durban to play for D’Alberton Callies and they were doubling my salary to come back. In those days things went under the table, around the table and everywhere else besides on the table itself.

Wade du Plessis, Former Kaizer Chiefs Goalkeeper

Following his stint in KZN, du Plessis moved to Orlando Pirates, where he said he found it tough and that the pressures of the game started taking its toll on him.

I sat on the bench for 6 months having just played for South Africa. The team was winning a lot at the time and you don’t change a winning team so it was difficult for me to break into the team. I had some personal issues and I basically walked away from football for a while so my stay there wasn’t great at all. It was a really tough time and I hope that there are people who realise the pressure on players and the stress that puts you under.

Wade du Plessis, Former Kaizer Chiefs Goalkeeper

When my career came to an end in 2000, I suffered a serious back injury and I was told I would never play professionally again. A year later I tried to come back in an NFD team in Durban and got myself into good shape. At the same time I was taking so many pills and injections to get through training sessions. The club started cutting down on salaries and it wasn’t worth it anymore.

Wade du Plessis, Former Kaizer Chiefs Goalkeeper

I went on a downward spiral mentally for about 10 years from 2002 onwards . I was too proud to admit that I had an issue. I turned to the bottle and after spending 3 weeks in a facility I came out with a completely different frame of mind and I couldn’t believe that I let myself live with that depression for so long. You don’t just cure something like that and to this day I have my moments when I don’t want to get out of bed, but I have a great job at the Sharks soccer club, I have two beautiful sons and two beautiful daughters and those are the things I took for granted back then.

Wade du Plessis, Former Kaizer Chiefs Goalkeeper

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This article first appeared on 947 : Former Chiefs & Pirates keeper, Wade du Plessis opens up about mental heath