Phiri Tsotetsi started his professional football career
at Moroka Swallows in 1993.He didn’t last that long in the game after he broke
his right ankle playing for AmaZulu in 1999. He is currently working in the
mines in Vaal and says he had his best spell at Orlando Pirates.
Phiri, you played for Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows
and AmaZulu. Where did you enjoy your game the most?
It was definitely at Pirates. The changes that were
taking place at the time encouraged us as players. It’s just that at Moroka
Swallows, our boss David Chabeli always made empty promises to the players.
He would say we were going to get salary increases the
next month, but then when the time arrived, he would come up with stories. It
wasn’t nice to see a player who’s not playing regularly getting paid more than
you while you always make the starting line-up.
Sure.
I remember one time the club had just got sponsorship
from Engen. So Johannes Mine and I went to Chabeli’s office and said, “Baba,
we’re suffering. We need money for transport and to buy takkies for ourselves
to look good.”
We used to come to training with another guy’s car and we
wanted to at least give him something so that he looks forward to the trips.
But Chabeli asked us, “Madoda, are you saying that just because we’ve got this
sponsorship, we should take the money out, put it on the table and share all of
it amongst ourselves? What will the club be left with?” Ha, ha, ha!
Let’s talk about Pirates. Who did you share a room with
there?
I had many roommates, but before Vincent Sokhela joined
us, I mostly shared a room with Andries Sebola and Steve Lekoelea. Andries was
very quiet but liked laughing. He was more like Helman Mkhalele in that if one
player was teasing another one, he would add his bit and then leave it there.
Steve used to tease Jerry Sikhosana a lot and Jerry would
always run after him. Gerald Raphahlela had a scratch on his face and because
of that Steve called him ‘Marhamba’. So ja, we had too many characters in the
team and you’d always laugh when you were around them. We were like a family.
We always used to sit in the late Bra Joe Ramogoadi’s room and have fun.
Tell us about Bra Joe, the former Bucs masseur – may his
soul rest in peace. We’re told he was the real joker!
Bernard ‘Shooz’ Lushozi and Bra Joe used to tease each
other all the time. But there’s this one time when Steve did something naughty
to Bra Joe. We were in camp and Bra Joe was in his room, taking a bath in the
basin.
He hadn’t locked the room and his back was facing towards
the door. So Steve came in and found him wearing boxer shorts, and then he stuck
his finger on his behind, as if to tickle him, and then ran away before Bra Joe
could see him.
Hmmm!
After he finished bathing, Bra Joe went up to the guys
and said, “There’s someone who came into my room and stuck his finger on my
behind and ran away. Who is it?” Ha, ha, when he found out it was Steve, he was
angry! He kept on saying, “I’m going to see you at the disciplinary hearing,
boy.
I’m going to tell Irvin Khoza about this!” Ha, ha. What a
great time I had at Pirates...that’s why I was heartbroken when I had to leave.
I only heard through the newspapers that I was on the transfer list. It was so,
so painful!
What a funny bunch of players there, hey!
Yes, I mean we also had guys like Bruce Ramokadi. We used
to play cards and dice, but not in the sense of gambling, but to keep the team
spirit going. Mark Fish, Edward Motale and Gavin Lane were the main suspects
when it came to sneaking out of camp.
I recall one time the three guys had spent the night
elsewhere and the following day we were going to take a picture of the team. So
Fish completely forgot about it and while we were all neatly dressed in black
and white suits, he quickly rushed home and grabbed some shirt, jacket and
trousers. He was so bad looking he had to stand at the back, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha...
Those three loved to go partying, but you wouldn’t pick
that up when they were in a game, they played with such passion! The thing at
Pirates is that when we went out onto the field, we thought about the fans. We
would say to each other before the game, “Guys, we’ve got great support. If we
lose today, we’ll lose the fans. Without the fans, there’s no team.”
Motale was a fantastic character. He once told Helman,
“Irvin found you selling bananas and brooms on the street and signed you.”
Who was your funniest coach?
Viktor Bondarenko! He never liked China Masondo and
always put him in the stands. At training he would choose the 18 players to
travel to the game. Then on the day of the game, he would select the 11 that
were going to start the game. Then he would say, “All the others are on the
bench...except China!” He did it every time, ha, ha, and China ended up hating
him too!
Have you played with players who always gave funny
excuses when they came late to training?
Yes, there was Patrick Machete! I remember he bought a VW
Golf and the gears of the car were close to each other. So one time he was
going to training and he wanted to go out of his home’s sliding gate. He
pressed the remote control and the gate opened. He wanted to get the car into
reverse gear so he could go out, but mistakenly got it into first gear.
He looked behind him and stepped on the clutch and the
accelerator, and before he knew it, the car went into the other direction and
banged against the wall. Ha, ha, ha! He then didn’t go to training and said his
grandmother had died. When it was month-end, he was always the one to let us
know. Eish, I’ll forever remember those days. That was celebrity life, but
after I retired, I had to adjust to normal life.
Tell us about using muti.
I used it at all the teams I played for. There was this
one day at Pirates when Brandon Silent refused to use it and said he was a
mzalwane (church person), but was told, “Hey, this is Orlando Pirates. It’s not
a tuck shop. You either use muti or find another team.” Then the mlungus
started diving into the bath, ha, ha, ha! When you signed for them, the first
thing Irvin would ask you is, “Uqinile ndoda? (Do you use muti?) Go get
something from your gogo or else you won’t make it.”
The Nigerian guys like Sam Pam used to pray, but they
would put a small bottle in front of them while doing so! It was worse at
AmaZulu because they were in Durban and believed in it a lot. They’d always
say, “God helps those who help themselves.”
Tavern Talk Fun Facts:
Best player I’ve ever faced: Roger Feutmba
Best player I’ve played with: John Moeti
Biggest pay cheque: R8 000
Smallest pay cheque: R699
Former team that used the most muti: AmaZulu
Favourite current player: Itumeleng Khune
Current occupation: New Vaal Colliery (opencast mine)
employee
Former teams: Moroka Swallows, Orlando Pirates, AmaZulu
Comments
Post a Comment