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.
(Thinks for a while) Look, it's a regret, but it had to do with anger at the time. I'm talking about my move from Moroka Swallows to Kaizer Chiefs. What happened was that I was the captain of the club for a long time. You know, as a person, you have to stand up and speak up for yourself. I knew a lot of things that were happening in the team. I wasn't and I am not racist, but players like Gary McNab and Marc Batchelor were earning more than me, while I was the captain. I was coming to the end of my contract and there were a few teams that were after my services, so I went to management and told them about it. I later found out that I had two opportunities to go for trials in Sweden and the team stopped it from happening. I was so angry about that! The journalists were asking me, "When are you leaving?" They knew about it, but I didn't know anything about it! Swallows told those clubs that they couldn't let go of me, but Jacob Lekgetho was allowed to move to Russia. That's where my anger started and I took the decision that I no longer wanted to be part of Swallows. At that time Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Ajax Cape Town wanted me, and I chose Chiefs.
That's because as a player you want to play for a big team. You imagine how great it is to play for a South African giant, not knowing what's happening on the inside. You only find out when you get there. That's how I ended up at Chiefs. I got there and it wasn't Swallows. It was Chiefs. Things were different. The club was run professionally. But, as time went on, I began to regret going to Chiefs and thought that if I had stayed at Swallows, I would have grown bigger. But I told myself that's life and you want to climb the ladder all the time. You don't want to go at one pace because football is a short career. I regret that I went there, but idlulile (it's in the past) and it's something I'm no longer even thinking about. I've moved on.
When I got there, I received a warm welcome from all the guys. I knew Jabu Pule (now Mahlangu), Cyril Nzama and Brian Baloyi from the national team. We were all in the senior players' dressing room at Chiefs, along with the likes of Arthur Zwane and Thabo Mooki. Well, Jabu and Cyril could make you laugh the whole day. They were very talkative and always teasing each other about this and that.
I remember one incident that happened during training at Swallows. We were just walking to our cars after training when we saw Batchelor and Martin Zwane running after each other! I don't know what they were fighting about, but it must have been to do with what one of them said to the other...I don't know. You know how it is with football language. There was even blood, it was a serious fight, ha, ha! Ja, such things did happen in the heat of the moment, but it didn't happen a lot that the guys would end up having a fistfight. It was all just verbal fighting. I even remember the one time we were playing Mamelodi Sundowns and I was marking Daniel 'Mambush' Mudau. As we were walking on to the field, he told me, "Hawu! Why are marking me so tightly? Why can't you let me score? We are paid big money and you guys are earning peanuts!" It was all good. You get all sorts of opponents on the field and I think Roger Feutmba was the best I came up against. His passing gave me problems when I was covering at the back. He had his own way of passing the ball that wasn't like that of the other players. Shakes Kungwane was another one as well... their distribution was out of this world!
Ha, ha, ha! We used to call him 'Sphalaza' or 'Sphalaphala'. He was a very friendly guy whom you always saw with a smile on his face. Ja, he's right, he did all the marking and I would just pick up the loose balls. That was his job. I couldn't do that. Those were the good old days, but unfortunately we can never turn back the hands of time.
It's about time they realise that education is important. It's a long term investment. They need something to fall back on once their playing days are over because the game of football is very cruel, my brother.
Best player I've ever faced: Roger Feutmba
Best player I've played with: Jabu Pule
Biggest pay cheque: R15 000
Smallest pay cheque: R4 000
Former team that used the most muti: Moroka Swallows
Favourite current player: Sifiso Myeni
Current occupation: Teacher at Altmont Technical High School
Former teams: Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows, Tembisa Classic, Lehurutshe Stock Birds, Kaizer Chiefs, Zulu Royals, Black Leopards, Jomo Cosmos
