Polokwane City striker Puleng Marema admits that he was close quitting football to focus on his mother’s health, but she passed away after his return from an almost year-long injury.
Marema, formerly Tlolane, is the longest-serving member of Rise and Shine and on Saturday played his 300th match in the Orange as City narrowly beat Chippa United 1-0 to remain in third position on the Betway Premiership log with 28 points.
The 33-year-old has been with the club since 2012 and has scored 70 goals with 89 assists.
He was part of the group that first gained promotion in the 2012/13 season, went down with the side in the 2019/20 campaign and helped the side return to topflight in 2023 but Marema spent the majority of the return campaign out injured.
Marema said reaching the 300th appearance milestone is bittersweet because of what he went through after the side’s return to the big league.
“I think after winning the promotion my target was that I want to go play in the AFCON, unfortunately I got injured two weeks before the season started and I was out for almost a year,” said Marema.
“It was hurting me. At the same time, I was struggling with my mom’s situation because when I was about to recover, she started going in and out of hospital. I ended up saying – ‘let me just stop playing for this year and focus on my mom’s health’.
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“Unfortunately, when I was about to start playing, she passed away. Even now, as much as I’m happy about this achievement I’m not happy because my parents if they were there – could have been here celebrating with me. But I guess maybe it’s a part of life.
“I’m just grateful to the team, my family, my teammates, my friends, everyone.”
