Former Kaizer Chiefs defender Fabian McCarthy has revealed his passionate advice to his son Aden who currently plays for Amakhosi, while clarifying the youngster is not treated like a star at home.
McCarthy junior, a product of the Chiefs development ranks, got his real chance with the first team at the end of last season and has enjoyed a good start to the current Betway Premiership campaign.
The 21-year-old has featured in three of the five games Chiefs has played so far this season and was twice voted Man of the Match before getting injured against Richards Bay.
His father chatted to iDiski Times writer Lethabo Kganyago in edition 220 of the newspaper where he spoke about the pride he and his wife have in their son, and encouraged him to be a team player, stay in his lane and contribute as much as possible to the team.
“I think this child is making me and my family famous again, and he’s just my child,” McCarthy told IDiski Times.
“I’m just grateful. I’m thankful. I’m blessed to have him as a child. And obviously, people just say, ‘like father, like son’, but there’s his mother, my wife, who plays a huge, huge role, even in my career, and now in Aden’s career, and both my boys’ careers.
“I think, as a family, we are just blessed, and Aden is our child. Aden is not our star or our what-what.
“He’s his brother’s role model and others out there, but all we are saying is thank you, and we just pray and hope that things will go well. He will do the talking on the field, he will stay disciplined, he will stay determined.
“He will stay dedicated to the game and to what he wants in life. I just said to him, ‘You sacrifice five years, you will live 50 years from that five years of sacrifice, look after yourself, do the right things, you know what is wrong and what is right.
“‘You can say yes, or you can say no, just stay in your lane. Do you, and then contribute where you have to contribute, because this is a team sport, it’s not an individual sport. So build on the spirit, build on understanding, build on the trust and when you go out there, just leave everything on the field of play’.”
You can read McCarthy’s full interview with Kganyago in edition 220 when you subscribe to IDiski Times media WhatsApp number for FREE.