Tragedy struck the Gelvandale based PE Stars Football Club on Sunday when their captain was shot outside the Thobo Tavern in Motherwell.
Thulani Motloung, 25, was hit in the upper body outside the Mhegane Street tavern in what, at this point, appears to have been an accident, and died at the scene.
Motloung, of Motherwell, was one of three talented Nelson Mandela Bay soccer players to make the Nedbank Ke Yona team to face the Nedbank Cup champions in 2016.
He competed against 2,500 other players for a spot in the squad and was hand-picked, with Sinethemba Sdeba and Akhona Manqola, by Shakes Mashaba, Owen da Gama, Khabo Zondo and Mike Mangena for the Ke Yona team.
He was an inspirational skipper who led the PE Stars in the regional ABC Motsepe League.
PE Stars chief operating officer Graeme Sauls said they were still trying to establish exactly what had happened.
“We are all in shock. It is really just so hard to believe.
“He was such a young and vibrant player with so much potential,” he said.
Sauls said they had found out about Motloung’s death when friends posted the news on social media on Sunday.
“Members [of the club] then saw this and started calling around to find out what had happened. It is just so hard to believe that he is gone.”
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said Motloung and some friends had first gone to the Coke Tavern in Captain Street and had left at 4am for the Thobo Tavern.
“The Thobo tavern is right around the corner and the group walked there,” he said.
“It appears that they never went inside the tavern, but stood outside singing and drinking, having fun.
“Another smaller group of people were across the road at the time.
“According to witnesses, prior to [the shooting of Motloung], they had fired two shots into the air.”
Beetge said the group with the firearm had then joined Motloung and his friends.
“[Motloung’s] friends did not know the people in this group.
“A gun seems to have been passed between the members of the [smaller] group.
“It appears that they were playing with it,” he said.
“While passing the gun around, a shot went off and hit Motloung in the upper body.”
The shooter and other members of the group fled immediately.
“Nobody seems to know who they were or why people with a firearm joined their group,” Beetge said.
“At this stage, it is not believed that the shooting was intentional.
“However, the matter is still being investigated.”
Beetge said the provincial Organised Crime Unit had taken over the case as the motive for the shooting was not known yet.