Aubass rises above life of crime to shine for Bafana

New Bafana Bafana fan-darling Bathusi Aubaas's rise to stardom had many upheavals along the way and venturing into crime was an available option until he witnessed his friend getting arrested.

That forced the teen to change his ways and take football seriously instead. Born 28 years ago in a wretched Maruping village in Kuruman, Northern Cape, Aubaas learnt to be self-reliant when he was just seven after losing his mother.

"My journey has never been easy. I lost my mother in 2002 and that's where I started to hustle because I was left with my unemployed elder sister. I was selling frozen [lollies],'' Aubaas reflected.

"Whenever I was at these big retailers to stock, it crossed my mind that I must steal because I had a friend who used to steal and sell things until I witnessed him being arrested on the spot. The day he was arrested, I told myself that I'd never try stealing and that's when I started to focus more on football."

It was at a local amateur club, Kuruman United, where Aubaas started to take his football seriously. His gutsy performance one afternoon against Mamelodi Sundowns satellite academy, that was based in Rustenburg in the North West, engendered the next step of his budding career.

"One day our coach, Zinto [Sehularo], from Kuruman United organised us a game with Sundowns satellite academy from Rustenburg and I was so good that afternoon. After the game Sundowns coach, a certain Phila, told me that they are taking me with. I joined the academy and school in Rustenburg. From there I was scouted by Orbit College in a tournament organised by Lucky Lekgwathi in Soshanguve,'' the TS Galaxy star narrated.

"At Orbit College, they took me to Buya Msuthu, who were in the ABC Motsepe League, because they had a partnership. They gave me a salary of R3,500 every month since they knew no one was working at home... that's when I started to support my family, which is my sister and her kids."

The midfielder, whose impressive display on debut when Bafana beat Morocco 2-1 in the Afcon qualifier at FNB Stadium on Saturday turned him into an instant hero, was signed by Free State Stars from Buya Msuthu in 2017.

Aubaas won the Nedbank Cup with Stars in 2018, before achieving the same feat with his current club Galaxy, the following year, having joined them a few months earlier.

While many only started to catch sight of Aubaas when he bossed the midfield for Bafana on Saturday, the lad from Maruping has always been one of Galaxy's mainstays in recent months. Orlando Pirates are said to be working around the clock to lure him. Even so, Aubass has insisted he's still a Galaxy man, albeit he's yearning for a big transfer.

"I am still a Galaxy player and no one has spoken to me yet. However, I want to grow, so a big move is something I dream about,'' Aubaas noted.