Jomo Cosmos had a reputation for kicking opposition players like nobody's business, and with you having been a defender during your playing days, you've got to tell us what was going on there. Were you acting on instruction with those sometimes over-the-top tackles, or was it just a case of really aggressive guys who happened to be playing for one team?
You know, broer, I think uyibeka kahle (you're putting it nicely). One, I want to take out Jomo (Sono) from this thing that he used to tell players to go and tackle and stuff. Hmmm, if you check (Andrew) Rabutla, when he joined Cosmos, he came from Rabali Blackpool. There was myself, there was Papi Khomane. (Godfrey) Sapula was also very strong in terms of tackling and stuff when he played as a right back. Then you come to midfield, there was (Samkelo) Jam-jam, there was (Lebogang) Morula. I think that team, even before you go to the strikers and all that, was very aggressive and that's where the reputation came from. Honestly speaking, we said let's not shy away from tackling, because for you to get respect… South Africa was gifted, man – let's be honest. I'm not disrespecting what we are having right now. You went to Free State to play Free State Stars, there were the Bunene Ngaduanes of this world, and if you were not strong, those people were going to skin you alive and you wouldn't come back from Free State alive. You went to Durban and played against AmaZulu FC, and they had abo (the likes of) Junior Njiyela – very strong players. Like I'm saying right now ukuthi (that) if you look at today's players and players from our time, we had big players.
For sure…
The likes of Pollen Ndlanya, they were big. You had Jerry Sikhosana at Orlando Pirates, he was strong, big. If you were playing against Bloemfontein Celtic, you would get abo Lebohang Kukame – they were strong, they would turn you. So, if you are not aggressive enough, because being aggressive is part of the tactic, you know. How you intimidate your opponent is through physique, and when you get an opportunity, you go strong on the ball so that he'll know that, 'Jislaaik!' That thing is no longer there. I think today's players are even protected by referees because a referee will blow when a guy is just diving. Maybe we were not going to survive if we were playing today because there's VAR. They would go back and review because there were times when you said uyabona manje, ngifuna ukumsusa nje kancane, abene (you see now, I just want to take him out a little bit, so that he learns to have) respect, ha, ha, ha. But to answer your question, wena bro, the game demanded ukuthi ibene (to have) part of physique. I mean, playing against (Phil) "Chippa" Masinga, look at how big he was. Playing against Bennett Masinga, even though he was short, you were in trouble. As time went on and the likes of Ajax Cape Town joined the fray, players became smaller and the game started to change.
Then there was a nightmare called Jabu Pule (now Mahlangu) for you guys. We are told that this young man gave Bra J sleepless nights whenever you had to face Kaizer Chiefs.
It was a nightmare for Cosmos, I'll be honest with you. Jabu was quick. He was very quick. Even when we were at training, we didn't plan without mentioning Jabu's name, and the message was that if you didn't give him attention, he was going to kill you. Actually, it did happen when we lost 5-0 in the Coca Cola Cup…
(Interjects) What actually went wrong in that humiliating defeat?
I think, errr, with respect nhe… let me be frank with you, the attention was too much on Jabu because if you remember very well, in the first half Muhsin (Ertugral) had to change tactics. Jabu was followed by Lucas Tlhomelang and it looked like we had five defenders with the way we were playing. Tlhomelang had to make sure he had to follow Jabu and Jabu would go deep and collect the ball, and when he came at you, that's when he was dangerous. You would find that he had run away from Tlhomelang and was now facing Rabutla, who was not quick, you see. The tackles would start to fly all over the pitch. So, I think the coach saw that jislaaik, these people are following Jabu and he's not going to play. He was the playmaker. The likes of Thabo Mooki were part of the game, but they did not shine the way Jabu shone in that game. He ended up being Man of the Match because of the changed tactics. I think Muhsin later took out Sean Permall and introduced the guy who had also played for (Mamelodi) Sundowns, I'm not sure if he's white or coloured. He's from Cape Town, man…
Not Kenny Niemach?
Yes, Kenny Niemach! So, he took him (Permall) off after he could see that he couldn't deal with Rabutla there at the back. But Jabu would keep running away from Tlhomelang there in midfield, and that's how he mesmerised Cosmos, by getting that free role that he was playing.
Not even the Special Projects that the team was known for back in those days could help you survive the Jabu Pule onslaught…
Ha, ha, ha. Okay, before we go to the Special Projects, you know, whenever people start talking about that 5-0 game of Cosmos, I always want to talk about the 1-0 one because it was, sort of, a revenge and it was a sweet one. The following year in the Coca Cola Cup, we went to play them again in the final. So, it was a repeat, ukhe wabona (you see), and the stadium was full. They thought they were going to beat us another five or so. Jomo's tactics worked very well. I remember in the 5-0 game, Sam Magalefa was on the bench, but when we played the second game, Jomo felt ukuthi the right person to shadow-mark and make sure Jabu doesn't play was Magalefa. And Magalefa followed him everywhere – even when he went to the toilet!
Ha, ha, ha. Now to the Special Projects.
No, look, Special Projects was part of us, the culture of the team. If you look at teams like (Orlando) Pirates and Chiefs, they are using Special Projects. That's one house. Pirates, Chiefs, Cosmos – all these people are from Pirates, who are very good with the Special Projects. Chiefs and Cosmos are actually the sons of Pirates. That thing itself is part of the team, ukuthi you need to make sure that when you go into the field, you protect yourself because you are going to meet other people that are using it. That's protection, number one. Because you cannot just go to a war without carrying your own gun, you see. I will never shy away and say that Special Projects was not there, it was there. It was part of protection, and also obviously there was the expectation that it must help you to win. I mean, you look at the time when Jomo was part of the national team, it worked miracles in Burkina Faso (in the 1998 Afcon). We saw on TV Dr (Victor) Ramathesele talking about the Special Projects, saying that zange kwalalwa (they were burning the midnight oil), they were going even over the border to make sure they brought things that would help the team.
Tell us more, man.
One thing for sure that we did was to bath. You bath! Obviously ukugeza kukukhipha amabhadi (when you bathed, it was to take out all the bad luck). You also made sure that you steamed. That was it at Cosmos. We never drank anything, we never had our bodies cut. No, we didn't do those things! Maybe they did other stuff on the side and we didn't see it, but the players only bathed and steamed. I once heard Jerry mentioning that at Pirates they used to drink stuff, but thina (as for us), we never drank. We would make a fire there and do our thing so that guys would come out of there strong, ha, ha, ha.
Collen, let's put a pause. We'll resume with more stories next week.
No problem, Lunga.
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R1 500
Biggest bonus: R120 000
Opponent you respected the most: Pollen Ndlanya Jerry Sikhosana
Team you would have loved to play for: Kaizer Chiefs
Favourite PSL player right now: Themba Zwane
Best coach played under: Tshisa Nkambule Jomo Sono
Craziest request from a fan: Ladies asking me to hook them up with certain players
By Lunga Adam
