TS Galaxy vice-captain Given Msimango is one of the household names in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and was courted by Kaizer Chiefs in recent months, but his career began at the Varsity Cup and he explains how it’s been an integral part of his rise.
Having started at the University of Johannesburg before making the move to the professional ranks with Highlands Park, Msimango represents a rare breed of player that’s made massive strides without proper academy development.
But he admits what he missed out from structural and tactical coaching during his youth days, he somewhat made up for it through the platform and professionalism of life in the Varsity Football tournament with his former University.
“It played a huge role because I never really had a development platform in my upbringing, so for me, it was more of a development base,” Msimango told Varsity Sports.
“I was introduced to a lot of things from a professional set-up like video analysis, I started there, being called up to the U20’s also. So you learn a lot of things that I should have learnt in my earlier years.
“But ya the varsity platform provided that for me and it was a huge learning curve for my career.”
Having once entered the hostile TUT Stadium amongst several other arenas known for iconic Iyachesa moments, Msimango added that it was also a major step towards preparing himself for what was to come later in his career.
From making it into the junior national team, some senior Bafana Bafana call-ups and being regarded as one of the best defenders in the league, the environment he first experienced in the tournament was central to building his belief in his talents.
“You never really get to understand the importance of playing in such a crowd up until you get into the PSL level where it’s a weekly thing, so having experienced it at the Varsity level – the first time it was a bit nerve-wracking,” he added.
“I never played in such a huge crowd. But over time you get used to it as a player – you feed from it. It kind of helped me as a player, it built confidence to always perform well. Because when you do well the supporters will support you.”
Msimango has now racked up 76 appearances in the top-flight since joining the Lions of the North in 2017, who was later acquired by his current club, the Rockets.
