Cape Town - Gavin Hunt needs no introduction to Cape Town City, the opposition his Wits team faces in the first leg of the semi-finals of the MTN8 in Johannesburg on Saturday night. No doubt, the fixture is likely to plunge the 51-year-old Wits coach headlong into the past, to a time when, as a youngster, he was just making his way in the game.
From Simonstown, Hunt was a diligent yet fiery right-back, who started his career at Defence in the naval town where he was born, before going on to play for Rygersdal in Rondebosch. In an era of segregated football, the young Hunt would have aspired to play for either Cape Town City or Hellenic, the professional Cape clubs of the white-aligned National Football League (NFL). He landed up at Hellenic, when, as a promising 16-year-old, he was signed by the now late Budgie Byrne.
But Hunt’s playing career was to come to a premature end due to a troublesome Achilles heel injury. It was then on to coaching, where he has gone on to be among the best on the local PSL scene with clubs like Seven Stars, Hellenic, Black Leopards, Moroka Swallows, SuperSport United and now Wits.
He steered SuperSport to three successive PSL titles - 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10 - and, now, he’s reorganised, revamped and revitalised Wits into one of the more exciting teams in the PSL. In the opening week of the new season, Hunt’s Wits defeated both Soweto giants - a 2-1 win over Kaizer Chiefs in the league, and then Orlando Pirates by the same scoreline to qualify for the semi-finals of the Cup competition against City.
The experienced Hunt, though, who has seen it all in football, wasn’t about to let Wits’ fantastic start to the campaign lull him, and his players, into any sense of complacency.
“The focus is always just on the next game,” said Hunt. “While we did well against Chiefs and Pirates, there is still a long way to go, we’ve only played two games. I think, in recent times, our squad has lacked depth, but I believe we now have the numbers and the quality.”
So, as Hunt prepares to send his team into battle against a club that would have been such an integral part of his childhood, it will probably give him a great sense of satisfaction to pull off a victory against the city of his birth on Saturday.
City, on the other hand, as it was when they beat Chiefs in the quarter-finals two weeks ago, have nothing to lose. As a new club, established little more than three months ago, they are still making their way in the PSL - and anything they achieve now is probably more than what they could have hoped for at this early stage of the season.
Cape Argus