Hola Phetso! We haven't heard from you in a while and are looking forward to hearing what you have in store for us this week.
Let's start with my time at Chippa United.
Okay…
There was this player in our team who was always late. He would be late for training and on match days when we were at the hotel. We would always have to wait for him when we were in the bus. We would phone him and he would not answer the phone. Imagine, at that time we were sitting in the bus and we had to go to a game. When they said the bus was leaving at 12h50, he could get there at 13h00. He made me laugh all the time and he was always quiet. Meshack Maphangule… that's the player I am talking about. That guy was an interesting character, ha, ha, ha.
Tell us more about him…
I was one of the senior players. The coach called us regarding the matter of Maphangule and he said we should have a meeting. We had a meeting with him, and it ended there as we discussed the matter to make him aware. We told him that the coach was not happy with the fact that he was late every day. We asked him to keep time like everyone else. That matter did not end well. I remember it was a Friday when we spoke to him, and our next game was on Sunday. So, on Saturday we were training set-pieces, but he was late again. He and the coach almost came to blows. It was obviously not a nice thing, but it was funny because he is a quiet person. When the coach asked him, "What's wrong with you?", he just stared at the coach and did not say anything. He is not someone who talks a lot. I once shared a room with him, and I remember telling him that I was leaving. He then said he would come soon, but then he was still late. You would not know what he was doing. At the time, the coach was Norman Mapeza. Bekushubile (It was quite messy), ha, ha, ha. You can just imagine what it was like.
Ha, ha, ha, makes you wonder what his problem was.
Ha, ha, ha, it seemed like he did not care. No matter how much they spoke to him, he would just be quiet and still be late. But let's move on to (Orlando) Pirates. At Pirates, we did not have a lot of pranks because we had a lot of senior players in the team. But the funniest guy at the time was Bernard Morrison, ha, ha, ha. That guy was something else. He was a guy that was full of jokes. You would be walking around and he would spank your bum in the showers, or he would take your washing rag, ha, ha, ha. That guy was not okay I tell you, ha, ha, ha.
Crazy. So, what would you guys do when he spanked you like that in the shower?
He would do that to everybody, ha, ha, ha. It was like he was bewitched, ha, ha, ha. He was such a character. Obviously, when you got spanked, you would get surprised and turn to see who it was. Then, you would hear him swearing at you in our language after that, ha, ha, ha. That guy was not okay. You would wonder where he learnt all the swearwords.
Imagine getting sworn at after you get spanked in the shower. Double whammy, ha, ha, ha. What a character.
Actually, there was a time when Thabo Matlaba played a prank on me while we were in the bus. So, in the bus, there is a place at the top where we are able to put our bags. Matlaba was able to fit in there and hide himself. While he was up there, he kept on hitting me on my head, but I thought it was Morrison because he was sitting next to me. He hit me a few times on my head, but I could not see that it was him because of how he was hiding at the top. I only saw in the video they showed me afterwards that it was Matlaba who was hitting me on my head, ha, ha, ha. It's a pity we can't show the people the video in a newspaper, ha, ha, ha.
If only there was technology for that. So, all along you thought it was Morrison hitting you on the head?
Yes, I thought it was Bernard because he is the one who liked making jokes and pranking people, ha, ha, ha. That guy was a funny guy.
Although you would not have been impressed at the time, we must say that was one good prank by "Festival", ha, ha, ha. He's another character by the way, you only have to check out his TikTok account to realise this. Well, thank you so much for your time. Enjoy the festive season with friends and family.
Thank you, my brother. I hope the Soccer Laduma readers will have a great festive season and come back safe in 2024.
By Tshepang Mailwane
IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
Nickname: Cabaye
Marital status: Single
Car: VW
Boots: Nike
Favourite teammate: Luvuyo Memela
Favourite roommate: Diamond Thopola
Favourite footballer: Yohan Cabaye
Best friend in football: Diamond Thopola
Favourite food: Rice and mince
