Welcome back, Sammy. Continuing from last week's conversation, it seems you considered it a real blessing to play in the same team with the legendary Marks Maponyane, at Wits University.
That's true, but the only thing that was strange about him is that he was never injured, instead he injured defenders. That's the only thing that I failed to learn from him, I guess he never gave me a recipe for it, ha, ha, ha. I will never forget that guy. He would come to me and say, "Don't get frustrated, stay in the box." Pitso (Mosimane) did the same thing while I was at SuperSport (United). There was a time I was frustrated, I was not playing, and they gave me a chance in one game. Pitso would shout at me, "Stay in the box! Sammy!" Every time he said, "Sammy!", I knew what he wanted me to do. Eish, ngeso sikhathi badlala kamnandi (that time they were knocking it around nicely), I wanted to touch the ball. That is how I managed to get goals. Like I said last week, I had fun at Wits, but at (Jomo) Cosmos it was a jungle. Yho! Survival of the fittest. I wouldn't say I enjoyed myself there because I spent most of my time ngikhahlela abantu (kicking people). You don't enjoy football when you train to be fit to mark someone, not to play. I know somebody would say, "You played a lot at Cosmos", but it doesn't make any difference because I was playing to defend, as in spend my time ngigijima nabantu (running with people). I didn't enjoy because mina I'm a goalscorer by nature. So, Wits and SuperSport I enjoyed. SuperSport management, make no mistake, they would make you feel at home. The problem was inside, from the players who came from Pretoria, as they had this belief that, "This one from Jo'burg has come here to take our position." They would never come straight to you and talk about it, but you would hear them in the change room. Tommy (the late Thomas Madigage) and Pitso used to try and make me feel welcome, but the important thing was that angidlali no (I'm not playing with) Tommy, angidlali no Pitso, I'm playing with the players who are gossiping about me.
Talking about Cosmos being a jungle, what do you make of this notion that you were a team that went out to intentionally break legs?
I've got a simple answer for you. In the eight years that I spent at Cosmos, not even once did Jomo (Sono) say, "Khahlela (Kick)." Not even once. It was a case of either the opponent wins or you win – one of the two. Because Jomo would say, "Uyak'hlula (He's conquering you)", you understand?" Nowhere did he say, "Kick him." Not even at training. He would ask you, "Uyak'hlula?" and the answer would be, "No, akang'hluli (he's not conquering me)." It will come automatically to you to say use your brains to neutralise this player. So, the neutralising, it has to be the threats, where off the ball you tell him, "I'm going to kick you." He has never said khaba umuntu (kick somebody). Even if he did those hand gestures, it was never negotiated or taught to us that, "When I do like this, I mean kick him." Because mina, all the time I used to take it as qina baba, qina (be strong, man, be strong). That was my idea (interpretation) of that sign. But other people watching from the outside, they thought of another thing. If they had taught us, I would tell you the honest truth now, I have nothing to lose. The only question was, "Is he conquering you? If he is, let us know so that we can take you out and put another player in."
Glad you've cleared that up.
As for the kicking, we were competitive from training – people are missing that point. Cosmos used to have almost 52 players, and we were fighting for 11 positions… well, we were fighting to be in the 18-man squad, let me put it that way. So, you can't be in that 18 if you're going around and giving people hugs. Anyone who stands in your way, he has to make way because one position is contested for by seven players. You need to be outstanding and be better than the other six, meaning you have to remove every obstacle in front of you. As a result, our training sessions were like serious games, and watching it you would say these people don't know each other from a bar of soap, they only met today or they must be fighting over something. We fought from training, and if you started a game, you wouldn't believe it because of how many players there were. Also, Cosmos would travel with only one goalkeeper just to create space for another player.
Furthermore, there was a school of thought that Jabu Pule (now Mahlangu) gave Mjomana sleepless nights…
I think that answer of "let me sort out your problems" came after Jomo started talking about Jabu every time when we were about to face Chiefs. At that time, he hadn't converted me to a man-marker. That was until that week in camp, where he said to me, "You and Jabu are close." I told him, "No, we're close because we played in the juniors together (against each other), when I was playing for Wits." Then he said, "According to me, you and Jabu are one and the same thing." But I'm different from Jabu. Me, my strike… I'd tell Jomo that I was not coming to the game until I got my money. It has nothing to do with Jabu. Jabu, when he gets his money, uyalova (he absconds). When you say you're going to give me my money on the 5th, on the 5th I want it. As for whether we're playing Chiefs on the 7th, I don't care. I think I played a few games against the big teams because that is where ngangimbamba khona (I would get him). I would tell him, "No, I'm not coming." That time, you don't want the whole money. Maybe he owes you R100 000, and you say, "Just give me R15 000 so I could be able to deposit for a house." That's how I bought my first house. He'd say, "I'm going to give it to you after the game." He'd live up to that promise once, and on the second occasion he'd renege on the agreement and that's when I'd go absent from games. And he'd never tell the truth that Sammy is on strike, he'd say uSammy uyahlupha (is being troublesome). But to show that I was not troublesome, there was no way he'd protect me for eight years, there was somewhere where he had to say, "You know what, gatvol, gatvol! But he knew my worth and that I was being troublesome for a reason… I wanted my money. I never had a situation of a drinking problem until I got to Cosmos.
Huh? Interesting!
It was all due to frustration. You had a signing-on fee, but you'd get R2 000, sometimes R5 000 when he was in a better mood. Eish, it used to frustrate me, and people used to say sidlala ngemali (we are wasting money). They would ask, "Hawu monna, why o kasa reki ntlu (don't you buy a house)?" They didn't understand the dynamics, that I was being owed R100 000, and I got it in instalments of R5 000 and R2 000. At times, we would be given takkies and he would say, "I have bought these for you." To tell the honest truth, I have never drank as much as I did when I played for Cosmos. During month-end, the debit orders would kick in and you had not even been paid. You'd get your money on the 9th. They'd give you cheques and all of the players would be in competition to get to the bank first. You had to literally step on that accelerator, otherwise you wouldn't get anything. I remember the bank we used, they used to call it the Bank of Lisbon. You'd get there, and only six or seven players would get their money, and for the rest, the bank would say, "Your budget is used up for the day." Can you imagine? Then after that, it was off to drinking for me. Even my wife would attest to that, that Sammy started changing when he was playing for Cosmos. I was like, "You know what, I don't go to nightclubs, but I have to buy beer for myself here at home because of the frustration." At SuperSport, you arrive today, you sign today, and tomorrow you get your money. The salary is always on time. Sometimes this person would make a joke about it, saying, "I'll see if I'll be able to pay you early." How do you say that? I lost so many things because the debit orders were bouncing. I was lucky nje ukuthi every competition money, I'd go and save it. But now I hear stories that a lot of guys lost houses and cars. Yes, I lost my cars, but that's a luxury, but a house, a shelter… it was important to me. As I'm speaking to you today, I'm owning houses. Even though I don't have money, I invest in property. The kids, when they look back, they must see that yes, uBaba (Dad) lost things and he doesn't have money, but when he got the opportunity, he hustled for us.
Sammy, let's put a pause on it. Some fascinating insight into the life of a run-of-the-mill South African footballer back in the day. We'll reconnect in the first edition of next year, on 11 January. Enjoy Christmas with your kith and kin, and please, please, don't drink like you're in your Jomo Cosmos era.
Ha, ha, ha, thanks, brother. Chat to you soon.
By Lunga Adam
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R300
Biggest bonus: R40 000
Opponent I respected the most: Jabu Mahlangu Gift Leremi
Team I'd have loved to play for: Any team coached by Gavin Hunt
Favourite PSL player right now: Sipho Chaine
Best coach I played under: Eddie Lewis
Craziest request from a fan: It was mostly jersey requests
