It all started towards the end of last year when a Nigerian striker, John Abimola, signed for Premier League rookies BR Highlanders. While the player claimed that he has played for Nigerian junior sides, his exploits did not attest to that. He was not even in the records of the Nigerian FA. Abimola did not produce the goals that were needed by the rookies which led to coach Teenage Mpote kicking him out.
The issue did not attract much attention from the media though his agent, Ramatebele, did apologise to BR Highlanders for the mediocre striker. While the dust seemed to be settling and Ramatebele looking forward to bigger things, another disaster struck. This time around, it was a huge scandal which affected the nation.
A player by the name of Bobby Shillinde declared his interest in playing for the senior national team having been born in Ramotswa. The ‘midfielder’, based in the United Kingdom and playing for League Two side, AFC Wimbledon, introduced him to the Big Fish. Excited by the prospect of having unearthed a talent which could benefit Botswana football in the future, Ramatebele recommended him to national team coach, Stanley Tshosane.
Arrangements through the Botswana Football Association (BFA) were made to bring the ‘genius’ to Botswana for close assessment. Shillinde landed at the Sir Seretse Khama Airport on March 13 and headed straight to the Zebras’ camp. Days down the line, Batswana were told that Shillinde could not make his international debut because he does not have a local passport. It was understandable and some Batswana were disappointed.
But word coming from the camp was that Shillinde was not what Tshosane expected. Things took a twist when a UK based publication, the Guardian, reported that Shillinde was not what he claimed to be. An official of AFC Wimbledon was quoted as saying that they do not have a player of that name in their squad even in the development team, which Shillinde claimed he is registered under. The story raised lots of eyebrows. The local media was accused for doing shabby job in establishing the truth about the star that is Shillinde.
But if there is a man who did take a lot of hammering, it was none other than his agent, Ramatebele. He did his best to defend the player under the circumstances but Batswana were not forthcoming. Everywhere Ramatebele is quizzed about Shillinde who has become the talk of town. Most of the football commentators have further dismissed Ramatebele as an agent, saying that he is bound to bring more misery to the country.
But being the character that he is, Ramatebele is not moved by the recent scandal, Instead, he considers it a lesson learnt the hard way.
“Bobby’s issue has opened my eyes about this business of being a Fifa agent. It’s a demanding business which needs someone to be a perfectionist. But I’m not going to put my head down because of this scandal. I model my life around Barcelona Football Club because even when the chips are down, they always stick to their style of football (tiki-taka) Ramatebele is a person who takes chances and the fact that the whole country is talking about me right now is because of the player who I brought here in good faith but it turned otherwise. Some of the chances I take are going to be disappointing but I’m ready to take the bullet,” said the man, famously known as Big Fish.
Ramatebele is on record saying that he does not regret his association with Shillinde. He claims that he did everything in the book to ensure that he gets information about the player. His main concern is that BFA was brought under the spotlight as he did not perfect his interrogation of the player. “Naturally because I’m in the field of play, there are instances where I’ll score an own goal but that does not mean that I’m a bad player. My contract cannot be terminated because of that. I would like to make it clear that I’ve come into business of players’ agent in good faith,” he said.
Ramatebele added that he is still going to continue his crusade of getting Batswana players abroad to come help the standard of football in Botswana. He warned that he is not going to get under someone’s stable just because of the challenges he has faced this far.
“The sad thing is that nobody sees the good of me having this licence. Suddenly I’m being crucified but I’m not going to stop my dream,” he said. Ramatebele said the biggest challenge he has faced ever since coming into the business is that of finance. He pointed out that for him to be a successful agent he has to have money which would enable him to travel the world. “It’s unfortunate that there are banks which do not want to finance my project yet they’re financing some of the big leagues in the world,” he concluded.
