Steve Mokone
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Madi Mokone | ||
| Date of birth | 23 March 1932 | ||
| Place of birth | Doornfontein, South Africa | ||
| Date of death | 19 March 2015 (aged 82) | ||
| Place of death | Washington, D.C., United States | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Pretoria Home Stars | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1955–1957 | Coventry City | 4 | (1) |
| 1957–1959 | Heracles | (15) | |
| 1959 | Cardiff City | 3 | (1) |
| 1959–1960 | Barcelona | 0 | (0) |
| 1960 | → Marseille (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 1960–1961 | Torino | 0 | (0) |
| 1961–1962 | Valencia | 0 | (0) |
| 1964 | Sunshine George Cross | 15 | (10) |
| National team | |||
| 1948–1964 | South Africa Black XI | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1964 | Sunshine George Cross | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Stephen Madi Mokone OIG (23 March 1932 – 19 March 2015) was a South African footballer who was the first black South African player to play in a professional European league.
He was nicknamed The Black Meteor and Kalamazoo.
Mokone was born in Doornfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg, but his family moved to Sophiatown before settling in Kilnerton in Pretoria.
Mokone attracted much attention in his native South Africa, making his debut for a South Africa Black XI at the age of just 16. The Durban Bush Bucks player was close to signing for English side Newcastle United but for the intervention of his father, who wished him to continue his studies. Mokone began his professional career in 1955 with English side Coventry City, where he made four league appearances, scoring one goal in the process. He later played in the Netherlands with Heracles Almelo, for whom he scored twice at his debut and won the 1958 Tweede Divisie title to become a club legend. He was the first foreign professional player in Dutch football. A stand in Heracles' Polman Stadion is named after him.
He later joined Cardiff City, making a goalscoring debut on the opening day of the 1959–60 season on 22 August 1959 during a 3–2 victory over Liverpool. He made just two more league appearances for the side, before being signed in 1959 by Spanish side FC Barcelona. However, because Barcelona had filled their quota of foreign players, he was loaned to French side Marseille. Mokone later played in Italy for Torino and in Spain for Valencia CF, before finishing his career in Australia with Sunshine George Cross and in Canada.
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