The story about how Lerato Chabangu's career was destroyed by his addiction to alcohol might be known but the limits to which his employers went in seeking to get him on the straight have never been told in detail.
Chabangu remains one of the typical talents from the township who was a talented footballer but washed it down the drain through a wild alcohol dependency culture.
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'Ace' came from Tembisa, earned fame in the junior national teams through giving Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows over 100 games each before short spells at SuperSport United and Chippa United.
For all his troubles he also won 32 Bafana Bafana caps in a career that was already down the drain at 30.
"Chabangu was a great player for the team but had people that were his friends from the township that were just out to use him because he was earning a salary in football," says former Swallows kit manager Junior Molefe.
Despite being a kit manager, Molefe was tasked with keeping a close eye on Chabangu through the four-and-half years that he spent at Swallows.
"These guys were always after him because they knew that he could afford to buy them beer.
"My task in this was get him out of these people because he was a famous player loved by people.
"I didn't want him to degrade himself to that low life that he was dragging himself into of non-stop alcohol.
"I used to fetch him from home in Tembisa to come to training.
"Whenever we played on Saturday, it meant that on Monday he wouldn't report for training because he would have been drinking since Saturday evening through Sunday up to Monday.
"He used to drive a Micro-bus, and, in that car, there was always a cooler box full of booze.
"When they get to their favourite tavern in Tembisa they would buy all the booze from the lady who owned that place and then chase everyone away so that it only becomes his crew drinking there.
"Chabangu was so much of Gordon Igesund's favourite player that you wouldn't even think he was a problem player.
"I have never heard Gordon praise a player the way he did with Chabangu, he really had patience with that boy.
"Gordon personally asked me to keep track of Chabangu in an effort to get him out of booze and that is why I would drive all the way to Tembisa to check up on him at his mother's place.
"Later, he was involved with a good girl who tried to get him out of booze, but it was difficult for her.
"This girl was the reason why he bought a house in Boksburg near Birchwood where we used to camp and even also bought his mom a house in Birchleigh.
"But then he ultimately couldn't keep up with the two bond payments and the car instalment and all these things were repossessed.
"We tried to build him, but he had dedicated himself to alcohol by then and ultimately ended up without a car or house, but we still fetched him from Tembisa.
"Every Monday and Tuesday he wasn't at training and whenever I went looking for him in Tembisa the community would direct me to where he is, and I would find him there drinking with his friends.
"At times I would drive to his house on Sunday to check on him and the wife would tell me that they last saw him on Friday when he went to camp.
"Even though he drank and didn't train all the time, Chabangu would be the reason why the team wins on match day which is why Gordon insisted on making sure that we fetched him from home to sleep in camp before games.
"He was better than those who trained all week.
"But then in the end the team couldn't renew his contract.
"Discipline comes first in life regardless of how talented you are.
"Chabangu was a quiet chap who when you spoke to would insist on that he is dumping alcohol but come weekend the Micro-bus would be waiting for him after the game.
"What pained me was that one of the guys was his brother," says Molefe.
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