Lucas "Masterpieces" Moripe (5 February 1950 – 19 November 2024) was a South African soccer player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career

Moripe was born on 5 February 1950. He began his career in 1971 playing with Pretoria Callies in the NPSL. He was awarded the Player of the Year and Sportsman of the Year title in 1973, and played for a short while with

Caroline Hill FC Caroline Hill Football Club () was a Hong Kong football club which holds associate membership in the Hong Kong Football Association. The club formerly participated in the Hong Kong First Division but were relegated in 1982 and have not returne ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Described as "probably the greatest ball player the country has known" and nicknamed "the god of football" by fans, Moripe was unable to play at a higher level due to the sports boycott of the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

government. Moripe joined

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club, referred to as simply Pirates, is a South African professional football club based in Orlando, Soweto that plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as Betway Premiership. The team plays i ...

in 1981, although by then he was already suffering from the effects of a persistent knee injury, and retired shortly after.

Legacy

A street in

Atteridgeville Atteridgeville also recently known as “Pheli” is a township located to the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is located to the east of Saulsville, to the west of West Park; to the north of Laudium and to the south of Lotus Gardens. The ...

was named after him, and in 2010, the Atteridgeville Super Stadium was renamed in his honour, to the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium.

Personal life and death

Moripe had a child with Virginia Mbatha, an Atteridgeville singer. They parted when the child, William Mbatha, was seven. William, nicknamed "King of Bling", is a suspected crime lord and convicted criminal, and Moripe said that he "failed as a father to look after William and guide him as a parent". Moripe suffered a mild stroke and used crutches as a result of his knee injury. He still attended matches at his namesake stadium. Moripe died at his home on 19 November 2024, at the age of 74.RIP: Orlando Pirates, Callies legend Lucas Moripe passes away
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moripe, Lucas 1950 births Year of birth uncertain 2024 deaths Orlando Pirates F.C. players Soccer players from Soweto South African expatriate men's soccer players South African men's soccer players Pretoria Callies F.C. players Men's association football midfielders 20th-century South African sportsmen