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.
This week, we look back to 05 May 2010 in issue number 669, where Lovers Mohlala continues with his walk down memory lane, regaling us with anecdotes from his playing days, in true Lovers Mohlala style. The former Mamelodi Sundowns star also talks about running into trouble with the club because he just couldn't keep his distance from women.
Thabang Lebese was a good friend of mine. I hear at Kaizer Chiefs the one time, he pitched up late with a baby to training! He told the coach he had a neighbour who had to go to work but couldn't leave the baby alone, so he gave it to Thabang to babysit. Ha, ha, I'm told Thabang actually grabbed the three-month-old baby from a neighbour because he had run out of excuses for coming late to training. One time I went with him to Brondby IF in Denmark for a trial. We were doing too much running there. So the one morning I was asleep when Thabang came to the hotel room with a white chick. He told me, "I'm not going to training. They are making us run like hell there!" Ha, ha, ha. He used to steal other people's girlfriends. If he was with me and my girlfriend, he would ask if I had airtime. If I said no, he would ask the girl if she had airtime and if she said yes, he would ask her to buzz him. Then he would save the girl's number and as soon as I dropped her off, Thabang would call her and tell her how much he loved her. Ha, ha.
I used to be friends with ladies, that's all. One time I had a party at my house and I met these chicks. They didn't know I was a soccer player. When I told them, they came to Sundowns and parked their cars next to where our bosses Angelo and Natasha Tsichlas used to park. Angelo came up to me and said, "Who's parking next to my car?" I said, "I don't know." The ladies came out and they told Angelo, "We came to see Lovers. If he gets injured, we will give him a massage after the game." When Angelo asked me about the ladies, I still insisted that I had come on my own and that I didn't know them. Angelo went to his office in a fit of anger, but before he could get there, he screamed, "Loveeeeers!" He gave me a R5 000 fine. I remember one time when we went to play in Cape Town, the club instructed the security man to make sure that no lady came into my room. Ha, ha, but when the guy got to my room, he heard guys and girls talking and laughing inside… and the door was locked! He went up to Angelo and said, "Sorry, I was late! When I got there, there were already ladies inside and the door was locked."
Peter Koutroulis had this Greek accent and was very funny. We once went to Africa and Peter wanted to buy a Fanta cool drink. He said to the lady in the hotel, "Hey, I want father!" The one other time I was late for training and when he saw me, he said, "Lovers, where are you?" I was like, this guy is looking at me but he's asking me where I am! We were once coached by Djalma Cavalcante. One time at training he told us to wear our takkies and we thought he was going to make us run, but he told us to go to the gym. When we got there, he said he wanted to see who the best dancer among us was and then he took us to some hall. When Angelo came to training, he couldn't find us. He went to the gym, we were also not there! Angelo finally found us and we were dancing! Ha, ha! He was very angry and told the coach, "I did not open a nightclub, I opened a soccer team. What are you dancing for?" Here's another hilarious story. At Sundowns there was a female dog called Avra and there was a security guy who was assigned to keep watch on Avra. It was mating time and a male dog came through the gate but the security guy was fast asleep and he didn't see it. The next thing, Avra was pregnant! Ha, ha, this meant the security guy was in trouble and Angelo asked him, "How did Avra get pregnant?" The security guy responded, "I don't know. I didn't see any male dog here!" Then Angelo told him, "I'm fining you!" Ha, ha, the security guard was actually fined for Avra's pregnancy, ha, ha.
Angelo was really crazy at times. One time we had a meeting and I think the players were on strike. Angelo didn't know there was a difference between the words 'employer' and 'employee'. He kept on saying, "You are employer, I am employee. I am employer, you are employee…same difference." He reminds me of McDonald Mukansi who never seemed to know how to use the past tense. At Wits we were coming back from Cape Town and on the flight he was telling us, "Yesterday I run! I nearly break the world record." Then there was Paul Dolezar. The one time I was on the field and he screamed from the bench, "Lovers, you have 10 minutes left, then I take you out!" A while later, he said, "Lovers, you have five minutes left, then I take you out!" Ha, ha, he was not joking, he meant it! One time he pulled Isaac Shai off and put Frank Schoeman in. Then a while later Frank said, "If I don't play in the next game, then someone is in trouble." He said this in front of Dolezar. In the next game he played! Then Dolezar pulled Isaac Shai off and put me in. A while later I said, "If I don't play in the next game, someone is going to be in trouble." In the next game I played! Two weeks later Shai said, "If I don't play next week, someone is going to be in trouble." Ha, ha, but Dolezar was not scared of him and he just said, "Fine, my friend. You're not going to play." Ha, ha, ha!
I think when Alex Bapela joined Sundowns, someone had forced him to come to Jozi. On his first day with us, he was sitting all alone in the corner of the change room wearing the copper hat that is usually worn by the Xhosas. He was also wearing Bermuda shorts and it looked like he was lost. I played with Elvis Mashao at Silver Stars. He was a policeman. One time at training we were doing an exercise focusing on defending. One of the guys told his teammate, "Mark, mark!" Then Elvis said, "Arrest! Arrest!" Ha, ha, ha, he forgot he was on the training ground and not in the township arresting criminals. Eish, that was really funny…can you imagine? 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
