More Than A Film: Team South Africa - Dillon Fletcher
|Dillon Fletcher (right) and teammate Bongani were part of the South African team in The Beautiful Game
More than A Film: This series explores the real players and management teams at the heart of The Homeless World Cup, the tournament is the inspiration for the feature film, The Beautiful Game.
“I didn’t ever think I would leave south Africa”
“[Amsterdam] was something special. I didn’t think I would ever leave South Africa. There were so many experiences in my life where I was so low, I didn’t believe in anything.
To get an opportunity like that was unbelievable. For me now, still to be travelling the world, I wouldn’t have believed that six or seven years ago.”
Dillon is sat next to his friend, fellow player turned coach Bongani Mathiso, on a sunny day in central Rome. They’re talking to me while waiting for their next scene in Netflix film The Beautiful Game.
Rewind to 2013 and Dillon Fletcher had just made the decision to move back to Cape Town from Johannesburg. He was homeless and struggling with addiction.
“It was hard actually to be honest. I lost my parents, I lost a lot of family members at a young age, at thirteen or something. I was on drugs, I left Cape Town to go to Johannesburg which was worse because I had no one in control of me, I got out of my own life, I went, I was doing all bad stuff.
“I realised when I was about 21 that I wanted to stop, it wasn’t worth it. I couldn’t do anything. People don’t trust you. You can’t go into someone’s house anymore without them looking at you, so I came back to Cape Town in 2013. In 2014 I eventually came to Oasis.
“I went to rehab, at that point they wanted to kick me off the programme because I was failing all of the drug tests. So, I explained my situation, I am sleeping outside, I’m homeless. You can’t expect me to come here clean all the time because everyone around me is smoking.
“So eventually after three months I ended up in Oasis in a programme with homeless people. I got an opportunity to earn some money and through that I started getting involved in the football side of the programme.
“It ignited a love of football I had from when I was younger. Through that I started coaching at the club and got the opportunity to play at the Homeless World Cup.”
After a disappointment of not going to the Homeless World Cup in Chile in 2014 because of a funding shortage, Dillon made it to the Homeless World Cup in Amsterdam the following year.
The biggest learning curve, he was surprised to find, wasn’t a physical challenge but a mental one.
“Changing yourself as a person, you had to listen to other people and follow. Before, I had my own mindset you know. It was like the start of my journey, where I am now. My life changing slowly but surely.
“It was just consistency, constantly reminding myself why I’m here also and why I did want to change my life. Because back then, I didn’t want to listen to anyone, I got upset very quickly and now I can say it’s changed.
When commenting on how much strength it must have taken to go from where he was to where he is now, Dillon simply said: “It takes a lot of time.”
Now he is using his experience to support the next generation of players.
“The main thing for me was giving back to the kids, and to give them what I didn’t have as a youngster. In the community we come from there aren’t a lot of father figures, or even mothers in the houses, so it’s the coaches’ job. So, for us to be their father figure and support, that motivates me.
“It makes me understand why I did what I did, so now I can help others, so they don’t go down the same path as I did. It all comes down to unemployment. Most of the time it’s stealing because they’re uneducated and they are selling drugs.
He says what makes a good coach is patience and understanding. Both Bongani Mathiso and Oasis founder, Cliffy Martinez have taught him things too and unlike before, now he is always ready to listen and learn.
“What Bobo [his friend sat next to him, Bongani] or Cliffy always tell me is that you can’t always expect people to be like you. Everyone has their own personality, and they will take their own time and you can’t expect what you get from one player to get from another. Everyone is their own person.”
South Africa are one of our 70+ member countries. Our partner representing South Africa is Oasis - find out more about their programme and how they’re helping people like Bongani.
We also spoke to Dillon Fletcher’s teammate Bongani as part of our How to End Homelessness Podcast series, listen to the episode here.
Words: Rebecca Corbett