Hola 'Roadblock', we are happy to have you again with us this week. You had some funny stories to share last week from your time at Golden Arrows and you did mention that you still have some more to share with us. Without wasting any time, let's get straight into it because the Soccer Laduma readers are certainly waiting…
There is a funny story I can remember when Serame Letsoaka was coach at Arrows. I was a leader in his team, but the players would not always listen to him when he was shouting at them. So, he came up with a plan. He came to me and said: 'One day I am going to come to training and shout at you, but it's our trick'. The plan was for him to shout at me during training, so that the other players could listen to him. The plan was that I would also walk off and sulk, so that he could win over these players and that they would understand that the coach was serious.
Ha, ha, ha. That sounds like it was a smart plan. Did the trick work?
Yes, it worked. Everyone started pushing in training and they started having that fear. Everyone was working towards one goal because they thought that if the coach could shout at the captain, they knew that they had to be serious, ha, ha, ha. So, I would say it worked because we also started winning games like nobody's business. Sometimes you have to come up with tricks so that you can win the players over because the boys started to think: 'Can the coach shout at the captain like that?' But the coach and I knew what we were doing, and it worked out nicely for the team, ha, ha, ha. Coach Letsoaka was a good guy. He was like a father-figure. It was great working with him.
Talk about great teamwork. You and Letsoaka had a great plan to make sure everyone in the team was serious. Okay, let's move on…
When I was at Arrows, we had Deon Hotto in the team, and he was such an interesting and funny character. Hotto used to like wearing the clothing brand called DH (Daniel Hetcher). It's that brand that you get at Truworths, so he used to wear it all the time and he used to joke and say: 'That's my sponsor'.
Is that because his initials are DH?
Yes, ha, ha, ha. He was wearing that brand because of his initials, and we used to laugh at him about it because he used to wear it all the time, ha, ha, ha. He is one of the funniest guys that I have played with. You will never get bored around him because he is always making jokes.
Did you have many other characters in the team at Arrows?
We had (Thamsanqa) Gabuza. I remember when I got to KZN, it was a bit of a struggle. I was playing for Vardos in Tembisa and Manqoba Mngqithi brought me to Arrows. It was difficult to speak Zulu. I found guys like Gabuza and they used to laugh at me whenever I tried to speak isiZulu, ha, ha. It was not easy, but they did welcome me nicely to the team. Those guys did not like speaking English, so I had to adjust quickly.
We can imagine what it was like speaking isiZulu in your Sepedi accent, ha, ha, ha. But tell us a bit more about what it was like playing with Gabuza because he is quite the character…
He was a funny guy. He was a problem, ha, ha, ha. When I got to Arrows, we had Elsa Storm who was our physical trainer. So, when I got there, Gabuza thought that I did not know how to speak English. Some of the guys in the team were not so good at speaking English, so he thought I was the same. They would often joke about it. So, we were having a morning jog the one morning and I needed to talk to Elsa. As I approached Elsa, Gabuza and Jabulani Nene came closer so that they could listen to what I was saying. When I spoke to Elsa, they were like 'uMnandi ngeEnglish' (he is good at speaking English), ha, ha, ha. They were funny characters because they really thought that I could not speak English. I enjoyed being around those guys whenever in training because there was never a dull moment. Gabuza was the type of guy who would make you feel at home because he was always making jokes. You would forget that you were missing home because you had someone like Gabuza in the team who was always making people laugh, ha, ha, ha.
Ha, ha, ha. Thank you so much for your time, Matome. It was a pleasure having you with us over the last two weeks. We hope to have you back with us soon to share more of these hilarious stories.
Thank you so much for the opportunity my brother. It was great talking to you.
By Tshepang Mailwane
IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
Nickname: RoadBlock
Marital status: Married
Car: Audi
Boots: Adidas Predator
Favourite teammate: Kabelo Kgasitsile
Favourite roommate: Lefa Pule
Favourite footballer: Themba Zwane
Best friend in football: Lerato Lamola
