VANDERBIJLPARK.- Former Orlando Pirates forward Moses Moloi is urging young players to attend school.

Moloi was speaking to a group of young players after his youth team from QwaQwa in the Free State visited the Vaal to play friendly matches against local teams over the past weekend. Moloi, who is a teacher by profession, made a special plea to the youngsters not to neglect their studies. He advised them to balance football with their school work.

Moloi, who also played for Free State Stars, told the youngsters that football is a short career, and you must prepare beyond retirement. He explained that most of the ex-professional players have a teaching qualification.

According to Moloi, when he played for Free State Stars, most of his teammates were studying to become teachers. Moloi is a teacher at one of the local primary schools in Sebokeng and has been since he turned professional – this despite his busy football schedule. He also played abroad, but upon his return, went back to teaching.

Moloi also challenged the coaches to demand school reports from their players every term to monitor their progress in school.

“ I’m not going to lie to you, education and football go hand in hand. Steve Komphela was my teammate at Free State Stars, and he is one of the players who went to school. If you look, most ex-professionals from Free State Stars are successful, not only in football but in education,” said Moloi.