GG Dlamini

Thabo Dlamini coaches youth football on the dusty pitches of Soweto, a former club winger whose own career ended at the trials and who decided the next kid's would not. He runs three age groups, one borrowed van and a permanent fundraising drive. Backgammon came from his uncle's shebeen table, and he plays it like a counter-attack: fast, direct, straight at goal, the cube turned the moment the gap opens. He is friendly, loud and cheerful throughout, and none of that makes him modest about what he is doing here. He wants something with his name on it, on the touchline and at the board, and he will tell you that inside the first two minutes.