French Student Visits ‘Usuthu’ Territory February 28, 2010 22 year old Fabien Cerbelaud is a French geographer, doing research about football territories in South Africa. He recently got into contact with the KZN club requesting assistance in his research in finding the links between professional football club and life of the community.

The student tells amazulufc.net’s Nhlanhla Mkhathini the extraordinary tale of how ‘Usuthu’ captured his heart from as faraway as a small central town in France called Linoges.

Q: Welcome to South Africa Fabien. Give us a brief summary of what exactly you hoped to find in this research of yours and what made you arrive to the idea?

A: I wanted to work on the case of the AmaZulu FC. With this aim, I wanted to meet some of the staff members of the club, players, coaches and have some discussion about the club, it history and it’s present circumstances. I managed to get all of that.

I wanted to find whether football can or has formed a form of reconciliation of the mixed population. My research focus is on sport territories, more specifically soccer territories in South Africa.

Q: Why did you choose KZN and Durban out of all the provinces in the country?

A: I would like to work in Durban someday, because it is the home of football according to what I have learnt, historically this is one of the greatest things about South Africa.

After researching the matter and I chose AmaZulu out of the other KZN clubs. The history and the localisation of the club intrigued me. It has been great discovering thee links and history the club has with the township of KwaMashu, amongst other places.

Q: Do you think you would have had the same kind of desire in tracking the culture of South African football and the way of life if the 2010 World Cup was not to be hosted by here?

A: Yes I would have. In France there are some teachers who have done lots of work on broader fields which I used to find a subject of interest to me. It was two years ago when I began to develop an interest in the PSL.

I found other clubs not be as accessible as AmaZulu, which is how I fell in love with the story of AmaZulu. But it is true the World Cup being played in Africa will help a lot of leagues become better known. I’m sure other people in some parts of the world do follow the Championships of African (CAF).

Q: Was your stay in Durban the way you had expected, what did you get up to?

A: My girlfriend Sandy and I visited Sibaya Casino, we went to Ushaka Marine World, and the Suncoast Casino. We also went to visit a friend in Phoenix but going to KwaMashu was what I had been wanting to experience.

It is somewhat different from what I had seen in the media. I spoke to an old lady who is a supporter of AmaZulu who was around in the apartheid times. I also enjoyed the Moses Mabhida Stadium when AmaZulu played Free State Stars in the evening. The crowd was not that big but I think that is because it was a week night.

Q: Who did you find interesting from the players you were able to talk to?

A: I enjoyed talking to Alastair (Wallis), I thought he would have done well on his debut had he finished the rest of the game and not gotten injured against Free State Stars. I also like the dreadlocked striker (Myron Shongwe), even though I didn’t speak with him.

Q: The count down to 100 days before the World Cup begins on Tuesday, the day you leave for France. Will you be here for the spectacle?

A: I will just watch from my home because I’m sure the costs of this trip would have caught up with me by then!