AmaTuks shaped me to be a better person – Julies

While many are convinced that he didn’t reach his full potential, talented former Mamelodi Sundowns attacking midfielder Samuel Julies remains proud of what he’s achieved.

Julies,32, is now the property of Motsepe Foundation Championship side, University of Pretoria. Julies had the world at his feet when Sundowns promoted him from their development ranks back in 2012.

However, despite showing some glimpses of promise in the early days of his senior career, the explosive attacker ended up playing just 11 games in the Sundowns shirt, with one goal to show for that, until the Tshwane giants released him in 2019.

“I have been to the Club World Cup, Champions League but at that time it is a matter of what the coach preferred in terms of who plays. I wasn’t in control of getting game time, so why would I say I didn’t reach my full potential? I gave my all and I am satisfied with how my career panned out. I achieved what I had to achieve and I am very proud of that,” Julies told Sowetan.

Julies is more than content with his life, saying how playing for AmaTuks has shaped him to be a better person as he’s now armed with a coaching badge to prepare for life after football. 

“I’ve grown and even education wise I’ve grown… there’s a lot of things I’ve gained from university. I am glad that I ended up here because there’s a structure now in my life and that has impacted positively on my family,” Julies said.

“I have a Safa D coaching licence now and another benefit of playing here is that I get a chance to train the juniors here to make sure that I gain that coaching experience because you never know what will happen after retirement, so the university has equipped me.”

Julies said he’s still financially okay, despite playing in the second tier since 2018 when he left Chippa United. “I have a good financial background. In my family I have people who are educative about finances, so they’ve been helping me to save my money from the first day I turned pro. There is stuff I can’t share but finances are not a problem for me,” the AmaTuks man said.

“I am still living the life I was living when I was at Sundowns but I am not flashy. I’ve always been saving. Even when I was still at Sundowns academy, we got a lot of financial planning teachings and that shaped me to know how to use money.”