Albert Kometsi made a name for himself at Hellenic, having joined them in 1999, before being snapped up by Moroka Swallows in 2003. "But I think I left Hellenic earlier than I should have. I regret that," he quips.
Albert, thanks for chatting to us. You started your football career at Hellenic. Briefly tell us about your time there.
At the Greek Gods is where I think I really enjoyed my game. It was exciting times. I used to share a room with Gareth Ncaca and Daniel Matsau and they were very quiet guys who could not harm a fly. The players were staying at the academy and we were always together. On weekends we would go to Guguletu or Kwa-Langa to have fun.
Cool! Who are some of the funny guys you played with?
There were so many of them...I mean, the likes of Joel Seroba, Darryl Smith and Benedict Vilakazi in the national U23. You know, with 'Tso'...I remember this one time we were in camp in Sandton. We went to a music store. 'Tso' wanted to buy Ja Rule's CD with the song 'I'm Real', but he didn't know the name of the song.
Now, in the song there are lyrics that go like 'Yeah yeah!' 'Tso' told the guy that was behind the counter, "Hey my man, I want that CD by Ja Rule, the one that goes like 'Yeah yeah!'" Ha, ha, ha, we all ended up laughing at poor Tso. I mean, almost all Hip Hop songs have 'yeah yeah' lyrics, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, right!
At Hellenic I was staying with George Moyo and Moses Malabela at the clubhouse. Whenever the ladies who cook for us knocked off, they would leave food for us. So one time Moses and I came back early while George had gone out until late at night. Ha, ha, ha, we finished all the food and when he came back, he found that there was nothing! He was not impressed at all, he was very angry.
He cried, ha, ha! He cried tears... all because of food! Whenever I think about that, it just makes me laugh. Can you imagine? He must have been very hungry. Then we also had Darryl (Smith). He liked stealing things. He was the big thief in the camp.
You know, when the season starts, you usually get given club merchandise to wear for the rest of the season. So this one time the club put 20 bags for us with club gear inside them and left them in the change room.
Darryl was the first to get into the change room. He stole a tracksuit from one of the bags. Now, here's the funny part. When the players were given their bags, Darryl's bag had no tracksuit in it! It turns out he stole from himself, ha, ha, ha!
Crazy! Please go on...
Then there was Craig Rosslee. Every time our game was going to be shown on TV, he would spend so much time in front of the mirror, making sure he looked his best. So whenever there was an aerial ball and Craig was going for it, Gavin Hunt would say, "Craig, watch your hair!" Ha, ha. Or he'd say, "You dropped your handbag, Craig!" Do you know Itumeleng Sekwale? He played for Jomo Cosmos.
The two of us were doing medical tests at a club we were going to sign for in Cyprus. We were busy filling in forms and all that paperwork. Then suddenly Itumeleng said to me, "Mfethu, zwakala ka hier. (My brother, come here). Here in this form they ask me about 'Title', but I haven't won anything in my career. What do I write?"
Ha, ha, ha! I just told him, "No, ntwana, they don't mean it like that. They want to know if you're a Mr, a Miss or a Mrs." Ha, ha, football players! This reminds me of one incident with Lungisani Ndlela at Moroka Swallows. We were at a restaurant in Rosebank and all the players were gathered at the table. Ndlela wanted to order ribs, so he said to the waitress, "Can I have five kilometres of ribs?" Ha, ha, ha, we just wondered how long it would take to prepare those ribs!
Ha, ha, ha. Any incidents from the field?
Yeah, there was one! I can't remember the name of this referee. We were playing Kaizer Chiefs. Jabu Pule was coming back from rehab and it was his first game back. He was hot at that time! But it seems like every time we tried to tackle Jabu, the referee would say it was a foul. So Anton Greyling and I went up to the referee and said, "Why do you always say we've fouled him?" Ha, ha, he just said, "Let me tell you something. These people in the grandstand have come here to watch Jabu. He's been out in rehab for quite some time, so please don't mark him." Ha, ha, ha!
The other incident involved Craig Bianchi. Whenever he was tired and a striker was giving him a hard time, he'd say to the striker, "Shoot!" hoping that the striker will shoot off-target and then we'll have a chance to regroup and all that.
He did against Cosmos. As their striker Esau Kanyenda was just past the halfway line, Craig shouted, "Shoot! Shoot!" Esau went for a shot and put into the net, ha, ha! You should have seen the look on Craig's face after that, ha, ha.
Great stuff...
(Cuts in) Then there was this time the national U23 went to Toulon for a tournament. It was Sipho Nunens' first cap and he wasn't having a good game. I was sitting on the bench, next to our goalkeeper coach Cyprian Maimane. Ey, he was a character! When he saw that Sipho was not at his best, he screamed at the coach, Shakes Mashaba. He said, "Bhuti Shakes, bhuti Shakes, lo muntu udlalel' i Sundowns (this guy plays for Sundowns)? This is not Sipho Nunens! At Sundowns he doesn't play like that!"
Then the one time we went to play an Olympic Games qualifier in Ghana. During midweek we played a friendly against Hearts of Oak. We were leading 1-0 and those guys so badly needed an equaliser that the second half dragged on for about 70 minutes! We kept on complaining to the referee. Our officials Kenneth 'The Horse' Mokgojoa and Alex Heredia ran onto the pitch to voice their dissatisfaction, but they shouldn't have, ha, ha. Eventually we decided to let them score the equalising goal. It was very funny.
It's been a great chat, man. Let's leave it there.
Thanks, Lunga. One other story I almost forgot. I once asked Mame Niang what his favourite TV channels were and he answered, "SuperSport and Blue M!" Ha, ha, ha, he wanted to say M-Net, not Blue M, but the M at the bottom of the screen on M-Net appeared blue. His English wasn't really up to scratch.
Then there was Peter Peterson and Zane Brown who were coming from Fish Hoek. When they signed for Hellenic, they said they only wanted DSTV as signing-on fees, not cash. Ha, ha, ha! Ah, those days!
Tavern of Legends Fun Facts
Best player I've ever faced: Jabu Pule (now Mahlangu)
Best player I've played with: Mohammed Ouseb
Biggest pay cheque: No comment
Smallest pay cheque: R1 500
Former team that used the most muti: Moroka Swallows
Favourite current player: Andile Jali
Current occupation: Driefontein FC (Castle League) player-coach
Former teams: Hellenic, Moroka Swallows, Cetin Kaya (Cyprus), University of Pretoria, Witbank Spurs
Click Here To Read more Gordon's Legends Tavern Talk Stories
