Soccer Laduma's 'In Touch' 'Still In Touch' feature has been a fan favourite for almost two decades in Soccer Laduma's weekly newspaper.
Millions of readers turn to it first each week to read the crazy stories that Mzansi's former players tell and to see current soccer stars dish the dirt on their teammates and coaches.
Over the years, together with our readers, we have laughed uncontrollably and gasped with disbelief at stories that have never been told before!
Due to the incredible success and reading pleasure over the years and the timeless nature of this incredible content, Soccer Laduma has dug through the archives to bring back to life some of the gems you may have missed, or simply want to re-read and share with your friends.
I'm alive and kicking, Lunga. But look, I'm going to take Tebogo Monyai to task for what he told you in a recent edition of Soccer-Laduma. Still In Touch is a great feature, but it doesn't mean we should say sensitive things about others. It's wrong! I'm waiting for my lawyers to get back to me. I never had a hit-and-run. Cops are my friends. That story destroyed my image because I was about to get an advert and those people are thinking of pulling out. The media has had a field day with me all these years and one soccer magazine reporter from Bloemfontein even got fired because of me! For five years now I haven't been speaking to newspapers because they are out to destroy me. A Sunday newspaper once wrote that I used my cousin's ID to forge my age. That case ended up in court and I was proven innocent and they didn't bother to follow up the story. The journalist who wrote the story stays in Alexandra and he can't even bear to look at me now!
Joel 'Fire' Masilela was a character. He was dating this lady while he also had a wife. So one time he met his wife's friends and they said to him, "Can we see your album?" Fire had forgotten that in the album there were photos of him with the girlfriend. When the wife's friends saw this, they asked, "Who is this?" Fire said, "That's me and my wife." Ha, ha, meanwhile it was Fire and the girl. That was funny!
For sure, my outhi! I once went with the national team to Georgia where they beat us 4-1. It was just before the 1998 World Cup and Jomo Sono was our coach. On the flight I was sitting next to Siyabonga Nomvethe who was seated next to the window. It was winter over there and there was snow all over. So Nomvethe looked through the window and said, "Hawu, Lovers, is this an island?" Ha, ha, I couldn't stop laughing at him! You know, in the national team we gambled a lot but Nomvethe didn't know how to gamble. The one time I lost my takkies and in the morning I went to look for them in Jabu Pule's room. He had stolen them! When I got there, he was with Nomvethe, apparently teaching him how to gamble. The funny thing is that with every throw of the dice, Jabu was taking Nomvethe's money! Jabu would just throw the dice and then collect the money and I guess Nomvethe was learning the hard way. Then Nomvethe came up to me and said, "Lovers, I don't have money!" and I told him, "Jabu robbed you!" Ha, ha, ha!
It was something I had in mind, a split-second decision. I admit it was wrong to do it. Chomane Chomane called me the next day and asked me to apologise on radio. I remember English player Robbie Fowler was once suspended after he got down on all fours and put his nose to the white line in the penalty area. What happened with me is that some supporters were saying "F**k you" to me throughout the game and I wanted to retaliate with body language, but it was wrong. It's not something to be entertained and it was a bad example. I've done some crazy things and one of them was to go to Greece, only to earn R6 000 a month! I was made to sign a contract at the airport! Instead of me sending money to South Africa, my parents were sending me money. I was like a university student in a foreign country!
Paul Dolezar was so funny. He would say, "Lovers is like a Ferrari when he goes forward, but when he comes back, he needs petrol!" I remember the one time we were in Durban for a World Cup Bid game and we went to some lunch. Dolezar didn't want women in the hotel. There was this lady who came to visit me, but as we were walking, I didn't see Dolezar behind me. He came to us and asked, "Is this your girlfriend?" I said, "No." He said, "Tell the truth." I said, "Yes, she's my girlfriend." Ha, ha, you know what he did? He told the girl to turn around, looked at her butt and said to me, "Hey my friend, you eat nice!" Ha, ha, ha! There was also Screamer Tshabalala. One time I bought a car but it broke down. Screamer then came up to me before training as I was speaking to Michael Shata and asked me, "Are you going to fix the car or train?" I said, "I'll train." He then told the club's masseur, "I told the club not to buy this player. It's like in the township. You buy a car and wait for it to be stolen. He is forever injured!"
I was close friends with Tshepo Mabona. One time we went to watch Rush Hour and later I saw this guy who looked like Chris Tucker and I asked, "Who is this guy?" Tshepo told me it was Vusi Thwala. This guy then came up to me and said, "We want to use you and your car for an advert. We will give you R15 000."
My car had a full tank that day and I agreed to do the advert. I left the car and when I went to training, Fire told me, "I saw your car racing!" I said, "What?" After training, two white guys came up to me and gave me the car. They had finished doing the advert with my car, ha, ha! They just left without giving me the money. Luckily they forgot R3 000 in the car! Ha, ha.
Best player I've ever faced: Jerry Sikhosana Josep Ngake
Best player I've played with: Joel Masilela
Biggest pay cheque: R14 500
Smallest pay cheque: R600
Former team that used the most muti: Jomo Cosmos
Favourite current player: Matthew Pattison
Current occupation: Nothing
Former teams: Wits, Mamelodi Sundowns, Jomo Cosmos, Aris Salonika (Greece), Silver Stars, Moroka Swallows, AmaZulu, Black Leopards
