Peter: Hi, guys.
Ace:Cool and howdy.
Banks:Alive and kicking.
Peter: Good … what's going on?
Ace: Banksie and I were talking about how the current Kaizer Chiefs players are benefiting through the hard work that a lot of players and officials put into the club in the early '70s. I'm not begrudging them the benefits they enjoy … it's just interesting to see the difference between what they enjoy now compared to us.
Banks: Today the Chiefs players travel by plane, they have a beautiful luxury bus, they earn by far the best salaries in the PSL, they have sponsored cars and clothes, and some of them even have fully furnished apartments provided for them. Kaizer Chiefs looks after its players very well. Kaizer knows how to look after players. Chiefs have always been the best when it comes to taking care of their players.
Ace: That's right.
Banks: What is very, very interesting is to compare what we had to go through in our day, which was better than any other pro club … compared to how the current players have it.
Ace:Even as the best looked after players in the league, we still had it very tough compared to today.
Banks:This story about travelling to away games is funny and it will also show the Soccer-Laduma readers the difference between then and now.
Ace: Ey, those were the days, my friend!
Banks: Ja … in the early '70s we used to travel to Durban by kombi. We had one kombi and two cars. After the game on the Sunday afternoon, the players who had jobs used to go back and travel overnight with Ewert and Kaizer in the cars and the rest of us would spend the Sunday night in the hotel, and have a party. We'd then drive back in the kombi on the Monday morning.
Ace:That kombi … aish … that kombi could have told stories!
Banks:Aish … no thanks. Anyway, this was in the middle of winter and it was very cold. We were all laughing and joking in the kombi when all of a sudden, just as we entered Ladysmith, the kombi broke down. We tried to fix it but we had no chance. It was just after 5pm and all the garages were closed …
Ace:They were only open for petrol. We were stuck …
Banks: Imagine the scene, a kombi full of Kaizer Chief players, half of the country's heroes and you're stuck in Ladysmith!
Banks:Ha, ha. The next thing, an old white lady who was in her garden watching us came over.
Ace: We thought, 'oh-oh, here's trouble.'
Banks:We had begun to push the kombi by this time and she said to us that if we like we can put the kombi in her garage at home until tomorrow morning when the garages open and then we could try and get our kombi fixed.
Ace: We were shocked because in those days there was no mixing between whites and blacks. We never expected any kindness, especially not from an old white Afrikaans lady.
Banks: So we pushed the kombi into her double garage. She said because it was so cold, we could sleep in the kombi in her garage, otherwise we would freeze to death outside in the kombi. Ey, we couldn't believe she was helping us …
Ace: Also, we couldn't go to the local hotel because it was for whites only. It was also too expensive for the little money we had left on us. The next thing we went to the cafe to buy some tinned stuff to eat. When we got back, Banksie knocked on her front door and asked her if we could borrow some plates, knives and forks to use to eat the food.
Banks:Ha, ha, she refused point blank. So in the garage we found a lot of small garden tools, we washed them thoroughly and used that … ha, ha, seriously.
Ace: Here were the country's most famous footballers, Kaizer Chiefs players, eating their supper with small garden tools in some old white lady's garage, in a broken down kombi! Can you imagine the current Chiefs players doing that … ha, ha.
Peter: Totally ridiculous times in the old South Africa.
Banks:Peter, it was so cold, even in the garage … I mean, can you imagine how it was outside … so in a way we were lucky.
Ace: One of the guys saw a couple of old blankets in the corner and hell, there was a fight amongst us about who got to those blankets first. Afterwards we realised it was the dog's blankets … but hell, we were so cold we didn't even care … ha, ha.
Banks: Ey, man, I'm crying with laughter just thinking about it now again. We woke up as soon as it got light and we were cold, tired and hungry. We wanted to make some coffee but we needed mugs or cups. I went to ask her again. I must have woken her up with my knocking because she was furious. She was screaming, "I only tried to help you people but now you are making a nuisance of yourself. You are a troublemaker. The rest can stay until the kombi is fixed but you must go now. And if you don't leave, I'll make everybody leave!"
Peter: Oh, no.
Ace: Ja … it's funny now when I think of Banksie's face at the time.
Banks:So I had to leave. It was still three hours before the garages would open and it was still very cold outside so rather than let us all suffer, I left. She actually chased me up the driveway into the road, she and her dog … it was unbelievable.
Peter: Crazy.
Ace:And funny now … ha, ha.
Banks:I went to the garage in the town and shivered in the doorway, waiting for the place to open up and for the air to get warmer. I mean here was the Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper sitting in the open like a street person … I was homeless … homeless.
Peter: Like the Ladysmith Black Mambazo song. And you were homeless in … Ladysmith … ha, ha.
Ace:Ha, ha. Ja, the thing is, we were so cold that we decided to make a fire just outside the garage to make coffee and some food. But, hell, when that old lady saw the smoke she went crazy.
Peter: Ha, ha.
Ace: So thenshe chased us all away, she and that dog of hers. The trouble was that we were so scared of her big dog that we ran away before we realised that we'd left the kombi behind in her garage ha, ha! We had to go back and ask her to allow us to push the bloody kombi out of her garage and down the road again to the garage … ha, ha.
Banks:I was sitting outside the garage waiting for the mechanic to come when I saw all the guys pushing the kombi towards me. Man, they all looked so tired and sorry for themselves that I couldn't stop myself from laughing.
Ace: Ha, ha … it was funny.
Banks:I can't imagine the current Kaizer Chiefs players pushing their transport up the road.
Ace: Ah, those were the days …
Peter: How long did it take the mechanic to fix the kombi?
Ace:The whole morning … we just sat outside, playing cards and joking around.
Banks:As Ace says … those were difficult times … but we still loved it and I must add that Kaizer and Ewert looked after us well. They always did.
Ace:Oh yes …
Banks:Until next week.
Ace:Take it easy, just like Sunday morning.
