By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@KaizerChiefs.
Kaizer Chiefs Football Club have announced that the club will officially retire the jersey number 26 that was worn by the slain defender, Luke “Pelas” Fleurs.
Fleurs was shot and killed during a car hijacking at a petrol station in Florida, west of Johannesburg, last week Wednesday.
Close family, friends, teammates, former teammates, club officials and legends gathered to celebrate and honour the life of the 24-year-old versatile defender.
The 24-year-old’s memorial service was held at FNB Stadium on Thursday afternoon, a day after the police announced that they had arrested six suspects in connection with the player’s highjacking and murder.
The six accused are set to appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate Court on Friday.
While addressing the media at the memorial service, Kaizer Motaung Jr stated that Chiefs retired Fleurs’ jersey number as it’s the first time they’ve lost a player in the dressing room.This is also to honour the player’s memory.
We had everyone involved in the club. Everyone had to sit down and understand the magnitude because this has never happened in the football club. We’ve had many tragedies. Sitting here today where we lost 43 supporters in the Ellis Park Stadium disaster many years ago,” said Motaung.
It’s never been in the changing room where someone’s life has been taken away in this manner. It’s the first for us. If you look at the stories you’re hearing about Luke, that’s what we experienced the day we signed him. He was just genuinely happy and had realised his dream just to wear the ‘Gold and Black’
“It wasn’t about money; it was about, ‘I love this team. I love football, and thank God I’m here.’ It’s very rare to find this combination of Luke. He has the ability and the right intentions, and supporters want people who play for the badge. To be very fair, that was Luke.
He will wake up, pray, come give his best in training, support his teammates, could do anything in this jersey. He could go out there and show the people, so no one else can because that was his jersey [26].
“So we sat down; it was a no-brainer. We really wanted to use this to deal with the bigger problem, which is crime. It’s a reflection of that. We want to make sure that we raise the volume on that.
“That jersey will be hung up in the changing room, and it’s going to be placed first in our technical centre. His chair will always be left empty. Moving forward, we have many other things that we’re going to do to honour Luke; that’s just the first step.”
Special tribute messages were also received from the world football governing body Fifa president Gianni Infantino. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe also sent his. And the Saudi Arabia Football Federation President Yasser Al Misehal conveyed his own, amongst many others.