Faf Du Plessis - Faf: Through Fire

Faf: Through Fire is far more than just a book about cricket. It is the story of a man who just happened to play cricket at the highest level.

At times brutally honest, this fascinating, introspective work provides a unique insight into the mind and heart of one of South Africas most interesting and charismatic national captains. There is the public persona the tattooed, fashion-conscious, mentally tough, immensely popular and yet, at times, misunderstood Du Plessis. And then there is the authentic Faf. It took him years to connect with this side of himself but, when he did, it shaped his relationships with people and ultimately his captaincy of the Proteas.

Du Plessis lays bare his growth from a youth with a questionable moral compass outside of cricket, to a leader known for his integrity, values, honesty and empathy for his teammates.

He reflects on how influential leaders such as Gary Kirsten, Stephen Fleming, Doc Moosajee, Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Russell Domingo, Ottis Gibson, Owen Eastwood and MS Dhoni helped mould him as a man who leads with grit, purpose and a love of people.

He also explores the destructive relationships, offering his perspective, in devastating detail, on his final years of international cricket. Neither the changing room nor the boardroom is off limits in this no-holds-barred critique.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Faf du Plessis

with Marco Botha

First published in 2022 in South Africa by Flyleaf Publishing & Distribution

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recorded or otherwise, without prior permission from the copyright holder.

Text Francois du Plessis

Photographs are from the authors personal collection unless otherwise indicated.

ISBN 978-1-998956-94-4

ebook ISBN 978-1-998956-95-1

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful to be notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future editions of this book.

Cover photograph used with permission of Mens Health SA

Cover photograph by Byron L. Keulemans

Design by MR Design

Edited by Lesley Hay-Whitton

Proofread by Anita van Zyl

Project and Production Management by Ingeborg Pelser

Ebook by Liquid Type Publishing Services

Contents

Foreword

There has never been a greater need than now for selfless inclusive leadership. We require examples and reference points for how we can move forward with , not against, each other.

Too often we are looking in the wrong places, for inappropriate qualifications, and are taken in a false direction. There is a better way, a purer way, and it is revealed in the pages that follow. Faf: Through Fire is not the depiction of a superman. It is a genuine story grounded in deep vulnerability and a continual quest to better understand the world and the people in it.

In my role as an external performance coach with the Proteas, I had the privilege of working with Faf from the time he joined the team in 2011 through to the 2019 World Cup. He will blush at this, but I can honestly say I have never in sport, business or the wider community worked with a more outstanding leader of people.

When I look back on those times together with the Proteas, what stays with me is not grand speeches or even great performances under pressure, but the smaller meaningful things he did every day things that define his way of leading others.

His leadership style was unfailingly inclusive: continually checking in on each person in the most diverse sports team in the world, over coffee or meals or just on the move, and asking If you were the leader of this team, what would you change about how we do things? and What in our environment gets in the way of you reaching your full potential?

He fully embraced and embodied the traditional African notion of ubuntu as the Proteas higher purpose and North Star the measure of our lives being our impact on others. It took courage to create a space for these conversations, rather than burying everyone in the false cause of just being busy and working hard.

Then there was Fafs clarity that the team was strongest when everyone was aligned and on the same page. His relationships of complete trust with his coaches and team manager Doc Moosajee were wonderful to witness. Beyond that, he took steps such as inviting the convenor of selectors into the inner sanctum of the team, including sacred rituals, so he felt his own sense of belonging to the team.

And in his last days with the Proteas he went to great lengths to transmit to the next generation of players his experience, but also the cultural architecture forged over the past decade, which is the bedrock of so much of the teams success. He genuinely hopes that the teams that follow his time in the sun have even more success and deliver ubuntu on a larger scale than his. I love this about him.

This book provides rare glimpses into what inspirational and inclusive leadership can look like on the ground every day.

Nobody taught Faf any of this. His leadership style became an expression of a person who, in parallel with his sporting career, embarked on an even more epic adventure of self-growth. That personal story is beautifully set out in this book.

To read Fafs searing reflection that he feels he grew up without empathy completely took me by surprise. The leader I saw was as emotionally intelligent and empathetic as any Ive been fortunate to spend time with.

Fafs commitment to the value of honesty forces him to confront the circumstances around his exit from the Proteas. Therein lies a sense of sadness for me, not just for his clumsily managed departure, but that the recent leadership of the team has drifted away from what anchored arguably the best team in world cricket in the 2010s: the Protea Fire culture.

As Faf puts it, a team (or community) is only ever truly healthy when it has a genuine commitment to ensure that every individual has a sense of belonging and is enabled to thrive. This is particularly so the more diverse the team is. That is a lesson for all life. There is no better architect of how to achieve that than Faf du Plessis.

Owen Eastwood

October 2022