Orlando Pirates striker Kermit Erasmus was one of the heroes of his team’s 2-1 Nedbank Cup Soweto Derby victory over Kaizer Chiefs this past weekend, with his opening goal at the FNB Stadium shown on television screens around South Africa. But a young Kermit Erasmus would never have seen something similar, because as a youngster Erasmus preferred not to watch any football on television.
“I used to play in the street and watching football wasn’t something I’d really do. I never watched football on TV until I joined the academy as a teenager,” says Erasmus.
“At the academy I started to follow the game visually and started watching matches. But growing up back home I’d be playing in the street all the time. My dad would call me to come and watch a PSL game on television, but I wouldn’t be interested. I enjoyed playing in the street with my friends a lot more.”
It certainly hasn’t affected his own vision for the game, with Erasmus having refined his eye for an opportunity on the field.
“I don’t think about the game like most players. I think four steps in advance. I look before I move. I don’t just move for the sake of it. A lot of the time I have to coach my teammates so that we don’t move in each other’s spaces. That’s how I play the game.
“I was fortunate to have come through a youth academy that had a partnership with Feyenoord in The Netherlands. That made me think differently about the game. Today football is all about manipulating spaces and I try and see where the space is and encourage my teammates to move into dangerous spaces that could hurt the opposition and create chances for us to score.”
Erasmus says he uses plenty of visual communication with his teammates on the field, especially in the Soweto Derby where the roar of the fans makes verbal communication very difficult.
“If I see things aren’t going the way we’ve planned on the field, you’ll see a response from me. As a senior player I know what’s expected of us as players for this club. I’ll help players to understand this and believe in themselves. I’m that positive voice in their ears to help them achieve what they’re capable of and make sure they don’t doubt themselves. But the Soweto Derby is a special game on its own. Sometimes there are 94 000 people in the stadium if it’s sold out, so communication on the field is hard because the noise is just so overwhelming.
“That’s when you have to make eye contact with your teammates. Sometimes communicating with your eyes is just as important as communicating verbally. You’ve always got to make sure we’re ok visually by looking at each other on the field and supporting each other.”