Sheer luck got me into soccer – Cosmo
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BABANE – Former Mbabane Swallows lanky defender Cosmo ‘Wall of Death’ Mthethwa said he never thought to be a top footballer in the country, as he loved basketball.
He also revealed that he was destined to play for Manzini Wanderers, but was chased away as he was told that he was too young to play for the maroon and white hub giants. Enjoy your Sunday as the Wall of Death takes you down memory lane.
TS – Good day Cosmo and welcome to the Times SUNDAY Legends Corner.
Cosmo – Thank you my brother for calling me a legend, because there is a difference between a legend and former player. I thank you for taking your time outie to talk to me. I’m sure there are more legends who have travelled this road better than I have done, but thank you once again.
TS – Please share with us who Cosmo Mthethwa is.
Cosmo – Ha ha ha! Tricky one and the reason I say this is because you might think you know yourself yet society has its own version of you.
TS – I know
Cosmo – In fact, Cosmos is my birth name. I am a simple black brother; ask those who truly know me. My father was a head teacher and my beloved mother was a Home Economics teacher, may her soul rest in peace. So you can imagine my strict upbringing, but having said that, I am a self-motivated and a hustler of note, who was taught to love people.
TS – Ha ha ha! As for taught to love people.
Cosmo – Yes, but there’s a thin line between love and hatred that you must know my brother. I was raised inside the house of the Lord at A.M.E, to be precise. I have so much respect for humanity and Tupac inspired, go-getter, perfectionist, and happy soul and short-tempered sometimes when I feel disrespected. In short, I am a ghetto boy by affiliation and the positive list goes on and on.
TS – Oh I like the ghetto boy line ha ha ha!
Cosmo – I’m also not a Saint, but I love hard, I love my children and many people think I am an intellectual, so jah that’s the long and short of it.
TS – Jah, I see.
Cosmo – I forgot to tell you that I Love Hip Hop and any other good music even Grover Washington Jnr.
TS – Ha ha ha, so share with the readers how you ended up being called the ‘The Wall of Death’.
Cosmo – Ask S’gayoyo Magongo, the then exciting soccer commentator ha ha ha.
TS - Lol it means it was ‘Sgi’ who gave you that name?
Cosmo – Yes bru.
TS – How did you get hooked in the sport loved by millions?
Cosmo – Honestly; it was by sheer luck, ask ‘Sox’ or ‘Ace’, former Wanderers players who I used to play with for Chaos Juniors. I used to run away and go to Salesian (my primary and high school), to play basketball, until they dragged me to play soccer, our training
ground was called eGV.
TS – Ok, please continue! Cosmo – Mndeni ‘Gomora’ Simelane started nurturing us for the Under-14s. People started saying that I could play the game and I then took it seriously. I was drafted into Manzini pick team Under-14 and I became adventurous.
TS – Continue.
Cosmo – I went to train with Manzini Wanderers first team, but Clement ‘King Clay’ Mdluli thought I was young and I went to Denver Sundowns again ‘Chaka Chaka’and Ronnie Dube made fun of me, saying I was young ha ha ha. I then signed with Chaos senior team. It was at the time when I was completing my high school when Mxolisi Ndzinisa and Muzi Siyaya, now Illovo chairman recruited me for Mbabane Arsenal, a Mbabane Swallows juniors team.
TS – Yeah, I am listening Wall of Death.
Cosmo – I cheated as I used to play twice a week. I would play for Chaos at the Manzini Promotion League and the next day for Arsenal in the A Division in the city for a whole season.
TS – Interesting, this is where Umkhonta KaShaka spotted you?
Cosmo – Yes Swallows spotted me at Arsenal and the rest was history.
TS – Who inspired you to play football?
Cosmo – Like I said earlier, I wasn’t into soccer, so naturally I didn’t know anyone in the sport. My only idol was Michael Jackson; this was after my firstborn sister bought me an MJ vest from the USA, so jah I never looked on anyone. I would like to thank Chaos Limited’s Vusi Chief who was hard on me, Magida, Fanyaza and the Hortons as well as my junior Arsenal teammates.
TS – So please share with us how your move to Swallows came about.
Cosmo – Remember I used to play twice every weekend, so Sandile Zwane used to watch me. I think he and company recommended me to Jimmy Mwale and I was called together with Haiso Dlamini to the senior team to play against a team from Lesotho in a friendly game at Somhlolo. The experience of donning the famous red and white jersey for the first time was amazing.
TS – I can imagine!
Cosmo – In all honesty, I was supposed to go play for Wanderers, but I was bitter. So Brains Mavuso from Swallows, who was married to a teacher where I was staying with my beloved mother and Malume Mabheshu, a teacher at the same school as well as Mr Nkosi my primary school teacher at Salesian, took me to Mbabane Swallows end of season braai. There were players from St Theresa’s, I was gob-smacked seeing Go-man-Go, LLyoid Maziya and the rest of the players for the first time all in their perm hairstyles and I just fell in love with the team. I knew that one day I would play for the team ha ha ha!
TS – Yeah. How was the reception? Cosmo – Ha ha ha it was fun, I was a loud and the youngest, so everybody laughed at everything I stupidly said making people laugh around me is my speciality. I was adopted by Jimmy Mthembu, who gave me his kappa tracksuit that I wore almost every day and Killer Zulu too. I forced myself onto ‘Go-Man-Go’ as my senior from Salesian. Victor and Lloyd were not so receptive, but the rest were OK. I think with me being the youngest and naughty it cemented my warm welcome, it was like they had never seen such an outspoken young boy who was never afraid of anyone, but respected them.
TS – What advice did these guys give you?
Cosmo – The only advice I got from Jimmy Mthembu was ‘take your time, your chance will come’. I’m sure he saw the frustration of wanting to make a mark immediately and I guess that helped me to take a chill pill and wait for my chance, which I grabbed from that time as I was hungry. I was playing for a big team so my stardom was just at arm’s length.
TS – Let us continue next week mfowethu, thanks for your time.
Cosmo – Till next week outie.
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