Auguston, we're doing it one more time. We've had a wonderful time with the stories you've shared from Moroka Swallows, Bloemfontein Celtic, Highlands Park and University of Pretoria. Let's hear what you have in store for us this time around as we aim to end things off with a bang, ha, ha, ha.
Ha, ha, ha, thanks, my brother. An interesting character was Zeca Marques. He could not go a day in his life without a lollypop. So, I knew Zeca from watching Swallows back in the days. I am not sure if he was at Swallows or at another club, but I would always see him with a lollypop on TV. So, I would always ask my father "Daddy, is it allowed for people to have lollypops on the bench?" The day I finally got to meet him and get comfortable with him, I asked him what the deal was with the lollypop. I wanted to know why he was having the lollypop all the time. I also remember for those moments he would take his jacket off and celebrate when we scored a goal.
Ha, ha, ha. Marques was indeed a lollypop aficionado of note. Such a sweet character!
I see what you did there, ha, ha, ha!
Did he give you a reason for his lollypop addiction? It actually makes us wonder how many packs of them he went through during his time coaching in the PSL.
He said for him it was like chewing bubblegum, ha, ha, ha. People like chewing bubble-gum all the time and he simply just liked having lollypops. It's something that he enjoyed doing, so it meant that he used to have a lot of them. He said he would always suck on a lollypop, ha, ha, ha.
We thought maybe it was a way for him to deal with all the stress that comes with being on the bench, considering how tense a game of football can be when things are not going your way.
It's like coach Rainer Zobel. He always used to smoke. If he was allowed to smoke during a PSL game on the bench, then he was definitely going to do it, but he couldn't. But at training, he would smoke and he would do it a lot. I am not sure how many packs he would go through, but he would smoke every given chance he got. I remember the one time in the MTN8 final, I could see that he was craving a cigarette. When we got to the change room, he just wanted to have a smoke. (Orlando) Pirates was leading 1-0 at the time.
Ha, ha, his stress levels must have been very high at the time. And if memory serves us well, you guys ended up not winning that game.
We got back into the game in the second half. I remember Morgan Shivambu scored the equalizer. He scored with his head and took the game into extra time and then penalties. During the shootout, I remember (Siyabonga) Nomvethe missing a penalty. We lost on penalties to Pirates that day, so you can imagine what it was like for him.
What a combination that must have been on the bench and in training. On the one side, you had Zobel puffing away and, on the other, Marques sucking joyfully, ha, ha, ha. Were there any other funny guys you shared a dressing room with at Swallows?
One of the other characters at Swallows was David Radebe. The funny thing about David is that he would speak fast and run fast. He would speak Sotho and he would speak so very fast. That guy was full of jokes and when we played small-sided games, you'd never see him in the middle marking. He was just one of the funniest guys in the team and we loved having him around. I wonder how he was when he was growing up.
Did you get to play with Mahlatse Makudubela during your career? Because he is known to belong to that category of player who just let loose at any given moment…
I played with "Skudu" but that was before we started playing in the PSL. I remember we played in the Steven Pienaar tournament together years ago and yho, that guy was a character, and he would always dress funny, ha, ha, ha. I remember during one of the June 16 days, he and Keagan Dolly came to school in their uniform and leggings, and they were going about there in Westbury. I know that guy is a real clown, ha, ha, ha. When it comes to dressing, it was the guys in the NFD (National First Division, now called Motsepe Foundation Championship) who would come there with their flip-flops and they had these T-shirts that were creased, like they were not ironed, ha, ha, ha.
Well, we've heard so much about the things Makudubela has done. He is definitely one who cracks others up. We've loved having you with us for these past four weeks and surely your stories are going to be missed. Thank you so much for your time, Auguston. We hope to have you back with us in future.
Thank you so much for the opportunity. I have enjoyed sharing the stories with the Soccer Laduma readers.
IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
Nickname: Gusty
Marital status: Married to Yandré Leonard
Car: VW VeloCiti
Boots: Puma
Favourite TV programme: Power
Favourite food: Pap, lamb chops and tomato gravy
Facebook or Twitter: None
Siyagobhoza or interviews: Interviews
Favourite footballer: Lionel Messi
Favourite celebrity: Trevor Noah
