Eish, one can't stop laughing thinking about what you went through in the final of the Coca Cola Cup where Kaizer Chiefs demolished Jomo Cosmos 5-0 in one of the most incredible cup finals seen in the PSL era. You must have felt defeated.
If you watch the tape of the game, you will actually see me holding on to the advertising board next to the touchline watching the game, no longer warming up. I mean, the score was 5-0, so what would I come in and do? I think the 5-0 scoreline got to Jomo (Sono) so much that he took it all out on me, screaming at me, "Hey wena! I told you to warm up, and you are busy watching the match!" I said, "Eish, Bra J, there was nothing I was going to do out there. The score was 5-0 in front of a big crowd, abo (the likes of) Jabu (Pule, now Mahlangu) were busy dribbling, and even Cyril Nzama was dribbling. Just imagine." After that day, he started monitoring which positions Jabu was most dangerous at when he had the ball, and before I knew it, I was now assigned to man-mark people. If we were playing Orlando Pirates, I knew that the late Gift Leremi and Steve Lekoelea were my men. I soon realised that I was now no longer enjoying football, sengigijimisa abantu egroundini (I was running after people on the field). That was until that final where we won 1-0. The day before, Jomo asked me, "Sammy, what is your idea about tomorrow's game?" I said, "No, if you can tell me that you want the trophy, then I want the money."
Ha, ha, good answer!
He said, "Ah, ngekhe niyilethe. Banishaya (no ways you can bring it home. They hit you for) five." I told him, "Angithi kudlala mina (Remember I'm playing) this time. Akunanto izokwenzakala, uJabu mletheni la (Nothing's going to happen, bring Jabu to me)." He even thought I was joking. I said, "Bring him here. He has two feet. I'm going to mark him, nothing else. That's my job, and then the other players have to do their job." Things turned out exactly like that. When everyone was celebrating after the game, they said to me, "Maar wena (But you), when you say you are going to do something, you go on and do it." So, I've always been this guy with confidence, and I speak about what I want to do. I also always believe that if you say you understand football, you must play all the positions. That will help you not to sit on the bench. You don't have to wait for the coach. When you can see that your chances of playing are limited because you are competing with the Big Five or the Big Three, you ask the coach to try you elsewhere. I was lucky in that all my coaches would play me wherever I felt like.
Some smart thinking there. Some of today's players would do well to take a leaf out of your book. Now, that final that you won against Amakhosi was mired in controversy after referee Daniel Bennett waved the Soweto giants' penalty appeals away as you appeared to have hacked Jabu down in the box. In fact, missiles were thrown onto the pitch by irate Chiefs fans. Was that decision correct, looking back?
It was 150% spot on because I was worried mina when Jabu pulled me as they (the fans) couldn't see what was happening. The crowd only saw me going into a tackle with him trying to gain possession of the ball, but the story is, he pulled me before… It's like someone who got in with the intention of, 'I want a penalty'. I think they must have told him that, "This guy is here to focus on you, he moves with you everywhere, so you must play in the box." Because he pulled me so much and I felt ukuthi (that) I can't run forward now. He was gaining an advantage in terms of getting to the ball because he had pulled me. If you can watch the repeat, you will see that he's on the one side and I'm the first one to turn to approach that ball, but Jabu got there first. How is that possible? And there was not much space around us, this was in the six-yard box. There was no way that he came in there running, no. He put the ball there with the intention that, 'I'm gonna get there first', then he pulled me. That is when I saw that he was going to get there first, then I tackled the ball outside as well as him. But I'm happy that the referee umlandile (went up to him) and said, "Why don't you tell the people that you pulled Sammy?" I must also say bekangangithandi ke loyo (that one didn't like me), the referee. He always gave me cards. He would say, "Sammy, I hope he is playing today." But I was shocked with the decision he made. I felt it that he pulled me and he also knows that he pulled me. After football, we spoke about it mina naye (me and him), the truth of what happened on that day. He did say to me that he was hoping to get a penalty out of the whole situation, and then I said, "Exactly. But you've never spoken publicly to tell people, especially those who burned a stadium site, that in the true sense, the referee was spot on." Sometimes the public sees something, but if I tell the truth, then they see a different picture. For example, if that pulling didn't happen, maybe I would have kicked him.
This 'Still In Touch' has really moved at a frenetic pace, but we just want to go back a bit and ask you about the circumstances under which you joined Wits. You say your grandfather signed the contract in your absence. How did that happen?
Even today I don't have the answer because naye umkhulu wam (even my grandfather), who is now late, he never told me. What I know is that I was coming from training at Mapetla Barcelona, and I heard people telling me that, "There's a Wits bus that was at your home." I said, "It's a good thing that they didn't find me." Well, little did I know that they were waiting for me inside. I went inside wearing my dirty socks from training, and before I could literally find my feet he told me, "This thing of you not going to Wits training stops today, unless you go and look for a place to stay. You're gonna go there. It's high time that you leave this team." I didn't understand him at the time, I was young. I derived a lot of joy out of knowing that in Soweto, I was a popular figure, and that whenever anyone spoke about Mapetla Barcelona, I would feature somewhere in the conversation. They would just say, "The short, dark one" whenever referring to me and my goalscoring exploits. The funny story… There's this guy, I don't know if you know him, but I think the whole of Soweto knew him. They called him Bra Mike. Hungry Lion used to hold their training sessions at Elka Stadium together with Kaizer Chiefs. Daai timer (That old man), every time we were playing his team… There was this thing of the players lining up and the opposition pointing at whoever they felt was old to be playing in that division. That old man would go for me straight away! He would say, "Hayi, mdala lo (this one is overage)!" You could see he was so happy that his charges were playing against us without me on the field. I think I played three games against them, and after that I never played against that team. The funny thing is that I was the youngest in my team, together with my friend Noko. But the old man was adamant that, "Akunamntwana omncane kangaka one shot engaka (There's no kid who possesses such a powerful shot)." So, I'm happy that I was never involved in age-cheating as I lost so many opportunities, with people saying, "Reduce your age and go in there." I've never!
Where did you have the most fun in your career?
I'd say Wits juniors. I had fun there, I was playing with confidence after the coach told me, "You are a star!" There's something he taught me, that you must never leave the box as a striker. There'd be times when 20 minutes would pass without me touching the ball, but that guy, Eddie Lewis, would never substitute me. So, that guy, every game when we were going to the tunnel, he'd be waiting for me, and he'd say, "My son, don't get frustrated. You are doing your part, I will never take you out." I can see even today when I'm watching this boy, (Erling) Haaland from Man City… well, I see he's enjoying himself now and he tends to drift out of the box, but when he arrived, he used to stay in the box. My role models in that striking position were "Mambush" (Daniel Mudau) and Marks Maponyane. You never saw them do anything, until you saw a loose ball inside the six-yard area or the box. Those people I used to watch what they were doing in the box, especially Marks. What is that special thing that they were doing on the field? You could see he was making movements on the field, but he was not even getting the ball. But you'd find that when the match ended, Marks Maponyane had scored two goals. Same thing with Mambush. They were not doing anything special, you passed them the ball and they'd pass it back. But anything inside the penalty box was theirs. I wanted to be a striker like that growing up, not knowing that there would come a time when I'd play with Maponyane in the same team.
By Lunga Adam
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R300
Biggest bonus: R40 000
Opponent I respected the most: Jabu Mahlangu Gift Leremi
Team I'd have loved to play for: Any team coached by Gavin Hunt
Favourite PSL player right now: Sipho Chaine
Best coach I played under: Eddie Lewis
Craziest request from a fan: It was mostly jersey requests
