Gigantic, imposing, and perhaps only rivalled by Carlton Centre in terms of height during his playing days, Humphrey Mlwane is a former defensive midfielder whose career began at Moroka Swallows, having joined the club after undergoing a trial in 1994. Later followed a big move to Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs. The Daveyton-born man also went on to feature for iconic Mthatha Bucks, woeful Mother City FC and exciting Tembisa Classic, all of whom, like the aforementioned building in downtown Jozi, are sadly a distant memory. Having retired in 2006 because of a troublesome knee while at Winners Park in the lower division, he is currently head coach of ABC Motsepe League side Sivutsa, though hastens to explain, "We finished second in the league and we're now just waiting for next season. I don't know what the chairman will decide, but as far as I know I'm in the employ of the club."
Humphrey, it's been years since we last chatted. Good to know you're still around. Always nice to reconnect with the legends on this page so as to share with the younger generation what football was really like when you played, so we hope you're ready to walk the Soccer Laduma readers, young and old, down memory lane.
Ja, ja, Lunga, akusafani (it's no longer the same). There are a lot of things in the game these days and technology has taken over. Let's go for it, where do you wanna start?
How did you join Moroka Swallows, your first professional side?
Ah, like, there were trials. I saw in the newspaper that there were trials for Swallows, at Meadowlands, as they were looking for players. I took a train from Daveyton to Park Station and from there, I took a taxi to Meadowlands. That's how I went to those trials. When I got there, I discovered that it was not going to be easy for me to make it because there were about 800 of us in attendance. They gave everyone something like 15 minutes or so to be on the field. When you are on trial, it's very important to show your strength as much as possible, and mina my strength… I could win the ball, I could shoot and I could play simple. I showed those qualities as quickly as possible during my trial and the coach, Bra Kenny Ndlazi, saw the potential in me. I also think my body structure may have also helped me because I could command respect due to it and I could do things easily on the field of play as I was quite tall. So, out of those 800 people, they only took 10 to 15 players. I was shocked because the previous year, I had gone to (Jomo) Cosmos. Remember when Cosmos won the Bob Save Super Bowl, when John Salter scored a goal and they won 1-0, that was in 1990, nhe (right)?
Yeah, yeah…
That year, after that final, I went to Cosmos on trial. Jomo (Sono) was impressed, but you know when people say, "We'll call you, we'll call you…" I waited for that call, but unfortunately the call never came. He told me that my style of play was similar to that of (Mike) "Lollipop" Mhlanga. Even after that, I thought that one day I would join Cosmos, but unfortunately, they never came back to me. Then I moved on and went to the Swallows trials. However, in all honesty, I never really took football seriously at the time, but a friend of mine would always pester me to "go here, go there" whenever he discovered there were trials somewhere. After passing the Swallows trial, I remember we then went to play friendly games against the likes of Real Rovers and others, but the tricky part is that I was still playing for a team in Daveyton called Daveyton Highlanders, who were campaigning in the OK League. Eish, that team stopped my move, and I could not go further with Swallows, ha, ha, ha. They started demanding money, all of those things, uyabona (you see)? I then took a pause for something like a month or two because at that time, Swallows didn't have money. David Chabeli (ex-Swallows chairman) was struggling (to run the team). Then something happened…
Hmmm, okay.
Swallows were playing a league game at Rand Stadium, and then I went and watched that game. After the match, I went that side of the gate and then I saw Ndlazi, the coach. He said, "Hey wena ndoda, kanti yini (man, what's up)? I was looking for you." Everything started again from there. He then took me to Mr Chabeli and thereafter they came there to Daveyton, to the owner of that team, for negotiations. That's how I joined Swallows.
Finally hey, ha, ha, ha!
Ja, finally! Also, eish, I was thinking to myself ithuba elinje ngalena liza kayi one (an opportunity like this comes once) in life. How can these people refuse for me to play for Swallows? But due to the money factor, I could also see that that guy was also looking for something because I was staying with him at his place and he was doing everything for me. Maybe he also took advantage to say, "I can cash in on this boy because I'm doing everything for him." I put myself in his shoes and only then did I understand.
How did you find things upon your arrival at the Dube Birds?
No, the welcoming was okay. Remember when I went there, there were top players like Andries Mpondo, Joseph Rapelego, Goodman Hlongwane and Percival Moletsane. Those guys saw my potential. I was fortunate in that there were other guys who were joining Swallows at the same time as me and I could not feel like a loner. It was a good experience because I used to see these players from a distance and now things had changed and I was nearer to them and there was something I was learning from them. They never treated me badly. They knew my strength before I came there and knew I had to be good to be filling in the void of Marcus (Mphafudi), who had just left for Orlando Pirates. I had been looking for that opportunity for a while and when it eventually came, I was happy.
Did you camp before matches?
Ja, and at that time it was tough because we were camping at Hillbrow and you know what it was like in Hillbrow. It was tough in terms of concentration, ha, ha, ha. People were not sleeping there. The team was not financially strong at the time, as I said earlier, and Hillbrow was the cheapest place in terms of the accommodation.
Paint the picture for us. What was it really like there?
Ha, ha, ha! There were lots of temptations. Like, when you arrived for camp, you would see people moving around and then after 20h00, 21h00, 22h00, wena you would think people would go to sleep, but that would never be the case. You would find that some people were students during the day, but then at night they would do another thing. It was tempting because for me, it was the first time experiencing those situations. Sometimes you would see from a distance that eish, in this place there's people like this and in that place there's people like that. However, because I knew what I wanted, I never fell in that trap.
Those knocks on your door in the middle of the night…
Ha, ha, ha, no, no. There was this guy who had a team in the Vaal, James Ngidi. I don't know if you still remember him. He was well-connected and used to have bodyguards and so he used to bring them to our camp so that they could watch over us. Well, they were not bodyguards per se, but because they were Zulus and you know how Zulus can be so stubborn, ha, ha, ha, he saw them as the perfect people to watch us. We were much safer with those guys around.
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R2 500
Biggest bonus: R30 000 for winning the Rothman's Cup
Opponent I respected the most: Roger Feutmba
Team I would have loved to play for: Orlando Pirates
Favourite PSL player right now: Teboho Mokoena
Best coach I played under: Jeff Butler Paul Dolezar
Craziest request from a fan: It was just requests for T-shirts, mostly
