Benni Reflects On His Tough Upbringing & Names His Top 5 SA Ballers

Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy addresse his upbringing in the Western Cape and named his all-time favourite players on Podcast Chill with MacG. 

Check it out!

Read: WATCH | Mayo Gets His Mojo Back 

The story

The ever-candid Benni McCarthy unpacked his childhood, painting a picture of what it was like growing up in Hanover Park in Cape Town, and how it's shaped him as an adult.

Benni did not hold back in detailing his upbringing and how football helped him escape the difficulties of growing up in his neighbourhood. 

He also discussed the relationship he had with his family growing up, opening up about visiting his father in prison and how it inspired him to stay out of trouble.

"My dad was no nonsense. He did some time in his younger days. He was a naughty boy, he was on that rough side so he was in prison and I remember, I think I was three, four, five-years-old, going to visit him at Victor Verster Prison [now Drakenstein Correctional Centre] with my mom.

"From those ages, it's just a place you never wanted to end up in. I never wanted to end up there, because it's just gates and gates and you're like, 'Jesus, when am I going to see the old man,'" reflected Benni.

"So, from that age, I said, 'No crime', I never wanted to be on the wrong side of the law, do a job that will never get me into trouble so that I never end up in a place like where my dad was when I had to go visit him," added the legend.

Prior to discussing his father, Benni spoke about fearing his big brother Jerome to the point where he wet his bed until a late age.

"My older brother, scared the sh*t out of me when I was a kid," admitted the ex-FC Porto and Blackburn Rovers baller.

"Ever since that, I've had major issues in the nighttime, still today I don't watch scary movies. I'm not afraid of the dark but I'm very wary because of my childhood," he added.

"More than once, maybe even at 12, 13-years-old I let go [relieved himself] because I clocked something in the dark, in the corner of my room. Instead of screaming, I would just close my eyes and dream of doing it [going to the toilet] but I know here [gestures to his leg] I'm burning!" shared Benni in discussing parts of his childhood trauma.

Benni's career has taken him from Hanover Park, all the way to Europe where he played for Ajax Amsterdam, Celta Vigo, FC Porto, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham for a 14-year period overseas.

When making it as a professional footballer, South Africa's all-time leading goal scorer had to give back to the ones closest to him, especially his mother.

"There's nothing with being a momma's boy. Yeah no, I was momma's boy, I think I piggybacked on my mom until I was 15 maybe. Shame, that's why the first thing I had to do was to take care of mom. What that woman did for me, my brother and sister, there's enough I could do to pay her back," stated Benni, also sharing how his mom had to work three jobs to make ends meet. 

In describing life in Hanover Park, Benni simply said, "It was rough, it was next level. I think that's probably why my awareness is so... I'm so alert to everything. There's not a single thing that happens around me that I don't pick up."

"What got me out of it all, was the football..." shared Benni.