During his 40-year coaching career, Clive Barker delivered the South African men’s national team their only Africa Cup of Nations success in 1996 and then went on to qualify them for a first ever Fifa World Cup in 1998.
Clive Barker has been appointed as Bidvest Wits coach. Picture: AFP
JOHANNESBURG – Mark Fish has remembered the late Clive Barker as a father figure, while adding that the former Bafana Bafana coach can now rest following his battle with Lewy Body Dementia.
The Barker family confirmed in a statement on 10 June the death of “The Dog” at the age of 78.
During his 40-year coaching career, he delivered the South African men’s national team their only Africa Cup of
Nations (Afcon) success in 1996 and then went on to qualify them for a first-ever Fifa World Cup in 1998, but resigned months before the tournament in France.
He also was a three-time league winner with Durban City and Bush Bucks.
Speaking at the Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg at a sendoff for South Africa’s Special Olympics squad, Fish recalled the last time he saw his former coach.
“I was very fortunate to see him about a month ago,” he revealed exclusively to Eyewitness News.
“I went to go see him with his son Gavin and it was heartbreaking to see the condition he was in. I think he deserves to go rest now. He had a tough battle the last couple of years.”
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Fish added: “We can all bring up our emotions and very wonderful things to talk about Clive Barker. We lost a coach. We lost a father. We lost an inspiration to us as players but most importantly the family have lost a father…to John and Gavin… and obviously the wife has lost a husband.
“It’s very sad, but we will look back at memories of Clive Barker and what he did for me as an individual and what he did for Bafana Bafana, what he did for South African football. We have fond memories…and thank you”.
Barker will be buried on Thursday in KwaZulu Natal after Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Minister Zizi Kodwa confirmed he will be awarded a provincial funeral.
Moreover, a national coaching programme will be named after him.
On June 17, the current Bafana Bafana squad will take on Morocco at FNB Stadium in their last Afcon 2023 qualifier.
Speaking about the national side, Fish believes they have the talent to emulate the South African men’s team that brought joy to supporters during the 90s.
“I think they have a nice gel of players at the moment. [Head coach] Hugo [Broos], when he was appointed, put the pressure on himself,” Fish laughed as he recalled the Belgian’s 2021 statement that “if Bafana Bafana don’t qualify for the 2023 Afcon, you can kill me”.
Fish went on to add that the current team, “look unified. They look like a bunch of players that want to compete and win for the country.”
Both sides go into the clash having already qualified for next year’s tournament, while Morocco are proving a formidable force in world football after reaching the semifinals of the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
“Morocco is Morocco. We know what they did at the World Cup,” Fish said on the challenge of facing the Atlas Lions.
“Just to compete against them here in South Africa, let’s see how well we can compete against them. We have qualified for the next Afcon, so we are going to Ivory Coast no matter what. Let’s go out and perform. Let’s stop talking 1996, let’s talk 2024. Let’s go out there and perform because we are getting old. For us as ex-Bafana players, we want the players to do well and create new history because we can then move on.”
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