Brenden Wardle is a former footballer who is brutally frank when speaking about what he has experienced since the end of his playing career.
Wardle came through from Durban Bush Bucks in the '90s, then went to the School of Excellence, before playing for SuperSport United, Santos, Moroka Swallows, Golden Arrows, Maritzburg United and Batau, where it ended for him in 2010.
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The 44-year-old has since gone back home to Umzimkhulu.
"I'm now doing carpentry work for a living, and this is a skill that I learnt from my younger brother Allan Wardle after the end of my playing career," reveals Wardle.
"I started out helping him carry tools when he did jobs but gained the knowledge along the way, which was around 2012.
"He called me to work with him in Mthatha and would give me R90 a day, which was better than nothing.
"Life after football is rough and you frequently end up wanting to take your life because you no longer have an income.
"A lot of former players who are struggling have empty pride and are not able to speak out openly about this and aiming to start over again.
"I wanted to commit suicide because life got so bad that I was now begging people to buy me a cigarette, and you don't have shoes or clothes anymore.
"Worse is that at home there are people mocking you every day.
"I can now do all carpentry work from fitted cupboards in the kitchen to the bedroom and [am] able to sustain myself and my family.
"I'm my own boss now, so I go to places and do layouts in the houses.
"What I have gained from this work is huge because you cannot believe the projects that I have done that are in my portfolio.
"My exit from football was unfortunate because of the injury which I wasn't compensated for, but life had to go on and I now have five kids.
"My little boy is turning three, so I must provide as I'm only left with my mom with both my sisters and dad having passed on.
"The little that I get is for my family and instead of complaining and feeling like football owes me, I must grind.
"With the skill that I now have, maybe some people in football can then give me jobs to do their houses or offices.
"The most I got in football was between R20-R30 000 throughout the two years I spent at Arrows.
"My life story is not a secret because I want the younger ones to learn and understand that there is life after football, which is bad when uneducated like me.
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"Nowadays, I also bet on soccer games as a hobby and get to buy R50 or R100 vouchers every now and then in the hope of winning R10k.
"This is me and I pull a bull by its horns and I'm still Brenden Wardle who goes out for a drink and smokes a cigarette," explains Wardle.