Coke Penalty Miss Still Haunts Pabalelo
Chakalisa Dube | Monday June 22, 2020 12:43
This week, Pabalelo opened up on missing the decisive penalty, a development that instantly made him public number one at the Tango Boys, as TASC was known to its supporters.
Mareko ballooned his effort over the bar much to the ire of the team's supporters who were hoping to defend the cup. A season earlier, Pabalelo had played a major role as TASC were crowned Coca Cola Cup Champions.
Pabalelo was accused of deliberately missing the penalty because he was perceived to be a staunch TAFIC supporter. Until then Pabalelo was a darling amongst many TASC supporters. At the time of missing the penalty the heightened rivalry between TAFIC and TASC defined soccer in the city of Francistown.
“ For many years, I was tormented for that penalty miss. There are still some people who still make reference to that miss when we talk about football and it does not sit well with me. On several occasions in the past, I ended up in a fistfight in an attempt to defend to myself against those who accused me of deliberately missing the penalty. That miss still haunts me because it destroyed the relationship I had with many people associated with TASC,” he said.
Pabalelo maintained that he has never supported TAFIC at any point in his life.
“I think insinuations that I supported TAFIC were based on the fact that I grew up in Maipaahela where the club (TAFIC) is based. My miss was a genuine miss. Missing a penalty is part of football. To this day, I still don't understand why the supporters reacted the way they did,” said the 51-year old.
To heap more red ambers to his already pestering wound, he left TASC unceremoniously as a result of missing the penalty. Pabalelo played for TASC from 1988 to 2002. He however had a brief stint at BDF XI in 1995.
“At work, the relationship with some of my superiors became sour because they were endlessly accusing me of being a traitor (for missing the penalty). One of the technical team members at TASC eventually asked management to release me. I then joined Ecco City Greens, where I retired from the game,” Pabalelo said.
During their glory days, TASC were bankrolled and run by Botswana Defence Force (BDF. Since BDF pulled out of backing TASC more than a decade ago, the club has been dangling between lower divisions and the premier league.
During its glory days, TASC mostly featured players from BDF, hence Pabalelo turned out for TASC during his time at the army. He quit the military 13-years ago and ventured into small-scale farming.
He retired from active football in November 2004 after breaking his leg during a soccer match organised by the military.