Mark Anthony Fish (born 14 March 1974) is a retired South African

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, Fish started his career in his native South Africa under the guidance of renowned coach Steve Coetsee, playing for

Arcadia Shepherds Arcadia Shepherds are a South African association football club based in Arcadia, Pretoria. It is affiliated with the Football Association of Pretoria (FAP). History The club was founded in 1903, and was briefly renamed ''Arcadia United'' in ...

, an amateur team based at the

Caledonian Stadium Caledonian Stadium is a football ground in the Longman area of Inverness, Scotland, near the banks of the Moray Firth. It hosts home matches of Scottish Professional Football League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle. History Inverness Caled ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

. He was spotted by then

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division sea ...

coach Roy Matthews and turned professional as a striker. It was at Cosmos that he was converted into a left back and went on to become one of the most promising defenders in South Africa at the time. In 1994 Fish was signed by

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 ...

after Cosmos were relegated. At Pirates he arguably played the best football of his career under the tutelage of

Mike Makaab Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

. He also won the league championship at Pirates, as well as the ''BP Top Eight Cup'' in 1994, the 1995 '' 1995 African Champions League'' and the 1995 ''Bobsave Super Bowl'' (then the premier cup in South Africa). He captained ''The Buccaneers'' when they beat JS Kabylie in the

1996 CAF Super Cup The 1996 CAF Super Cup was the fourth CAF Super Cup, an annual football match in Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), between the 1995 African Cup of Champions Clubs Orlando Pirates against the 1995 African Cup Winners ...

. In the same year he was part of the history making South African national team to have won the

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internat ...

at the first attempt after South Africa's readmission to FIFA in 1992. Soon foreign scouts came knocking and he was signed by

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

of Italy, after he turned down an opportunity to play for his boyhood club,

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. However, he did move to England after just one season at Lazio to become the highest paid player at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

. Fish was a mainstay in Bolton's back four for much of their first season back in the Premiership, he received praise from both teammates and those whom he played against, most notably Manchester United forward

Andrew Cole Andrew Alexander Cole (born 15 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career lasted from 1988 to 2008, and is mostly remembered for his time with Manchester United, who paid a Briti ...

. Despite Fish's efforts Bolton were relegated on the last day of the season despite having accumulated 40 points, normally enough to stave off the drop. Once playing back in the lower leagues Fish applied himself well, quickly gaining a cult status amongst the Bolton faithful, backed up by his nickname "Feesh", and a particularly eyecatching headgear in the shape of a giant Blue fish being made available in club stores. However, new suitors soon came calling, and only after the appointment of

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...

did Fish's star begin to fall in Lancashire. Fish soon followed his Danish teammate Claus Jensen and at Alan Curbishley's second time of asking moved to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in a £700,000 move in November 2000. "The Big Fish" as he was affectionately known throughout his playing career went on to make 102 Premiership appearances for the Addicks, scoring three times. In 2005, he began to fall out of favour at Charlton. He went on to have a very short loan spell (45 mins) at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

in the 2005–06 season but a severe

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury led to Fish announcing his retirement. Fish returned to football when he signed a six-month contract with his first club Jomo Cosmos in early 2007 but did not play an official game due to his low level of fitness.

International career

Internationally, Fish is best remembered as being a crucial part of South Africa's victorious national soccer squad when they won the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, s ...

. He scored one of the goals in the quarter final against

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. He was named to the Team of the Tournament in both the 1996 and 1998

. In total he won 62

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the South African national team, scoring twice. He made his international debut in a friendly game against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

on 6 October 1993 and received his last cap in a World Cup qualifier against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

on 20 June 2004.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fish goal''.

Personal life

He was married to Loui Fish (née Visser), a former lingerie model and well-known socialite. They have two sons, Luke Fish (born in Bolton, 1999) & Zeke Fish (born in 2001). Fish returned from Europe to his homeland South Africa and has been actively involved in charity work, much of it aimed at the development of African soccer and the eradication of African poverty. He was one of a handful of Ambassadors in South Africa's successful bid to host the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. In August 2008 Fish's wife, Loui, and his ten-year-old son, Luke, were at their Mooikloof home with friends when five men, armed with an assortment of weapons including an AK-47, burst into their house.Soccer star robbed, son threatened
/ref> Mark and Loui divorced in April 2011. Mark later married his long time girlfriend Salomé Fish (née van Rensburg). Mark and Salomé divorced in December 2015. They have 2 children together: Isabella Fish (born 2010) and Blake Fish (born 2013). Mark is currently an ANC member of the Lilliesfarm branch.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Mark 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Italy Association football defenders Ipswich Town F.C. players Jomo Cosmos F.C. players Orlando Pirates F.C. players Sportspeople from Pretoria Premier League players Serie A players South Africa international soccer players Expatriate footballers in England South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African expatriate sportspeople in Italy South African expatriate soccer players South African soccer players S.S. Lazio players 1974 births Living people White South African people South African people of British descent Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School Soccer players from Cape Town