Hlompho Kekana has remembered how the first year of the PSL coincidentally blessed him with his first opportunity to watch a top-league match live at the stadium.
This was during the 1996/97 season just before Kekana entered his teenage years.
"My brother Jeffrey took me to Pietersburg Stadium (now Old Peter Mokaba Stadium) to watch Real Rovers against Hellenic around 1996/97," recalls Kekana while bursting out in laughter.
"That is when I saw (George) 'Rubber' Mathiba, who I enjoyed watching in that team, which also had Alex Bapela and 'Mgababa' (Gerald Raphahlela).
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"After that, I never saw the game the same because I wanted to be like them.
"That stadium experience changed my connection with the game.
"[Laughing] However, the one thing that I wanted my brother to do was to ask them to allow me to be a ball boy in the next match so that I can be closer to the players on the field.
"So, I just wanted to be a ball boy.
"In 1996, while in the village in Zebediela, it was a privilege watching Bafana Bafana lift the AFCON on television after having gotten to see Orlando Pirates lift the Champions League the previous year.
"That 1996 Bafana team instilled the drive for us to follow our football dreams because all I wanted was to emulate those that I watched on television.
"I was a kid who made a career out of what started as a hobby and woke up with a CAF Champions League winners' medal one morning.
"I was a kid who started using soccer boots properly around 13/14 because the rules were strict and didn’t allow organised football to be played without soccer boots.
"So, we were forced to use them, and you had to start getting used to using them.
"My late uncle, Andries, bought me my first pair of boots, which was an oversized Adidas Argentina.
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"That is why I’m of the opinion that my childhood memories at the age of 10 brought more joy than the one that my 10-year-old son gets now.
"It has been a journey that gives me pride in seeing footballers playing in a better environment and so the leadership needs to be commended for making the PSL better," says Kekana, who retired after enjoying 11 years of success at Mamelodi Sundowns.