Jimmy Tau (born 23 July 1980 in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

) is a South African former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He played for

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Lords" or "Chie ...

and Orlando Pirates and in the

South African Premier Division The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional football/soccer league and the highest division in the league system of South Africa, organized sinc ...

and for Basotho Tigers and Maritzburg City in the

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club association football, football after the South African Premier Division. Both t ...

. He also played internationally for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and was a participant at the

2006 African Nations Cup The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Club career

Basotho Tigers

Jimmy Tau started out at Basotho Tigers in the 1999/00

Vodacom League The ABC Motsepe League, previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 ...

season in the semi-pro ranks. The club was promoted to the

and finished 11th in its debut season.

Maritzburg City

In the 2001/02 he moved to Maritzburg City where he would play alongside his future teammate

Mabhuti Khenyeza Mabhuti Khanyeza, (born 17 June 1982 in Howick) is a retired South African association football striker. Career Khanyeza's arrival from Lamontville Golden Arrows in July 2007 after he had spent five seasons at the KwaZulu-Natal based team ...

. Tau played 28 games and helped the team finish 3rd on the log

Orlando Pirates

Tau signed for Orlando Pirates ahead of the 2002/ 2003 campaign, going on to win the league with the Buccaneers that season.

Kaizer Chiefs

Tau joined Chiefs in 2005. His debut for Chiefs was in the SAA Supa 8 quarter-final on 20 August 2005 in a 2–1 loss to

Bloemfontein Celtic Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club (simply known as Celtic) is a South African amateur football club based in Bloemfontein that competes in the ABC Motsepe League, the third tier of the South African football league system. Bloemfontein Celtic has ...

. His first goal for Chiefs came in a league match against Silver Stars on 23 April 2006 winning 2–1. Tau went on the captain Chiefs in an eight-year stay that coincided with the club winning two Nedbank Cup trophies, two MTN8 cups, three Telkom Knockout winners' medals, and the 2012/ 2013 Absa Premiership trophy. By the end of his spell Tau had played 210 matches for Chiefs.

International career

Tau made his international debut on 8 October 2003 in a 3–0 win over

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. The ...

. He was a participant in the

2006 AFCON 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. He played his last international match on 28 March 2007 against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

in a 1–0 loss coming in as a substitute for

Cyril Nzama Cyril "Skhokho" Nzama (born 26 June 1974 in Soweto, Gauteng) is a retired South African football (soccer) defender who last played for Batau FC. Nzama made 44 appearances for the South African national football team from 2000 to 2007. He was ...

Style of play

Tau played as a marauding right back.

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan *Philippine Super Liga, professional volleyball league in the Philippines *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league in the Philippines * Philipp ...

.co.za described Tau as an incisive tackler and had outstanding timing in his challenges.

Retirement

Tau announced his retirement from professional football on his 33rd birthday at the Conference Centre, Soweto Hotel in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

on 23 July 2013. He also cited his injury being one of the reasons for his retirement.

Outside football

In December 2012, Tau became the director of Bataung Memorial Tombstones, a tombstone manufacturing company based in Katlehong. Tau was one of three former sportsmen featured on ''

Survivor South Africa ''Survivor South Africa'' is a South African reality game show based on the popular international '' Survivor'' format. As in all versions of the show, it features group of strangers who are marooned in an isolated location, where they must pro ...

'' filmed in October 2013 on an island off

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

including former

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

defender

Mark Fish Mark Anthony Fish (born 14 March 1974) is a retired South African footballer who played as a defender. Club career Born in Cape Town, Fish started his career in his native South Africa under the guidance of renowned coach Steve Coetsee, play ...

and former Springbok captain

Corné Krige Cornelius Petrus Johannes "Corné" Krige (born 21 March 1975) is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for Western Province in the Currie Cup, the Stormers in Super Rugby and captained the South African national side, the ...

. Tau described the island as "a beautiful island, that is extremely hot and very humid". Tau released his autobiography on 25 December 2013 called "Jimmy Tau - My Life Story".

References

External links

* 1980 births Living people South African soccer players South Africa international soccer players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Association football defenders Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Orlando Pirates F.C. players Sportspeople from Kimberley, Northern Cape {{SouthAfrica-footy-defender-stub