Very few professional football players are blessed to play beyond their 40s. Only four South African players in the PSL era achieved the golden milestone of playing beyond 40. TS Galaxy stalwart, Bernard Parker, is looking to add to that exclusive Hall of Fame club.
The four players in the PSL era that played into their 40s are Siyabonga Nomvethe, the late John “shoes” Mosoeu, goalkeepers Bruce Grobbelaar and Andre Arendse.
37-year-old Bernard Parker wants to emulate that achievement.
“I take every day as it comes making sure that I live in the moment, we will see where God carries me within my playing days, many people has done it, Shoes Mosoeu, Nomvethe here at home and also abroad the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it’s just discipline and with my mentality of wanting to live in a moment. I know that the future will take care of itself,” says Parker.
Parker has come a long way since his days at Thanda Royal Zulu in 2004. His blossoming career earned him overseas moves to Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, FC Twente in the Netherlands and Panserraikos in Greece.
The School of Excellence product then came back home to join the mighty Amakhosi, where he stayed for 12 years until joining minnows TS Galaxy last year.
“Straight after graduating, I went straight into professional football, two years later I managed to captain Thanda Royal Zulu, captaining the likes of Peter Ndlovu, Clement Mazibuko and Patrick Mayo. I went overseas and I got well deserved Bafana Bafana call up and became Bafana third highest all-time goal scorer, went on to win the league overseas, win the league at home, win the top goal scorer and became Chiefs all-time leading goal scorer. There is a lot that I have achieved in my career,” Parker explains.
He is currently still going strong at TS Galaxy and had this message to the upcoming youngsters who want to follow in his footsteps.
“I just want to say to the youngsters and SA at large learning everyday improves you in many many ways and of course hard work pays,” Parker elaborates.
Parker made 69 Bafana Bafana caps, scoring 23 goals in the process, to become the country’s joint second-highest top goal scorer alongside Katlego Mphela. In 2014, he also became the PSL’s top goal scorer.
