Why Pirates’ Appollis almost QUIT football: ‘He had been sitting at home…’

Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates attacker Oswin Appollis almost quit football a coule of years ago.

Appollis, who was at the time 20, was frustrated and almost quit the game owing to ill-discipline brought about by peer pressure. At the time, the skilled winger had walked out of a now-defunct SuperSport United.

Ex-Pretoria Callies coach Kwanele Kopo has now revealed how he convinced Appollis to reconsider his decision, eventually signing for the club before working his way up, to Polokwane City then Pirates.

How Appollis was convinced to get back into the game

“At that time he had been sitting at home for over a year not playing football and it was very painful for me as a football coach and for someone who is passionate about youngsters and South African talent. I immediately called him and it took a lot of convincing, getting him to come back,” he said as quoted by KickOff.

“I said to him, listen, ‘You’re not going to earn a lot at Callies but give me a season to try and get you back into the system’ and one of the motivating things that I told him was that I was part of the Under-23 setup as an assistant coach to David Notoane and we were going for the second phase of qualifying for the Olympics.

“And I felt Oswin, having played for SA Under-20, he deserved to play, definitely for U23. I said, ‘The next generation is your age, you can’t miss out on Under-23.

“And having spoken to him and his mother, that was the ultimate convincing. From then on, look at what has happened,” Kopo concluded.