Hola, Dukes, and welcome back. Last week, we spoke about the start of your career, where Ria Stars stalled to give you a contract, only to do so after learning you were almost snatched by Kaizer Chiefs. It was a long, long, eventful career hey…
You can say that again. These boys think everything was easy for us. They think someone just came into my house and took me to PSL. It was not easy, you understand? We tell them that, "Look now, the age is on your side, you can earn a lot of money." When I started playing for Real Rovers, I was earning R2 500 and I was a young boy. I enjoyed football. But with these boys, you coach him from U12 and once he turns 15 or 16, he's no longer into football – he's busy on the street smoking nyaope, smoking dagga. Those days, we were not drinking, we were not smoking. At school, we were participating in sport. After school, you run home, you go and train with your team. We were disciplined and knew what time we needed to be at home. It was nice, we enjoyed football and it was not by fluke that most of the players reached the PSL, it was because of determination and dedication. The first time I flew, when I played for Rovers, we were going to Cape Town and that's when I started to see that my dreams were coming true because before then, I was just playing around, going to games. When people advise you and talk to you and you take their advice and do the right things, you'll thank yourself tomorrow, you understand?
You are absolutely spot on.
And in those days, we were not camping. Even when we were playing on Saturday, everyone was sleeping at home. We would meet in the morning. We were disciplined and knew that we were going to play. All those teams did not have money, did not have sponsors. We would sleep at home, meet in the morning, 15h00 we'd go to the stadium. They would say Rovers vs Kaizer Chiefs, we would hammer them even though they slept in a five-star hotel. It was a very good moment. When you watched Bush Bucks from East London, they were hammering Kaizer Chiefs, they were hammering Orlando Pirates, but they were coming from the villages those guys. They were sleeping in their parents' house. But in the morning when they said they would meet in the clubhouse at 10h00, all those guys would be there. Now these boys have got everything. They've got townhouses, they sleep in six-star hotels and they camp very nicely, but they don't want to enjoy what God has given them. But we are trying by all means to take them out of the street here at home. If their parents support us, we'll do a good job.
Great stuff, man.
You know, Lunga, since I was born, I never worked for a white man… since I retired from football. Football was my talent. I played football, I got whatever I got. I'm the first-born at home and I built a house and when I look at this house, I say to myself, 'Football gave me something out of nothing.' We've got a lot of talent here, but their parents don't want to work hand-in-hand with us. They don't want to support their kids. My kid is good with the tennis, is good with the netball, is good with soccer because he's always with that coach. Let me encourage this boy. Let me encourage the coach. They don't care about those things! Then when their kids start to take nyaope, start to drink, go to gangsterism, they kill each other, they don't know where to go. We've got good talent in the rural areas like Matatiele, Mthatha, Limpopo, but we just need to be together and support these boys. Even our teams, bo (the likes of) Polokwane City, Black Leopards, they must try to search for this talent from the rural areas. They must have two or three players from every rural area so that when the team plays in the PSL, you know gore (that) all the communities will go out and watch this boy.
Hmmm…
You see, 90% of the players at Rovers were coming from different locations, different villages. The environment was nice, even though our teams did not have sponsors. You know at Rovers there was a time where we went six to seven months without pay. I never ran away to say I'm going home – no, I knew that the more I work hard, the more someone is looking at me somewhere somehow. We knew the crisis at the club, there were no sponsors, the owner was no longer there, but we tried to be strong. We played, we played, we played, until the club got relegated and other clubs started to scout us. It was tough. You call your brother at home, (and you ask him), "Can you send me something for bread?" The first thing he would ask is, "But you signed a contract, why didn't they pay you?" You had to tell him, "They say they don't have money!" But inthe morning, Shepherd Murape would take us to training and we would go there and train. We soldiered on. After training, we would go to the clubhouse as guys. Some were from Soweto, others from Limpopo, etc. We would come together and make a collection, we put the money together, we buy food, we eat together. Later in the day, we do the same. Afternoon, we go for training. We finished that seven months without salaries, but we survived because we were together and it brought team spirit in the team. If I go back home and then the team survives or gets a sponsor, then I would have wasted my time.
So, you would collect that money and go buy mealie meal so you could make some pap?
Ha, ha, ha, you know what we did? Akere (Remember) sometimes we would train twice. In the morning, when we came from training, we would buy chips, bread and soft drinks because we would still have to train in the afternoon. In the afternoon, that's where you were going to find pap. That was going to be our supper. Because if we ate pap earlier, around 11h00 or 12h00, we wouldn't train properly in the afternoon, you understand? At least we knew how to manage our diet. We would say, "Guys, we can't eat pap around 12h00 whereas in the afternoon the coach needs us there because we won't work hard." In the morning, we would buy bread, chips, polony, whatever, and we would eat. In the afternoon, we would collect and go and buy pap. Even those guys from Jo'burg, they were used to us. They would say, "Hey Dukes, here in Limpopo, you like to eat pap", and I would tell them, "Yes, we must eat pap because we want you to be strong." We survived, my brother. Bo (The likes of) Joel Seroba know our culture here in Limpopo, he played here for a long time. Even us, when we went that side in Johannesburg, we adjusted to what they ate. Any player that came this side, we welcomed him, he was our brother because if Lunga is from Cape Town, he comes to Limpopo and doesn't have a place to sleep, I go with him because next time my son or my brother is going to go to Cape Town. I'm gonna call Lunga and say, "Lunga, I've got my brother there in Cape Town." He'll go and fetch him and he'll take care of him. Footballers are like soldiers.
Tell us more about your early days inthe game.
I was coming from Ria Stars in the First Division and Rovers bought me. I remember my first game at the club, we were playing Bush Bucks and our coaches were Jacob Sakala and Shepherd Murape. I was still a youngster and they kept on motivating me. They told me, "Go out there and enjoy your football, don't be scared of anything." Ey, but my man, you know the first game… ey, ey, ey! Bush Bucks was strong that time. I was playing simple. They told me that in order to gain confidence, trap the ball, pass the ball. They said, "You know what, you are a good crosser of the ball. You get the ball, you look at your strikers." Indeed, first 10 minutes, I did those things and I started to enjoy. We drew 1-1. The second game was against Kaizer Chiefs. Now that was an interesting one, and I'll tell you all about it next week.
Ha, ha, ha, can't wait!
Heita!
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R2 500
Biggest bonus: R5 000
Opponent I respected the most: Johannes Mine
Team I'd have loved to play for: Kaizer Chiefs
Favourite PSL player right now: Themba Zwane
Best coach I played under: Jacob Sakala
Craziest request from a fan: None, just requests for sports merchandise
