At the time of his birth, Obonwe Maome’s current club, Gaborone United (GU) had last won the league title four years before. They would then go into an 18-year drought before the famous Wellington Maposa’s strike against Mochudi Centre Chiefs handed GU the title in 2009. Since then, the Money Machine have been able to lay their hands on almost every knockout competition, save for the league title. And 13 years later, they can dream again, thanks to the club director, Nicholas Zakhem’s decisiveness to retain his most valuable players. Among the players who were retained was Maome and the diminutive midfielder is currently enjoying the best form of his life. His creative ability and mobility behind the strikers seem to be the critical ingredient behind the task to deliver the title to The Reds.
The side is perched at the top of the log standings with an eight-point gap between them and second-placed Township Rollers. From 15 matches, Maome has scored three goals and provided at least 10 assists and has arguably been the best player in the league thus far. With all the rave reviews coming his way from all corners of the football fraternity, the Molepolole native is thinking about the club’s success before any individual glory. He has already helped GU win the Orange FA Cup this season and is aiming for every competition on the way.
“I really want this league medal.
That is my target but I also want to win the Mascom Top 8. I am very happy with my performance up to this stage. I always work very hard because we have a great team, which is able to maintain its winning consistency even with other players out through injury. So when you have a quality team like that, as an individual player it calls for hard work at training sessions all the time,” Maome says. Although some may have been surprised by Maome’s exploits this season, those who have followed him from his younger days knew he was destined for greatness. He is among some of the players who have not skipped any stage of player development having played for the national Under-15, Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 sides. He got the nickname ‘Too Longer’ from fans in Old Naledi during a Sunday Soccer match and it stuck with him to date.
However, the exciting midfielder says the fans never explained to him what it meant. Besides the league medal that he is so looking forward to, Maome is still to get a senior national team cap and many believe he is the first player that deserves a call-up when the Zebras finally return to action. “First player on the Zebras call up list should be 2 Longer Maome. I meeeean yo!!!” former Rollers, Extension Gunners and Chiefs’ midfielder, Lesego Molemogi tweeted last weekend. Almost all the commentators nod in agreement that the brother to Tiroyaone Maome has done more than enough to secure a place in the Zebras. Tiroyaone is currently playing for new Premier League entrants, Sua Flamingoes. Maome says he is also waiting for his chance to finally play for the senior national team but adds that it will be up to the team selectors to see if he can add the much-needed value.
Maome started his football journey at GU development side before he was promoted to the senior team. He was later loaned out to Happy Hearts in 2011 to gain experience before the late mentor, David Bright brought him back to GU. Following his return to GU, Maome started getting some game time under Bright until he became one of the key players. “He used to include me in the starting lineup for some matches and I started gaining confidence in playing high-level matches,” Maome says. Although he has already played some of the best games of his life this season, Maome says the Mascom Top 8 semifinal second leg match against city rivals, Rollers three years ago will remain etched in his mind forever. Rollers were carrying a 2-0 lead from the first leg and GU managed to score three goals in the second leg to book a final against Jwaneng Galaxy. “I will never forget that game because everyone had ruled us out. This season I would choose the match against Mogoditshane Fighters as the best I have played. I came on when the score was 1-1 and I managed to assist in the dying minutes of the match,” he says.
He also says his coaches, Innocent Morapedi and Pontsho Moloi keep encouraging him to remain level headed to avoid external distraction. He still dreams of playing abroad, particularly in South Africa and singled out Kabelo Seakanyeng as the player he moulds his game around. “He is a hard worker. Even when the team does not have a training session on a particular day, Seakanyeng would train alone and I really admire him,” he says. His advice to upcoming players is simple, “Never give up. I came to GU when there were great players like Sandaka (Sageby), Maposa (Stephen) and Mandla Mgadla. At that time, I also thought I would never get a chance with such great players in the team but the coach gave me some game time. The only thing to do is use the chance you get,” he says.
FACT FILE
Full Names: Obonwe ‘Too Longer’ Maome
Place of birth: Gaborone
ome Village: Molepolole
Date of birth: January 26, 1994
Current club: Gaborone United Previous
Club: Happy Hearts Favourite
Childhood clubs: Kaizer Chiefs, Manchester City
