Humphrey, we are now entering week five of your walk down memory lane. So far, how has the feedback been on your side?
No, the people who've given me feedback about my Still In Touch are happy with regards to hearing about stuff that used to happen behind closed doors, uyabona (you see)? They didn't know that some of the things (that I've spoken about) existed in the professional set-up, especially the part of muti whereby some people believe in it and others don't. Through this feature, the fans get to learn about how your former coaches and ex-teammates behaved during training sessions because they were not there to witness it. So, people are always very interested to find out about those things.
Well, one of Soccer Laduma's most loyal readers, Amos "Tiger" Tshukudu from Ga-Maria, who is also a regular contributor to MAKE YOUR POINT, has written in saying he almost died of laughter after reading the story about a former teammate of yours at Kaizer Chiefs who had to use the bathroom inside a bus, an act that led to a foul stench developing and Paul Dolezar trying to sort out the mess by opening the windows, ha, ha…
Ha, ha, ha, is that in this week's Soccer Laduma? I'll check it out. Those were the good old days hey.
Indeed. So, our readers have spoken and they are actually demanding more Paul Dolezar stories.
Yes, let's go for it! I mean, we can talk about anything, just ask me the question. As we are speaking now, I remember one incident that happened during my time at Chiefs when we went to play a friendly game up there in Venda. The late Thabang (Lebese) was sharing a room with Ntsie (Maphike), and obviously in terms of the age, Ntsie was the older one between the two. But there's something that happened, ha, ha, ha.
Don't beat around the bush, man, this seems like a very interesting tale…
You know ukuthi (that) normally after a match, soccer players like going out. Well, others sometimes prefer to stay in their rooms sleeping or watching TV or doing whatever, but for the most part, players will go out. This was the case after this friendly in Venda. Unfortunately, while they were out, u Thabang waba grand, u Ntsie azange abe grand (Thabang scored a woman, while Ntsie came back empty-handed). When the three of them arrived at the hotel, Thabang asked Ntsie to go and sleep by the door, just outside the room, ha, ha, ha. He didn't want him to enter the room!
You must be kidding!
Ha, ha, ha, it was a very tricky situation. When we talk about age, we always say the younger one must respect the older one, but in that situation, I can safely say Thabang didn't respect Ntsie. Last I checked, Ntsie was standing there by the door, not knowing whether he was coming or going, ha, ha, ha. I am not sure how the whole situation ended because we as the other players went to sleep, but that's one incident I will never forget.
This Thabang Lebese fellow was quite some human being, apparently.
Ja, he was naughty. Ntsie liked sharing a room with him all the time in camp, but I am not sure if he would have wanted to be roommates with him after that incident, ha, ha, ha.
True.
On the Sunday, the guys were talking about it in the bus, that u Thabang ulalise u Ntsie emnyango (Thabang made Ntsie sleep by the door). Others were asking him, "Why didn't you go inside the room and at least sleep in the toilet?" Ha, ha, ha. To make matters worse, none of the other guys were willing to give him a place to sleep as it seems they too were in the same situation as Thabang, if you know what I mean.
Hmmm, it was an action-packed evening. You guys had more shots on target off the field than you did on the field…
Ha, ha, ha, that I cannot confirm nor deny, Lunga! And in terms of the coaches… You remember Dolezar used to be quite a character on the touchline, giving players a hard time? Robson (Muchichwa) was lazy in terms of defending, but he was very good going forward. Now, Dolezar once told him, "When you go up, you go like a Ferrari, but when you come back, you come back like a small car!" Eish, we laughed during that moment! He wanted to fine him for that, by the way, ha, ha, ha.
Share with us your Soweto Derby memories. Surely there was a lot of tension that week when you knew the big game against Orlando Pirates was looming large.
Ja, the tension was there because even Bra K (Kaizer Motaung) … He was not a person who used to come and address the players all the time, but when the derby was nearing, he would come and tell us about the importance of the game. But I remember there was an incident when we were camping at Sandton Hotel before one derby game. The way that game was so important, they brought security guards to come and keep a close eye on us. Each and every floor had about four security guards manning it because the players were placed on different floors. One of the players, whom I cannot mention, got very naughty during that camp. They didn't want us to have any visitors or go out, but that player paid a security guard. We only heard about it the following day. It was an element of corruption… into enje ngaleyo (something like that). Every player had to be in his room at a particular time of the day. Now, here's an even funnier part about it… Dolezar forgot that these security guards were from a private company and were not employed by Kaizer Chiefs. He said he was going to fine the guy who was bribed, ha, ha, ha! He said, "I got to fine this man! This man, he kill my team!"
Ha, ha. But what was the story with the naughty player? Did he want to go out or did he want to smuggle a lady in?
He wanted to go out. He was a top player, but I'd rather not name him just so I don't get into trouble. This guy was like a businessman and I remember one time Dolezar complained because he had something like four or five phones. So, Dolezar asked him, "This man, are you a businessman or a player?" because he had five different numbers. If we were sitting around the table, he could put all his phones on the table and Dolezar wouldn't be too impressed. We would just laugh about it as players. The player did tell us that this one is for business, this one is for girlfriends, this one is for the wife… something like that. He was one of the senior players in the team… top player.
Soccer Laduma readers are quite clever, they'll know who you're talking about. The hints point out to only one man, and we know he's reading this. Go on.
There was another scenario. You remember when we played Orlando Pirates in the Bob Save (Super Bowl) and Doctor was supposed to score but missed a sitter. He dribbled past Williams Okpara, but he then ballooned the ball over the bar. Thereafter, Dolezar spoke to the media and when they asked him about how we lost to Pirates, he said, "Ask the Doctor." Ha, ha, ha. Then on Monday, u Doctor weza akwatile (came to training pulling a sad face), saying he was going to take the fight to him. There was a meeting and he expressed to the coach that he didn't like his comments. But Dolezar being Dolezar, he got out of every situation, whether he was wrong or right, by promising to fine you. That's when you would keep quiet because no one wants to be hit in the pocket. So, he told Doctor, "You kill my team on Sunday, then I kill your salary." I think the whole thing ended there. Because that guy, if maybe you were earning R10 000, he wasn't scared to fine you half of that over a small issue. That would be a blow to you because you are used to getting that amount every end of the month. He could even fine the late Sizwe Motaung. You remember the issue with (Raphael) Chukwu? Sizwe was a humble guy, he was not someone who liked to fight. So, before the session on the Monday after the game (against Mamelodi Sundowns, where Dolezar called Motaung a criminal), Dolezar saw him coming and he said, "Here's this man, here's this man! He kill my team, now I have to kill him also. I spoke with the chairman, the chairman won't pay him." He wanted the club not to pay him for that month because he 'killed' his team, uyabona. He said, "When you kill me, I kill you!" The thing with Dolezar is that immediately when you did something that he thought was deserving of a fine, he would run to Kaizer because he wanted to be a step ahead of you. So that by the time the issue gets the office people's attention, he has already 'solved' it.
