It was in 1994 at Orlando Pirates that Peter Rabolele started his soccer career, but it was at Moroka Swallows where he enjoyed most success. He hung up his boots in 2006 while on the books of Fidentia Rangers, after the club got liquidated. "I dislocated my hip while at Wits in a game against Swallows at Milpark Stadium and I was never okay after that," says 'Big Six'.
Where did you enjoy your career the most?
It's at Moroka Swallows, but not many people know that I played for Orlando Pirates before I joined the Dube Birds. But I never got my break there because there were too many midfielders, the likes of John Moeti, Teboho Moloi and Botsotso Makhanya, even though I played in a game against Jomo Cosmos.
At Swallows I was roommates with Peter Matshitse and we would spend our time talking about general things, as he was a focused guy. He liked his house music and was a bit of a majaivane.
Who were the funny guys?
It was Edward Motale, Samuel Ngobeni and Johannes Mine. I remember one time we were playing against Tembisa Classis at George Goch Stadium and Debo Kitenge scored an own goal. Debo apologised to his teammates after the own goal, but Samuel made fun of the situation in the change room after the game.
You know when you are using sign language and saying you are going to come back...Samuel said Debo looked at our goalkeeper Jorge Fernandez and made that sign, meaning, "I'm going to come back and score another own goal." Ha, ha, ha. We used to call Lungisani Ndlela '5km' after one incident where he ordered five kilometres of ribs at a restaurant. Ha, ha, he meant to say '5g'.
The Lekgetho brothers (George and Jacob) were characters as well, especially Jacob. We used to travel by kombi to games and Jacob would be eating his loaf of bread and chips all the way. Mind you, it was not fried chips but snacks, and he wouldn't share with anyone! He would finish the loaf of bread in no time, ha, ha.
Edward Motale and William Lerefolo were always late for training, especially the latter, who would lie that his car battery was flat. Marc Batchelor was scared of flying. If we were going to play in Cape Town or Durban, he'd come up with an excuse not to travel with the team.
Sure.
We had a funny chairman in the late David 'Pine' Chabeli. I remember going to his office one time. At that time we were paid with cheques. He looked at me and asked, "What?" I said to him, "I'm here to fetch my cheque."
He said, "Peter, what did you do with last month's cheque? I paid you last month." I replied, "I've finished last month's money. I want this month's salary." After much hesitation he signed the cheque and gave it to me. Ha, ha.
Tell us about your funniest coach.
It was Walter Rautmann and Viktor Bondarenko. I recall one time at training 'Bondas' came with a loud speaker. He told us players don't always hear him when he's barking instructions on the touchline and that he was going to buy a loud speaker.. .and the next day he brought it with him.
He then sat on the grandstand and whenever you made a mistake, he would shout with the loud speaker, ha, ha. It was funny! After training he told us it was working and that he was going to bring it to games. But when he tried to enter the field carrying it, the fourth official told him he wasn't allowed to use it.
As for Walter, he liked betting on horses. He'd say we must do two laps, then 11 versus 11 and then he would sit in the corner and not even watch us train. He was busy writing his bets on this piece of paper. You'd hear him saying it's a foul, and worse still, he'd give it to the wrong team... because he wasn't watching, ha, ha!
What's been your most embarrassing moment?
I was on the bench and if my memory serves me well we were playing against SuperSport United. At the start of the second half, Bondas told me, "Go and warm up!" I stood up and went to warm up, but I warmed up for the whole 45 minutes, ha, ha. I was sprinting behind the poles, looking at him and thinking he was going to call me over.
I would stretch and do short sprints and I ended up being more tired than the guys who were on the field. After the game, I was sweating and in the change room, the guys were laughing at me. They were asking, "Did you play?" Bondas then came up to me and said, "Next game, you are starting." And true to his word I started and finished the game. But that one was very embarrassing. I kept on asking myself, "Has he forgotten me?" He was a unique coach, I must admit.
What about sneaking out of camp?
Ha, ha, ha! One time we went to play against Hellenic in Cape Town. Jacob Lekgetho and Sibusiso Mazibuko went out after the game and they met some girls on the street and they brought them to their hotel room.
The two of them were sharing a room back then. We were sponsored by MTN and Nike in those days, and since it was in winter, we were wearing big Nike jackets. It appears that the girls stole the two guys' jackets and fled with them. In the morning when we went for breakfast we were wearing our jackets but not the two guys!
A week later we went to play against Santos and, as we were in the bus, we saw a lady wearing a Swallows jacket. Remember, back then our jackets were not sold in the shops, so where could the lady have got the jacket from? We immediately told the two guys, "There is one of the ladies who stole your jackets! There she is!" Ha, ha, ha, they ran after her.
Ha, ha, ha.
There was another incident. The game had just started and Sisa Nombe made two wrong runs in succession and Bondas called him up and said, "Come sit with me." He took him off and replaced him with Ernest Marumo. He told Ernest, "If you do what he did, you'll come back here." Eish, that day Sisa wasn't happy.
Tell us about the use of muti.
We did use muti. We used to play with wet jerseys. The players used to complain that too much use of muti would make us go mad, as we were always in the bathtub. But for me it didn't work. If you remember well, we fought relegation at that time. Why couldn't we have won the league if it worked? At Pirates it was used but I was still young.
Tavern Talk Fun Facts:
Best player I've ever faced: Gift Kampamba
Best player I've played with: Jacob Lekgetho
Biggest pay cheque: R20 000
Smallest pay cheque: R500
Former team that used the most muti: Moroka Swallows
Favourite current player: Thulani Serero
Current occupation: Self-employed – painting and waterproofing
Former teams: Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows, Wits, Fidentia Rangers
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