Johannes Pilusa is a well-travelled player and started his professional career with Moroka Swallows back in the 1994/95 season. He is now coaching a team of U19s in the lower ranks and says he is in search of a more rewarding job in local football circles. He has also served as a player-assistant coach at Silver Stars.
Johannes, you must a helluva lot of stories to tell, which is why we're having Part 1 and Part 2 (on Friday) with you. Where do we start?
At Real Rovers I shared a room with George Mathiba. He was very funny. You'd sometimes find him walking around in town, wearing blue Umbro shorts, but with no shoes and no top on! He also never used to eat fancy food and would only settle for pap and mogodu...we always found that hilarious.
Another one who ate junk food was Joel Seroba and he always told us he was budgeting for something, but we knew that he was saving all his money for gambling! Then there was Gerald Raphahlela, ha, ha, ha...
Oh yes, tell us about him!
Most of the players were really scared of him there! I joined Rovers a day before Christmas. The season used to start in January and end in December.
I had one training session with the team and they took photographs of me, but I wasn't aware if they had signed me or not. The next day the officials came to the training ground and had a word with me there and they informed me that they were going to sign me.
The players were playing head tennis on the field. So Raphahlela passed me the ball while I was standing with the officials on the field. After I received the ball, I didn't pass it back to him. He then came to me and asked, "Why are you not passing the ball back?" I said, "As you can see I'm busy with the officials here." He asked, "Are you an official?" I then said, "Call me whatever you want!"
Hmmm...
The following day we were going to play against Kaizer Chiefs at Peter Mokaba Stadium, and he said, "If you play tomorrow I'm not going to pass you the ball." I told him, "No problem, others will pass it to me!"
Fortunately I scored in that game and we drew 1-1. After the game he told the benchwarmers, "You see, he just joined yesterday but he scored a goal. What's wrong with you guys?" The likes of Alex Bapela and Humphrey Sithole were scared of him, but I told him I'm not a small boy and that he must take a good look at me.
Ha, ha, ha.
I was staying in the same location with him in Mahwelereng. One time I was waiting for a taxi and Raphahlela passed by in his yellow Toyota Cressida. I was with Eric Malefa from Phalaborwa. Now, Raphahlela didn't like Eric because he was competing with his brother, Martin Raphahlela, for a place in the starting line-up.
If Eric travelled to the game, it meant Martin wasn't travelling! It was a Sunday and there were schools playing athletics at the Mahwelereng Stadium and we went there and stood in the tunnel.
Eric was drinking long ton, Raphahlela and I drank something different. Out of the blue, Raphahlela said to Eric, "Look at that stuff you are drinking, it is the reason you are not playing!" Ha, ha, ha, I laughed very loudly! He really hated Eric, ha, ha.
You also had a stint with Moroka Swallows.
There I made friends with Steve Lekoelea and Phiri Tsotetsi. The players were scared of club boss David Chabeli. I remember one time he came in and gave me a cheque of R1 999, and I asked, "Is this my salary or your telephone numbers?" Then the guys started liking me because no one had ever really stood up to Chabeli before. Guys also had this impression about Limpopo people not knowing how to speak Zulu.
We went to play a friendly game in Alexandra under the watchful eye of an U19 coach and I scored two goals. The coach kept on telling the other guys about how good I was. He said, "Niyambona lo mfana womPedi (You see this Pedi guy), he's the real deal."
I then laughed and that's when Joseph Leepo and Jerry Magaledisa also noticed that I know Zulu. So instead of answering in Zulu, Jerry said, "He must be in the starting line-up, we want to win." I bet if I didn't know Zulu, they would have said all the bad things about me, ha, ha.
Who was your funniest coach?
Walter Rautmann and Jacob Sakala. Rautmann always wore Bermuda trousers with 12 pockets! He would tell us before the game, "If you score, I'll give you a present!" Then if you did score he'd run up to you and give you a sweet, probably from one of those pockets! Sakala always made promises.
We had no win bonuses at Rovers and before one game against Vaal Professionals, he said, "If you win, I'll take money from my pocket and give it to you as a bonus."
We went on to win the game and at training on the Monday when we confronted him about it, he said, "No, I didn't say I was going to take money from my pocket. I said I'm going to try and convince the club to give you something." Ha, ha, ha. Shepherd Murape was another one.
He always gave foreign signings a tough time, like one time when we had David Solopi from Vaal Professionals. He saw him running on the other side of the pitch at training and he screamed at him, "Why are you running like this? You must run like a player, not like a prostitute."
Tell us about the use of muti.
At AmaZulu they used it. You'd find three people bringing three different muti, but at the end of the season we got relegated! Mike Rapatsa refused to use muti and they decided not to play him. It became a big issue in the team.
The club officials used to make fire in the change room and when the referees came to check us before the game, they would stand at the door and ask, "What is that?" Ha, ha, it was tough, especially for the mlungu referees!
Any funny incidents from inside the pitch?
The one I can think of is when we came up against Orlando Pirates and I was playing with George (Mathibe) upfront. We were both scared of Bernard Lushozi. He could kick anything that moves. In the opening minutes of the game I was on Lushozi's side and he was always following me. I then said to George, "Let's switch positions for five minutes."
The next minute George received a pass from Bapela and Lushozi kicked him from behind. His socks were filled with blood and he lay on the ground." When he got back on his feet, he told me to come back to my position, ha, ha.
The Pirates supporters liked Lushozi and they'd always scream, "Shooz!" They didn't care that he was scaring the hell out of the opposition players, ha, ha.
Tavern Talk Fun Facts:
Best player I've ever faced: Bernard Lushozi
Best played I've played with: Alex Bapela
Biggest pay cheque: R10 000
Smallest pay cheque: R1 999
Former team that used the most muti: AmaZulu
Favourite current player: Elias Pelembe
Current occupation: Unemployed
Former teams: Moroka Swallows, Real Rovers, Dynamos, AmaZulu, Silver Stars, Black Leopards, Avendale Athletico, Hellenic
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