Some interesting stuff about the Soweto Derby pre-match culture at Orlando Pirates during your time there, as shared in last week's edition. Well, speaking of the derby, one of the players that really made a mark in the iconic fixture, and whom you played with, was Benedict Vilakazi. Although a lot of his ex-teammates tell us he was lazy to train, he always rose to the occasion against Kaizer Chiefs. Fantastic player.
Ja, I think if you talk about game days and that, whenever the team was in trouble, he was the one to get the team out of trouble. He was always on it, you know. I mean, sometimes you get these special players. Even the other day, I was reading something about Ronaldinho. He was also a lazy trainer. The one contract he signed for one club, they even allowed him to go to nightclubs on Thursdays before games or whatever, but when it came to game days, he was always on par. He was always giving everything and was winning games sometimes all by himself, and I think "Tso" Vilakazi was that type of player. He was a special player, although maybe at the time, a lot of players, and myself also, didn't agree with the way he was behaving. But sometimes, sitting back now, you must give it to him in terms of what he could do on the field. Like I said, whenever we needed someone to do something special, he would always be the one that would come up with something, whether it's score a goal or (conjure up) a moment of brilliance. I clearly remember when it was corners, you would know that that small guy would always come near post and get in front of the defenders because sometimes the defenders didn't expect him (to be there). And you would ask yourself, "This guy is so short, how did he manage to come in-between defenders or just in front of them to score those near-post headers?" But ja, when he played, he was something else, he was a special player.
We guess you must have played with a so-called Bad Boy or two at all three clubs you turned out for. For example, there was the hugely talented but sometimes wayward Erwin Isaacs at Santos. Would you categorize him as such?
Ja, he was similar. He was just a naughty boy. I think he was young, he was just naughty. You know, sometimes it's difficult for these boys, if you look at where they come from and now all of a sudden they are in a structured environment, where discipline is a big part of it. If they haven't been schooled or they haven't been taught these things, it's difficult for them to now, all of a sudden, adapt to being in this environment. That's why it takes time for them to start to be disciplined. I mean, the same case with him also… Erwin Isaacs. I think he was very young when he started. You see, it's just that they are naughty, it's not that they don't respect you as the senior players or the coaches. It's just being naughty, and sometimes when they get away with it, then they just keep on doing it, and then the older they get, now they start realizing that, "Listen here, what I'm doing is not the way to go." So, ja, in the beginning of his career, I think he was similar to that, just being a naughty boy and catching on nonsense. I guess it's part of growing up, all of us have these naughty streaks in us.
Then you have players who are the complete opposite…
I mean, Themba Zwane has always been one of my favourite players. I remember him as a young boy, I think he was still 17. I was at (Mamelodi) Sundowns and we played a game against them. You know he's got this thing of sending players the one way and then going the other way. I remember clearly he did that to me also one game, and from that day onwards that just stuck to me, that, "This boy is going to be a good player." Ha, ha, ha, I am also reminded of one player that used to scare me the most when I was younger, and that was "Mgababa", Gerald Raphahlela, at Pirates. I won't say he was similar to Andrew Rabutla, but it was difficult for me to go past him. Even if you saw him and you looked at his face, that already scared me as a youngster. So, I always used to make sure that I didn't get a 50-50 where he was coming for a tackle because I knew he was going to come in hard.
Let's talk about the money side of the game. Interesting to note that your biggest bonus was R25 000, and we understand this was for winning a match, not a cup. Wow, tell us more.
Ja, well, at Sundowns, normally our bonus for winning a game would be anything from R20 000 to R25 000 (each player). At times, we would agree on R20 000, and then after the game, Patrice Motsepe would ask the guys, "What do you guys think the bonus should be?" That's when you would find some of the players saying, "No, Mr President, if you can maybe make it R30 000." But instead of R30 000, he would maybe say, "Okay, let's make it R25 000." So, each game would be different, and he would increase it according to what he felt was the appropriate amount. If we had a good game, after we won he would be very generous. I remember there was one month where I think we won about four games. If you started or played, you would get a full bonus, if you sat on the bench you would get half of that bonus. So, this one month I'll never forget. We played four games and we won four games, and I know guys who started all the games and made about R90 000. It was crazy at the time!
Geez, you guys were living the life at Chloorkop. Truth be told, you don't find people like Dr Motsepe too often in the local game. It must have all felt like manna from heaven for you guys.
Ja, no, I think he came to change the game. It's difficult for the teams that don't have sponsors to obviously keep up with him.
Patrice Motsepe and Goolam Allie… chalk and cheese, right?
Ha, ha, ha, tell me about it hey! But I think… I don't know. It's either the sponsors need to come on board or something needs to be done because I mean, you can't have teams that are able to pay this money and then other teams are struggling to pay the money. Something needs to be done so that at least, you know, in terms of sponsors, it's across the board for all the teams. Or if you don't have money to run a team, then don't get involved in football, you know what I mean? Because some guys want to be involved in football, but they don't have the money to run the team. That means the team is going to struggle because you won't be able to pay the players what they deserve. So, I really think something needs to be done in terms of helping teams to at least survive and try and be competitive. I think gone are the days where you could just pay players whatever you wanted to, you know. You need to be able to be competitive. That's why most of the players run away to other teams that give them more money.
A lot has changed in the game, Legend. Thank you so much for taking time out to regale our readers with some of the experiences you had in the game when the cameras were switched off. Indeed, it was one helluva journey and we salute you!
No, it's always a pleasure to talk about all these nice memories. You just appreciate all the achievements in the game, and thanks for taking me down memory lane.
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R750
Biggest bonus: R25 000
Opponent you respected the most: Brett Evans
Team you would have loved to play for: Kaizer Chiefs
Favourite PSL player right now: Themba Zwane
Best coach played under: Clive Barker
Craziest request from a fan: None, only jersey requests really
