South Africa’s Ronwen Wiliams: ‘I would say that football saved my life’
Goalkeeper on playing on amid family bereavements, Afcon shootout heroics and the prospect of facing Haaland
Ronwen Williams can pinpoint exactly when his life changed forever. In 2002 the future South Africa captain was a 10-year-old from Gelvandale, a notorious suburb of Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, when his cousin was shot dead while working as a security guard.
“He was killed literally around the corner from where we were playing in the street,” Williams remembers. “The next thing you know, my cousin was being rushed to hospital. The area was filled with gangsterism, alcohol and drug abuse.”
