Hungry Lions boss Henry Basie dreams of leading Northern Cape side to elite league

MOTSEPE Foundation Championship coach Henry Basie boasts one of the rare privileges in football. Besides the well-known Jomo Sono, Basie, fondly known as Shabba, is the only coach who doesn’t lose sleep over his employment. After all, Basie is the owner and coach of Motsepe Foundation Championship side Hungry Lions FC, making the firing of a coach a far-fetched idea. The 44-year-old, who took over the club after his uncle Stefaans Basie retired, says his passion for the game is the driving force behind his dual leadership at the Northern Cape-based club.

“It’s very hard to share your dream, and at the end of the day, you're the only one who knows what you want because it’s your dream. It was about dreams. It was about coaching. I wanted to get the team promoted. This is my dream. So now, when I take my dream, and I give it to you, it’s no longer the same because we are not sharing the same principles. We're not sharing the same values and passion. So, it becomes difficult to share my dreams,” Basie explained his insistence on coaching while running the club.

“Though I have two heads as coach and chairman, most of the time I am coaching the team. I've got the CFO. I've got the administrator. I've got the team manager. All these guys are doing everything. I'm just there to coach. The only time when I'm really doing the chairman's work is when I go to the PSL’s Board of Governors meeting. Sometimes, when I consult or have a meeting with potential sponsors, then you will find me wearing my chairman hat. But most of the time, I'm a coach.”

Basie’s club, based in the mining town of Postmasburg, has been campaigning in the first division for the past five seasons. Their dream of making it to the country’s elite league has met many challenges. Basie says they are trying their best to push themselves despite the hurdles on their way to their promised land.

“It’s not easy running a club. It’s costly. We lack resources. We don’t have training facilities in Postmasburg. Currently, we train at a school in Postdene. There are no changing rooms. Even our home matches, we play them in Upington, which is about 200 kilometres from Postmasburg, because we don’t have facilities meeting the PSL standards. We are incurring costs. The whole travelling thing is a big challenge. Imagine travelling to Venda and Cape Town. You have to have enough time for players to rest and recover. You have to budget for travelling, accommodation, and so on,” said Basie.

“We have to work extra hard compared to players in Gauteng and Mpumalanga. A club in Gauteng has advantages. Tuks can play friendly games against Mamelodi Sundowns or Kaizer Chiefs at any time. They will learn a lot. They also have facilities to speed up recovery. It’s hard for us to get a friendly against a team on our level or higher. We have to work extra hard compared to other teams. Normally, we are in the top six in the first half of the season, but after that, we struggle because of fatigue from travelling.”

Basie is of the view that with some financial injections, his club can be more competitive and stand a chance to make it to the Betway Premiership. The coach and owner believe the Northern Cape can have a representative in the country’s elite league if sponsors and local government can rally behind Hungry Lions FC.