Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams recently revealed that he almost gave up on playing professional football. The 32-year-old won the CAF Interclub Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year awards in a ceremony held in Morocco and was speaking during his acceptance speech. Opening up on a difficult time in his life, Williams stated that it was the support he received from his loved ones that kept him focused. “The importance that they played in my career, in my life, there were times where I had no motivation when I had no will to wake up. I had nothing to fight for everything but they saw something deep inside of me,” Williams said according to SABC Sport. “You know, they all made mention of the ability and the talent that I’ve got and I’m selling myself short so thankful for all of them for pushing me through all these years. “It was difficult but they managed to push me when I didn’t want to and I just wanna on this stage thank them personally for the work that they’ve done with me.” The Gqeberha native began his national team journey in 2015 with a challenging debut against Brazil, where Bafana Bafana suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat. Despite this initial setback that initially impacted his professional reputation, he demonstrated resilience and determination in overcoming this early career obstacle. “Just persevere, when things are not looking for you, continue believing, continue going, wake up the next day and try and be better. Each and every day try and be better and that’s the mentality that I’ve adopted over the last few years that I can have success today but tomorrow when I wake up I want even more, I want even better,” he continued. “Just to persevere when things get tough when people doubt you, when there’s a lot of doubt, self-doubt as well just continue persevering because things will eventually turn out if you respect the game. If you live well, if you are dedicated and the game will always bless you.”