'So, Gavin Was Swearing At Them Using The F-word'

Jun 21, 2024 - 08:42 am

By Tshepang Mailwane

'So, Gavin Was Swearing At Them Using The F-word'

Good Sir, our readers have been waiting an entire week to hear your stories again. Judging by the entertainment you dished out last week, it looks like this week is going to be a lot of fun, so let's not waste any time and rather get started...

There was a time we were doing an MTN8 game between Bidvest Wits and Golden Arrows. We sent off Mandla (Ncikazi), Clinton Larsen and Gavin Hunt at the same time. I was the fourth official that day. So, Gavin was swearing at them using the F-word. Clinton retaliated and said, "You too!" Then Mandla stood up and said, "And you too!" So, I go to the Arrows bench and I tell them to calm down. Then they say, "Usaba umlungu (You are scared of the white guy)." Then I was like, "Manje niyadelela (Now you are being disrespectful)." So, I called (Phillip) Tinyani, who was the referee that day. I said that he should send off Gavin, Clinton and Mandla. I told him that if he does not send them off, then I am going home.

Ha, ha, ha. My way or the highway type of situation! You were clearly fed up with the madness and mayhem on the touchline.

I was like, "You decide. If you don't send them off, I am going home. I can stand the insults." Tinyani was surprised that I said he should send all three of them off. He was like, "It's too much." I told him, "If it's too much, I am going home." He saw that I was serious and he sent them off for abusive language and they walked off peacefully. They shook hands there in the tunnel.

Eish, man, seems you dealt with a lot during your time as a referee...

Ha, ha, ha. yes, we dealt with a lot as referees. You see some Spanish players have come to play in South Africa. There was this guy who was playing for Platinum Stars, (Luis) Renteria. He had big muscles. That guy used to complain a lot, yho, yho, yho! And I did not know that he spoke Spanish. There was this one time when Lazarus Matela said, "You are wasting your time" because I was speaking to Renteria in English. I was saying that he should stop playing the man, play the ball. I told him to stop talking too much, but Lazarus was laughing at me. He was like, "Hey Victor, you are wasting your time. That man does not understand English." I was like, "You are right, this man is not responding to me." But the thing is, he was talking too much, so I told Lazarus that we should come up with a plan. So, whenever Renteria was falling, I would go to Steve Komphela, who was the coach of Platinum Stars at the time. I would say, "Stevo, substitution!" Then Renteria would stand up and say, "No, no, no."

Ha, ha, ha, you were crazy! The word 'substitution' evidently didn't sound too good to Renteria.

He would stand up so quick. So, from that day, whenever Renteria fell to the ground, I would say, "Stevo, substitution!" It's because substitution is the same in all these languages – Spanish, French, Portuguese. You could understand in any language. He would stand up. So, that's the way I used to get to him, ha, ha, ha. And it really worked because since then, he was no longer falling because he knew that I would call Steve to substitute him.

Good plan. Safe to say you were the reason he started behaving on the pitch.

Yeah. From there, it was all good.

Let's keep on going with these. You are on a roll, Victor.

There is this other story, but this is advice for a referee who would officiate in a game of that magnitude. You remember there was a penalty I awarded when (Olisa) Ndah fouled (Khama) Billiat? You know, the Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs benches are guarded by security. That day, before the game, I went there, and I was inspecting the ground. I wanted to go to the technical areas, and I went to the Pirates one first. Then I went to the Chiefs technical area. Both areas were guarded. They didn't want me to go there, but I was like, "I am in charge here, don't stop me from doing my job." They let me inspect, but when the game started, I was struggling to run. My legs were tight and I did not understand what was happening. To this day, I don't know which team made my legs to be tight because I was struggling to run, ha, ha, ha. I regretted going to their benches, ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha, no ways, that's just too good to be true!

Even today, I ask myself which team it was. Or was it both of them that did that? Ha, ha, ha. So, if you do Pirates and Chiefs, don't go to their technical areas or you won't run properly, ha, ha, ha. Don't go to the technical team. You will struggle. We have seen things, but we just don't talk about these things. There is a reason why they guard the benches. I only found out the reason afterwards when I was struggling to run. And you don't even know who you can ask afterwards, ha, ha, ha. It's like my legs were locked because I was struggling to run.

Talk about running into an 'offside position' in the technical areas of the two Soweto giants. Someone must have 'fouled' you and unfortunately there was no ref to give out a yellow or even red card. You were on your own, man. Well, Mr Hlungwani, thank you so much for your time yet again. Brilliant stories. More reason for us to look forward to what you have to offer in next week's edition.

Ha, ha, ha. Thank you.