Lucas 'Masterpieces' Moripe is a South African former soccer player.

Career

Moripe 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 () is 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 returned ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. 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: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

government. Moripe joined

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

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

Honours

A street in

Atteridgeville Atteridgeville 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 settlement was established in 1939, a ...

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

Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium Lucas "Masterpieces" Moripe Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium having a capacity of 28,900 and is located in Atteridgeville, a township (South Africa) of Pretoria, South Africa. It is currently used mostly for football matches and serves as part ...

Personal

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 currently uses crutches as a result of his knee injury. He still attends matches at his namesake stadium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moripe, Lucas Living people Orlando Pirates F.C. players Sportspeople from Soweto South African expatriate soccer players South African soccer players Association footballers not categorized by position Year of birth missing (living people) Pretoria Callies F.C. players