Teko Modise is one of the hardest working individuals in local football with multiple streams of income to his name. However, 'Dona' has had to learn some hard lessons, particularly when it comes to his finances.
Why I fought with coach Pitso
I think I am one of the players coach Pitso fought the most because of him trying to be a father, an uncle and an advisor. I come from the location, and I really wanted to do my own thing because of a lack of knowledge.
What I have seen between myself, and coach Pitso is that he is a winner whether it's in life or in football and he does whatever it takes to win. He works hard, he doesn't sleep, and he would tell me about a game he watched at 4am. The amount of work he puts in is insane and it's the same when it comes to me.
All I know is to work hard, even when I was still a footballer, not knowing that it would help me play better. I never believed that I am one of the best players where I come from, so I had to work harder to surpass Benedict Vilakazi and Dikgang Mabalane who are from my hood.
How I lost it all but found myself…
I think at the time, it felt like it's a small decision but in hindsight it was a big one. Letting go of all the material things, down scaling from a big house to a smaller one, from three cars to one. I wanted change at the time but I didn't know where to start. My game was perfect on the pitch but as a person I was depressed and I was the most unhappy, thinking all these material things would fill the void. Downscaling actually helped me like myself and love myself because I was always trying to please everyone else but myself. Letting go of material things was a small decision at the time because I knew I could afford it.
The mentality of a footballer is you need to have a car for the weekend, for training and a family car – which makes no sense at all. Because I saw other footballers that I admired doing it, I thought it was the right way. Until you find yourself and that is when you make the right decisions.
It was never about the money…
I never played for any team where I had to sit with the Chairman and discuss my salary. I always signed contracts not knowing how much I will earn because I wanted to play the game. I knew that my time was so short because I came into the PSL at 25 so I wanted to maximise my time. It was never based on the money but once the money is there, because you never got an education for it, you tend to do things that pleases you, forgetting that you have a short career. Thank God all the mistakes I've done, I was able to recover because I had a bit of time to come back and play football and that decision helped me become the person I am today.
Guidance to the next generation
The lack of respect of money. You know that at the end of the month you are guaranteed to be paid. Therefore, you can do whatever you want and you still get paid, so it's a cycle that goes on and on. I think a lack of education in terms of savings. You find a guy wearing a tailored suit that comes to the club that speaks about finances and you become defensive thinking that this person wants my money because he is not a familiar face. As ex-players we try and have those conversations which are really uncomfortable because nobody wants to tell you how much they earn and when you speak about money, they think that your time is done and now you want to tell them what to do with their own money – it becomes a very uncomfortable conversation.
I am teaching my kids to start early. It's something you teach them, but you have to give them money to start saving. When they are grown, they will have that type of structure.
