Born in the northern capital, Otjiwarongo, in 1947, Issascar !Goaseb completed his elementary education at the Native Bantu Primary School in his hometown, where he played street football with his buddies. 

Upon completing his primary education, !Goaseb was wheeled on metal tracks (rails) to the garden town of Okahandja, approximately 170km south of Otjiwarongo, to further his academic aspirations at the revered Augustineum Teachers Training College.

An uncompromising competitor, !Goaseb played football and chased the oval ball game of rugby for the school’s senior teams. He caught the sharp eye of astute administrator, the late Albert Herbert Conradie, then a schoolteacher in Tsumeb. 

The wide-awake tallish football administrator managed to lure the dangerous trio of !Goaseb, alongside his buddies Jakes Khiba, and Engelhard ‘Larney’ Gariseb, to the Copper town to kick-start their teaching careers, at the same time, join forces with Etosha Lions Football Club, and as they say, the rest is history.

A formidable box-to-box midfielder in the modern game, !Goaseb cemented himself as a vital cog in the Lions’ den. He was the heartbeat of the team’s smooth sailing style of play, adopted from South African football legend the late Percy ‘Chippa’ Moloi. 

The nimble footed former Orlando Pirates (South Africa) attacker was invited by Conradie to South West Africa (SWA), with the aim of taking the Lions players through the ropes ahead of a failed envisaged tour to neighbouring Angola in 1969.

However, the whirlwind romance between the two parties turned sour when cunning club officials reneged on their verbal agreement to compensate the South African import for his services upon completion of his three-month stint in the Maize Triangle. Well, they don’t say it loud, but whispers in the gossip corridors have it that the South African import was promised an amount of R300 (three-hundred-rand) for his valuable services.

However, the majority of the players who have, in the interim, formed a close bond with their new mentor would have none of that, citing Moloi. The fed up Moloi rightfully persuaded his subjects to break ties with Etosha Lions, encouraging them to form a new team in solidarity with the South African dribbling master.

Upon learning about Moloi’s unfortunate predicament, the kindhearted former South West Africa Bantu Football Association President Kefes Conradie, hastily organised fundraising exhibition matches in Windhoek, in an effort to assist the visibly shaken, stranded South African football maestro.  

“Luckily, he (Moloi) had a return flight ticket, which made things slightly easier. By God’s grace, the exhibition matches drew a large crowd and proved successful. We handed all proceeds from gate takings to Moloi and only took a small portion for transport and meals,” recalls !Goaseb’s former teammate Jakes Khiba. 

Strangely, !Goaseb did not join his teammates at the newly formed Chief Santos. The tireless midfield kingpin sought shelter with Black Marokko Chiefs (BMC) in his native town, Otjiwarongo, much to the amazement of his former Lions teammates.

As fate would dictate, BMC was scheduled to compete in a knockout cup tournament in the city of bright lights (Windhoek). 

Back in the day, many athletes worked on Saturdays, and their ruthless white bosses would not easily grant them leave to travel outside their confinement for football matches. 

This sad scenario resulted in some players arriving late for the scheduled kickoff time, leaving BMC with only eight players. The under-strength visitors got walloped and were ultimately eliminated after their opening match. 

The result did not sit well down the throats of the latecomers, who conveniently apportioned blame to the poor !Goaseb for allowing the team to enter the field with fewer than the prescribed number of eleven players. 

Utterly shocked and shaken, the usually cool as a cucumber !Goaseb did not take kindly to the unwarranted accusations accompanied by senseless threats of potential serious bodily harm. 

The salted educationist resolved to jump ship, only to resurface in Santos, where he was reunited with former Lions teammates in his adopted town of Tsumeb. Reminiscent of many ‘lefties’, !Gaoseb was a mean midfielder who took no prisoners on the playing field. His eye-catching competitive edge consistently set him apart from his peers. 

‘!Gaoseb was a fantastic baller and great dude to hang around with. We had a great bunch of players in the squad that could compete on equal footing against any team in the business on our day. Vividly recalls the team used to organise friendly matches against BMC away in Otjiwarongo for strategic reasons. 

“It’s a well-documented secret that Larney Gariseb was an amazing master ball juggler, often in the bad habit of trying to dribble the entire opposition defence, something that irked Moloi to the core. We deliberately arranged those exhibition matches against the robust BMC so that he could release the ball to well-placed teammates because those bulky BMC defenders would tackle the hell out of him,” concludes Khiba.