Brenden Wardle: Former PSL goalkeeper reflects on stabbing ordeal and life-changing recovery

Former PSL goalkeeper Brenden Wardle has spoken candidly about a violent stabbing incident that left him hospitalised for three weeks and fundamentally changed his outlook on life.

Wardle, who began his career as a teenager at Durban Bush Bucks in the 1990s before passing through the School of Excellence, went on to feature for SuperSport United, Santos, Moroka Swallows, Golden Arrows, Maritzburg United and Batau, where he eventually ended his professional playing career in 2010.

He says the traumatic episode occurred last year along the R56 main road after he had attended a work-related after-party and stopped at a tavern.

“I’m grateful to be still alive after I was stabbed and then admitted to hospital for three weeks last year,” Wardle said.

According to him, he was attacked by assailants who first used pepper spray before stabbing him twice near his lungs, taking his wallet containing about R500 and his phone.

“They pepper-sprayed me, then stabbed me twice next to my lungs, took my wallet with about R500 and my phone,” he recalled.

Wardle said despite his injuries, he managed to walk about two kilometres to seek help at home before neighbours rushed him to hospital in Pietermaritzburg. He believes the delay in emergency response could have cost him his life.

Now fully recovered, the former Santos shot-stopper admits the experience remains deeply unsettling.

“I’m still traumatised up to now because I saw my intestines were out of my body and I almost lost my life,” he said.

Wardle, a father of five who now works as a carpenter in Umzimkhulu, says the incident has forced him to quit alcohol and withdraw from nightlife entirely.

“I have since taken the decision not to drink anymore and prefer to just do my carpentry and play snooker,” he said.

He added that he no longer goes out at night and struggles with lingering fear and flashbacks from the attack, saying it has left him with a lack of trust in people.

Wardle hopes his experience will serve as a warning to current and former players about lifestyle choices off the pitch.

“They don’t all have to learn the hard way like me,” he said.