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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Ed Aarons

South Africa’s Ronwen Williams: ‘I would say that football saved my life’

Ronwen Williams celebrates South Africa’s penalty shootout victory over Cape Verde in their Africa Cup of Nations 2024 quarter-final.
Ronwen Williams during South Africa’s Afcon quarter-final against Cape Verde, in which his penalty shootout saves proved decisive. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

Ronwen Williams can pinpoint when his life changed for ever. In 2002, the future South Africa captain was a 10-year-old from Gelvandale, a notorious suburb of Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, when his cousin was shot dead while working as a security guard.

“He was killed around the corner from where we were playing in the street,” Williams says. “The next thing you know, my cousin was being rushed to hospital. The area was filled with gangsterism, alcohol and drug abuse.”

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