Lance, you had an interesting career which started at Hellenic before moving to 1860 Munich, in Germany at the age of 14. What do you remember about those days?
Ha, ha, ha – now you are really taking me way back. It was a shocking transition because I was still young. It was a culture shock and when I think about it, it was the best decision that I ever made. I practically grew up in Germany because I spent eight years there – I also learnt how to speak German. Germans are very interesting people, they are straightforward, and have a very structured life. When I was learning to speak the language, some of my teammates used to make fun of me, and they did the same thing with South Americans. The first words they taught me were swear words, you know how things are inside the dressing room. But I was fortunate enough to adapt quickly because I lived with a doctor and a school principal at the beginning, it was good for my foundation because they taught me a lot of things.
Take us inside the 1860 Munich dressing room, what was that like?
My former teammates at 1860 Munich were crazy, I mean really crazy. We had a guy in our team who used to dress terrible, ha, ha, ha. I mean, this guy had no sense of style – his fashion style was sh*t. He used to come to training looking like a colouring book, he used to mix different colours every day and his colours didn't match. He used to dress terrible. So, one day after training we all got fed up with him and decided to hide his clothes in the dressing room ceiling. He came out of the training field looking for his clothes all over the dressing and couldn't find them. He kept looking and looking but eventually found them hanging inside the ceiling. We told him that he must never come to training dressed like that again. Ha, ha, ha, shame the poor guy took the joke well and decided to change the way he dressed.
Ha, ha, ha. Poor guy, what would you have done if that happened to you?
Never. I was more streetwise, and I was very conservative with how I dressed. The only thing they did to me was to kick me at training. One day we were training and one of the senior players came flying and tackled me so hard that my right leg started bleeding. Instead of picking me off the ground, this guy put his finger in my blood started licking it. He turned around and asked me: 'What are you going to do?'. I replied: 'Nothing' and kept going. Afterwards it was all fun and games. And from that day we became very close friends because he could see that I could take a joke. It was not a malicious tackle; he only did that because he wanted to intimidate me.
Tell us about your move to Djurgarden, Sweden in 2006.
It was a good move for me because 1860 Munich got relegated to 2. Bundesliga and I wanted to play topflight football. I think I've always been lucky in my football career because every time I changed clubs, I always moved to a beautiful city. And Djurgarden is one of the best clubs in one of the most beautiful cities, Stockholm. It's a beautiful city just like Cape Town. I enjoyed my career there, it was fantastic. It's just that the winter was crazy because it was very cold. But I really enjoyed my time there. In one season I ended up as one of the best right backs in the league.
How can you sum up your experience of playing in Sweden?
It was great because in Germany, I played for a mid-table team and in Sweden I was at a team that was always fighting for the league title. Of course, the league was not as big as the German Bundesliga, but the club was always finishing inside top three. And in one season we missed out on winning the league and ended up finishing third. We played every game to win, and I liked that mentality. I met new friends and got to learn about a new culture. I still have a lot of friends in Sweden, and I have very fond memories from playing there. But I used to get into lots of fights because some of the players in the team used to think they could do whatever they wanted to do.
Why did you decide to come back to South Africa and play for SuperSport United?
In Sweden, the season ends in December and the new one starts in March. So, I had to find a new club because I wanted to play in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Joel Santana, who was the Bafana Bafana coach at the time, told me that I needed to find a new club otherwise it was going to be difficult for him to select me for the tournament. And that is when I returned to South Africa. But I have no regrets about the experience because I enjoyed myself at SuperSport United. After I left SuperSport United, I joined Ajax Cape Town and played under Foppe de Haan. After the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I went back to Belgium.
How was the culture of football when you came back to South Africa? Was it any different to Europe?
Football was different because when you come back people think that it's always easy but it's not. In South Africa we play a different type of football; it's slow and then it's fast, you just don't know what you're going to get. Some players play one-touch football, and some players play two touches. When you play in South Africa you don't know what's going to happen. But fortunately, I played with a lot of good and experienced players. I played with Andre Arendse, David Kannemeyer, Shane Poggenpoel, Morgan Gould, Bongani Khumalo, Anthony Laffor, Daine Klate, Hlompho Kekana and Ronwen Williams who was young. We also had a lot of characters in that dressing room. We had the late Thomas Madigage as our assistant coach, and he was a fantastic person. Our coach Gavin was good and funny, but obviously not like he is right now. Right now, you can see him dancing on the touchline like he is doing wrestling on the touchline, ha, ha, ha. When he coached me he was never like that.
Why did you join Ajax Cape Town after leaving SuperSport United?
I joined Ajax Cape Town because they gave me a much better deal. I also joined because of John Comitis. Everything happens for a reason it was just the right time as well. We had a young squad at Ajax Cape Town. If you ask me, I think I was the craziest guy in that Ajax Cape Town team. Matthew Booth was also part of that Ajax Cape Town squad, and he was also my roommate at the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup and FIFA World Cup. He thought my head was bigger than his but, really, his head is much bigger and I used to make fun of that.
And then you moved back to Europe…
After that I moved back to Europe and joined Lierse and I was happy to be back in Belgium. That was both good and bad because we had an Egyptian owner and sometimes, he would pay our salaries late. We always got paid but it always coming late and that became normal. But to be honest it was also my best contract.
By Zola Doda
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First salary: R150, in ten Rand notes at Hellenic
Your biggest bonus: R500 000 in Germany
Opponent I respected the most: Every opponent
Team I'd loved to have played for: I had a chance to join Orlando Pirates in 2009
Favourite PSL Player right now: Teboho Mokoena
Craziest request from a fan Nothing much other than a jersey and an autograph
Best coach I played under: Carlos Alberto Parreira, Foppe de Haan and Gavin Hunt
