Arguments will linger forever about the practicality of mass open trials that are conducted by clubs as a talent identification procedure.
Complaints have always been the chorus at these trials, but for Justice Sibusiso Sithole, he benefitted as it paved for his move to Kaizer Chiefs after being spotted in Newcastle one late afternoon in 1999.
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Sithole had come through the Chappies League and was now with Osima Juventus when word spread like a veldfire that the Amakhosi scouts would be on town for trials.
As is always the case, hundreds, if not thousands of hopefuls flooded this town that birthed the goalscoring machine named Fani Madida.
"I was still at school at the time, aged 17/18 and doing Grade 12," recalls Sithole.
"On the day of the trials held around May/June, I was on the field for only five minutes playing for the last team that took to the field late afternoon.
"I came on with about five minutes remaining and only had two touches on the ball before our game ended.
"I was then immediately called by the scouts, who told me that they were leaving with me on the same day.
"So, they called my dad and he told them that they couldn't leave with me because I had exams to write later that year.
"However, the following week they returned with a contract, and I signed it here in Newcastle before I had even set foot at Naturena.
"My parents were involved in the signing of that contract. Funny enough, I earned Chiefs monies while still sitting on a desk at school before I went to Jozi.
"I was on the Chiefs payroll as a schoolkid and the money used to get into my mom's account as I never had an account at the time.
"You will be surprised to hear that nothing ever changed about the way I was treated here at home because I remained a kid who was never a breadwinner.
"There was no special treatment just because I was now getting a salary.
"I then left for Chiefs at the end of the year and upon arrival I just joined the first team but only got to play the following year.
"It was the first time that Muhsin Ertugral got to see me and luckily, the scouts had spoken well of me.
"This meant from having been playing in the SAB League, I went straight to the Chiefs first team after they saw me for five minutes on trials.
"Not sure this has happened with a lot of players and, in my case, when I got to Chiefs, I got into the squad more than I was in the stands.
"Imagine an SAB League player going straight to playing and winning trophies at Chiefs.
"It was a dream lived.
"At Chiefs, if I didn't play, I would be on the bench," says Sithole, who was part of the famous 'Operation Vat Alles' when the club won the BP Top 8, Coca-Cola Cup and CAF Cup Winners Cup within four months.
"I was guided well by genuine senior players who led from the front even through running drills.
"It then became easy for me to copy what they were doing because they would also tell you if you were wrong and this was before the coach spoke.
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"These would be the same guys that would praise you if you did wrong because it was all open.
"Luckily, I have always been the same person, even when I started earning while at Chiefs," concludes Sithole.