The Sunday News
From humble beginnings in Harare to football royalty at Chloorkop, Khama Billiat’s contribution to Mamelodi Sundowns’ title success makes him the Kick Off Footballer of the Season.
Khama Billiat may not be an imposing physical presence on the pitch, but his menacing skill on the ball and lightening pace have tormented defences both domestically and on the continent this season. The Zimbabwean international says the 2015/16 campaign has been the best of his career after helping the Brazzilians lift the Telkom Knockout Cup as well as the Absa Premiership title, while amassing career best figures of 12 goals and 20 assists (as at 13/5/16) in all competitions while on the continent he played a crucial role in ensuring Zimbabwe qualifies for the 2017 Orange Afcon Cup, they last graced 10 years ago.
Khama (KB) spoke to South African football magazine, Kick Off (KO) after its reader voted him their footballer of the season.
KO: Khama, congratulations on being crowned the 2015/16 Kick Off Footballer of the Season!
Khama Billiat: Thank you, it feels great! Firstly, I want to thank God, who made this possible. As always, when you win something for the first time it’s a great honour and you can’t help but look forward to winning more. I’m grateful for the award and I give credit to my team, who worked hard, but unfortunately it has to be one person selected for the award and I’m fortunate to be chosen this time around.
KO: True, the Kick Off readers voted you over your teammates including Hlompho Kekana and Keagan Dolly . . .
KB: I’m truly grateful for that, I think the fans see football in a way that they enjoy and Hlompho, I think, is not given that chance of dribbling and scoring as many goals. But I think he’s been fantastic. I can mention a couple of guys that have done well and deserve this award, but I appreciate that the fans have enjoyed me the most, even though they forget guys that I’ve been provided by Hlompho, Dolly, Leornado Castro . . . I can mention the whole team.
KO: You had an up-and-down start to the season, but you managed to gain momentum after the first 10 matches to each double figures in both goals and assist . . .
KB: I have to thank the coach for giving me the opportunity and believing in me until I could eventually contribute the way I did. It’s part of my job to create scoring opportunities, and I love scoring goals as well. Hopefully I will take this season in a positive way, and looking at it as a professional player I would like to grow from this season and be even better next season.
KO: What has been your secret to your resurgence this season? You have managed to steer clear of injuries, and performed consistently . . .
KB: it’s not really a secret, but its’ something I don’t like to speak about. My teammates have been largely influential in my performances this season, but the one thing I do now which I’ve never done previously is run a lot. Before we go to camp — two days before a match — I always go for a run. Sometimes I run for up to an hour, and that makes me feel good. I do a bit of gym as well, but I love running. It gives me a boost and I don’t get tired of running. I can even tell you, by looking at my performances, when I didn’t run before a game, I didn’t do as well in those matches.
KO: Interesting. Would you describe this as your best season so far?
KB: Yes, I’d consider this my best. I’ve never won two trophies in one season, and I’m happy that it’s finally happened. I’ll always look back and say “I won the League, the Telkom Knockout and the Kick Off award as well”. So, definitely, I would say this is one of the best so far in my career.
KO: How will you emulate what you’ve achieved this season in the seasons to come?
KB: It’s going to be a bit challenging after doing well this season, it will always be a bit difficult to push to another level, but I am the kind of player who will fight to do better. I’ll take next season twice as seriously and work twice as hard, and then see what it brings at the end of the season.
KO: Could you now confidently say you are ready to make the move to Europe?
KB: I remember last year I said I was not ready, but I feel like this season I’ve improved in many areas, although there are still more improvements to be made. I think I’m ready for Europe. I’m ready to compete in a tougher environment to see if I can actually stay there. It’s not only about going there, you need to stay there.
KO: How would you sum up your journey through football so far? Apparently, as a kid, you always wanted soccer boots rather than schools shoes?
KB: I think there’ve been many ups and downs, but if I look at it in a positive way I must say it has been great. When I was young I just wanted to play football, and I’m grateful that my dad always supported me — when I had a match he would come and watch no matter where it was. I then had to make a big sacrifice and move away from home at the age of 11 to join theAces Youth Academy where I also attended school at Lord Malvern . . . I would say I was just living for football.
KO: You went through a difficult period after that, where you were forced to leave the academy and almost completely turned your back on football?
KB: At some point the Academy started struggling with finances and the coach (Marc Dullivard) had to sell some of his more senior players, which is when Knowledge (Musona) moved to Kaizer Chiefs. Everything looked like it was just a pipe dream because he had wanted us to play in Europe, but the financial problems made it so much harder. He did all he could for us and even took us to Switzerland a couple of times, where we would stay for a few weeks or months to play in tournaments. He was amazing for us. But we eventually got to a point where we couldn’t even travel to matches in Zimbabwe, so we didn’t play competitively anymore, and I was at an age where I needed that. I then decided to leave the academy and go back home, and I wasn’t playing for about a year. I found a job at a shop selling clothes with my best friend, Brian Chami.
KO: How did you then join Caps United?
KB: There was this local amateur coach that saw me working at the shop in town, Conrad Nyambabvu. He kept telling me I’m wasting my time, asking me why I’m working and not playing soccer. But I was adamant on not playing locally. I wanted to play in another country, I was making a little money at least and I had forgotten about football for a while, but whenever I saw people playing football I always felt “this is where I want to be”. Then Conrad told me he was talking to the coaches of Caps United and Monomotapa, which is where I was actually meant to go and play. Then, Lincoln Zvasiya (former Kaizer Chiefs defender) and I were meant to meet with the Monomotapa team at his location, but we were late and their team bus left us behind. The Caps bus came and, because many of their players including Nyasha Mushekwi, Method Mwanjali, Oscar Machapa, Gilbert Mapemba and Tafadzwa Rusike knew us from the Under-17 national team and the Aces academy they shouted at us to get on the bus to go and play with them. I spoke to their coach who told me to come back the next day to continue training, while Lincoln preferred to go back to Monomotapa.
KO: So you signed for Caps by chance?
KB: Yes, all because we missed the Monotapa bus and the Caps coach liked me, and wanted me to sign with them. I played there for about four months before Ajax Cape Town offered me a trial. When I came to South Africa at the end of May, I was meant to train with the Under-19 team that would go on tour in Netherlands, but I was a few days early and I ended up training with the first team, who were waiting to close after the season had ended. Coach Foppe de Haan saw me, and he liked me, and said I must go home to Zimbabwe and come back when the preseason starts. Initially, I was shocked, and I was even disappointed because I was meant to go to Europe with the Under-19 boys. But I went home; then they booked me a flight to come back and the coach wanted to sign me.
KO: What a story. And you have never looked back since?
KB: Yeah, that season I played as a striker after Terror Fanteni got injured, I ended up scoring nine goals and we almost won the League (Ajax finished second as Orlando Pirates clinched the title on the final day). So this has been my journey.
KO: Thanks again Khama for talking to Kick Off, and for accepting our award.
KB: My pleasure, and again thank you to all the fans who voted for me!
