Neil Tovey

Neil Robert Tovey OIS (born 2 July 1962) is a South African soccer coach and former player and also brother of former footballer Mark Tovey. He was born in Pretoria. He holds the record for most appearances in the National Soccer League.

Early career Tovey was born in Pretoria but grew up in Durban. He had been playing soccer since 1969. He aspired to be a doctor before opting to play professional football. His brother Mark who was also a footballer used to give him football lessons. He was also coached at junior level at Juventus Durban by Clive Barker. Tovey was transfer listed on 12 March 1986.

AmaZulu He scored on debut in a 2--1 win over Arcadia Shepherds in Durban on 4 April 1986. He also scored in a 5--1 win over Kaizer Chiefs on 8 June 1986 in what became Chiefs' worst loss ever. He was converted to defence by Philippe Troussier. He led Chiefs to cup victory scored two very important goals in the Rothmans Cup against QwaQwa Stars and Umtata Bush Bucks. He played 341 league games for Chiefs. He captained the team 29 times. He got his UEFA A licence with a 90% pass in Hennef, Germany, which were the best marks since 1998.

Personal life Tovey lives in Johannesburg with his wife Nadine Tovey and has three children, Bianca (b. 1991), Jessica (b. 1993) and Sheldon (b. 1997). On 23 February 2015, Tovey was admitted to ICU after suffering from three heart attacks during a game of squash. Tovey suffered a further heart attack in October 2016, and was admitted to hospital.