Ace, let's round it off this week. What more memories from your playing days do you have for the Soccer Laduma readers?
Well, I've got to tell you about this one guy who came to coach us (Moroka Swallows) from Brazil, but unfortunately I forgot his name. I think he was Mazzoli or something. He was mad! He was mad! He was mad!
Ha, ha, ha, what do you mean?
You know when you take a plumber from Brazil and bring him here, this was exactly the situation here. When they talk about plumbers, I guess I'll have my own story to tell about a plumber, ha, ha, ha. He was one of the plumbers that coach. He didn't know anything. Imagine, you are playing an important league game on a Saturday at 15h00, and yet on the Friday you are training. You are busy there running up and down the stairs at George Goch Stadium, with your boots on, ha, ha, ha. When we went and played the game, he would instruct all of us to remain in our own half, with only the one striker allowed to be anywhere near the opposition half. All of us had to defend. Ah, that man was a criminal, I'm telling you. I don't know where (David) Chabeli (ex-Swallows chairman) got him from.
So, at some point you realised that he was just huffing and puffing as a coach.
Yes! We realised as the players that we were going nowhere with this guy. In fact, we had to tell Chabeli, "Bra Dey, you know what, xosha lomuntu wakho (fire this guy of yours), otherwise we are going to get relegated. Akazi niks (He knows nothing)." It was tough, man.
You guys must have been quite relieved when he left the club. Any other coach you can tell us about?
Bra Mike (Mangena) was very funny. He was a good guy. I remember one time we went to play Manning Rangers at night, as you will remember that they liked playing their home games on Friday evenings at Chatsworth (Stadium). As we touched down at the airport in Durban, he came up to me and said, "Ace, today I'm going to play you as a striker." I was like, "Okay, Bra Mike." He then told me, "I can feel, my boy, that you are going to score for us today." I said, "Ja, ja, no, Bra Mike, I will try." Luckily, I did score two goals that day as we won 2-1. I remember it was from Magents' (Edward Motale) two crosses that I slotted home with my head. Now, the funny story from that game is that we were late coming from the hotel to the stadium. The opposition had already warmed up by the time we arrived there and we had to quickly get kitted out. The Rangers coach, Gordon Igesund, was standing by the gate as we came in, and Bra Mike went up to him and said, "Hey, hey, you! I'm going to beat you today! I'm going to beat you today! If you want to start the fight now, let's fight now!" Ha, ha, ha. Gordon could only say, "No, Mike, what's wrong now?" He told him, "Hey, I don't care what's wrong for what, I'm going to beat you today!" Eish, from nowhere, Bra Mike just started that little fight with Gordon. I'm telling you, he was a character-and-a-half.
Those were the days hey…
I once scored a funny own goal while playing for SuperSport United against Swallows. There was wind that day. I tried to clear the ball with my head, but it ended up in the net because of the strong wind, ha, ha, ha. Remember, I was coming from Swallows. Funnily enough, in that game I was Man of the Match, you know. But ngalishaya ekhaya (I scored in my own net). Swallows supporters were so happy after the game, with some saying, "Hayi siyazi, ungowase khaya vele (No, we know, you are one of us after all), you wanted to give us a goal." Now that made it seem like I had done that intentionally, you see. Luckily, Pitso (Mosimane) understood – he was a footballer after all. He saw that this guy was buzzing, he played well, and it's just that he made that mistake. He realised that there was no way I could do that judging from my performance during that game.
Tell us more!
Naughty Mokoena was a good guy, but people didn't understand him. However, I used to understand him and even now I understand him. They were judging him based on what had happened in his past, that he had done this and that, but even when he arrived at Swallows, I'm the one who said, "Let's sign Naughty, he will help us." Others were saying, "No, uyahlupha (he's troublesome), he's a problem." But I told the coach, (Viktor) Bondarenko, "Let's sign him." I told the management ukuthi (that), "I will be responsible for him. Give me that responsibility. I will always check on him. He's my responsibility." And I did that! After that, I told him, "Tomorrow you are going to sign and sizohamba sonke manje (we'll always be together now). I will fetch you at home and then we'll go to training every day. When you go out to have fun, I will go with you. Or if you go alone, you must know in the morning I will come and fetch you for training. I don't want problems." He said, "Ja." He understood me and we clicked me and him. He's a gentleman, a good guy.
Sure, one of the fittest players of his generation too. What a talent.
Before I forget, there's a question you asked me about the craziest request I've ever received from a fan. You know, there are those supporters who are always there and they'd sometimes say, "Hey Ace, hayi maan, angina niks (no, man, I have nothing)", and I'd say, "Bamba mf'ethu, uzogibela, uthenge (Take this, brother, you will use it for transport and to buy) something endlini (at home)." You know, all those things, those are normal things that we always do even now. But the biggest thing that a supporter once asked me… It was emotional. We (Swallows) were left with one game, which was against (Mamelodi) Sundowns. If Sundowns beat us, we are out; Swallows is out, is going to First Division. We came into the stadium by bus, but we were made to park outside. They said we had to wait a little bit before entering the stadium. The match venue was packed that day. There was this ubaba (old man), he liked coming with his family to watch us play, always supporting Swallows. He was a big Swallows supporter. He was quite the gentleman and owned a few businesses. Remember we were not using these topof- the-range buses that they are using now, ours was more like a kombi, ha, ha, ha. So, he opened the window and asked to speak to me. His family was there with him as usual, mind you. He held me by the hand, very tightly. When I looked at him, he had tears in his eyes. He said, "Ace, just be honest to me, my boy. Tell me the truth. Are we getting relegated today?"
A question that needed an answer…
Eish, Lunga, I really became emotional in that moment. I also held his hand firmly while still keeping eye contact with him, with tears still in his eyes, and I said to him, "Baba, trust me, trust me, we are not going anywhere. We are going to win this game for you guys." He asked, "Ace, are you sure?" I said, "Yes, I am sure. We are going to fight for you guys. This team is not going anywhere." He was like, "Okay, thank you, my boy." He then let go of my hand and off he went. Can you imagine, now I'm under pressure and I'm thinking to myself, "If we lose here, we are going to kill a lot of people." You understand? When we got to the change room, as we were about to go for the warm-up, I said to the guys, "Bafethu (Gents), let's die on the pitch today. We are not listening to the coach today. We don't need a coach today, we are coaching ourselves." That's what I told them! I said, "Let's go and fight. And we are not playing a system today, we are going to fight as a team." Indeed, the plan worked, mf'ethu. We went on a counter and Sisa Nombe scored a cracker of a goal, and we won 1-0. After scoring, I called the guys over and said, "Now we cannot try and play nice football. We've got what we wanted, a goal, and we are going to defend this goal until the game ends." We fought until the end in that match and were so happy when the final whistle blew. That old man came after the match and it was unbelievable scenes as we lifted him up into the sky. It was nice, you know. That's football for you. That was a big moment for me because I kept my word, which is what made that man happy.
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R3 000
Biggest bonus: R1 500
Opponent you respected the most: John Moeti
Team you would have loved to play for: Kaizer Chiefs
Favourite PSL player right now: Themba Zwane
Best coach played under: Pitso Mosimane
Craziest request from a fan: Requests for takkies and money, which I always obliged to.
