Back in 2023 Gopolang Taunyana was among the refereeing panel at the Engen Knockout Challenge as one of the competition’s youngest officials. Two years on, and the lanky starlet was crowned the Gauteng Engen Knockout Challenge Defender of the Tournament, marshalling the Kaizer Chiefs u18 side to victory over Mamelodi Sundowns in a tightly contested final on Sunday, 07 July in Johannesburg.
Incredibly, he used his viewpoint from his time spent as the man in the middle of the park to study his would-be teammates, the strong points of the Amakhosi juniors and where exactly he would fit in at the Glamour Boys.
His calculations and permutations paid off as one year after joining Amakhosi, he would stand head and shoulders above his peers, marshalling the Chiefs defence who conceded just one goal throughout the tournament, scoring 13 in the process.
“For me it's just a game of football,” he says. “I'm always wanting to learn about the game of football. It's always been my passion. So going into refereeing and playing, I think all players should do it. I think most academies should introduce it because as a player, it makes you understand, and it doesn’t make you question a lot of decisions that happen on the field”, said the 17-year-old.
His path to Chiefs has been unique, something he attributes to the hard work he puts in off the field to better his game both from a technical perspective and in terms of the laws of the game.
“Hard work,” he points out. “I think being part of the tournament just showed me how they play, how the players are and when I went home, I had the memo, so I knew that what they were looking for and because I was in the tournament, so I watched all the players and even some of the players in the games. So I knew the level that they wanted, so when I went home, I had the memo and I worked with my coaches I worked with my personal trainer and then I got into Chiefs.”
Having been crowned Engen Knockout Challenge champions for a second time in three years, Taunyana also highlighted how the competition opens doors for players of his age.
“Engen opened so many doors, I think that was what the coaches told us. They said this is an opportunity for you guys to open the door for yourselves. So, if you guys go there and perform, you're gonna open doors and this is what we did today. We won the tournament and hopefully the door shall open.
As he continues to grow both on and off the field, ‘Gopo’ as he is known, continues to equip himself off the field, as he still officiates midweek veteran games.
“It is such a funny story. But I do veterans because they asked me on Wednesday evenings, so they'll call me when they are in trouble and need a referee. So, I'll go do it. And you know, they all know me. I enjoy it. I ref the likes of Stanton ‘Stiga’ Fredericks and Matthew Booth, so I really enjoy it, he continued.
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