Of course, keepers good enough for Footballer of the Season gong – Chaine

Orlando Pirates No.1 Sipho Chaine has begged to differ with SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt’s controversial sentiment that shot-stoppers shouldn’t be considered for the Footballer of the Season gong.

“I think anyone has his opinion [as to] who can be Footballer of the Season and who shouldn’t be Footballer of the Season. But we [as keepers] are also football players,'” Chaine said on Thursday at Pirates’ media open-day at Rand Stadium in Johannesburg.

“If he [Mamelodi Sundowns’ Ronwen Williams in this case] deserves it, why not? A football team is made up of 11 and the goalkeeper is one of them, so I don’t see why they must not win the Footballer of the Season awards.”

On Tuesday, Hunt set tongues wagging when he said Williams should not win the Footballer of the Season award. Instead, the Matsatsantsa tactician sees Williams’ teammate Teboho Mokoena as a deserving winner of this prestigious award.

“That [giving the Footballer of the Season award to a keeper] means your team has been struggling and you have been defending. I think he [Williams] had a magnificent season, but I just don’t think a goalkeeper should win the Player of the Season,” Hunt asserted.

“It is not a good sign that a goalkeeper should win the Player of the Year in a team like they have. Mokoena has been the Player of the Year for me. Goalkeepers win you games, but when you are so dominant and a goalkeeper is winning the Player of the Year, then I don’t know.''

Hunt is one of the 16 coaches who will vote in this category. Hunt’s current deputy at Matsatsantsa, Andre Arendse, and Kaizer Chiefs’ Itumeleng Khune, are the only two keepers who’ve won the Footballer of the Season accolade in the PSL era.

The retired Arendse won it at Santos in the 2001/02 season, while Khune won it at his current side during the 2012/13 term.