ROLES REVERSED

While Vincent Julies was pioneering in the all-white leagues, legendary former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar became the first white player to feature in the black leagues. “It was in the Mainstay Cup [Nedbank Cup], Errol Mann and I played for different teams – AmaZulu and Moroka Swallows. In those days you were allowed to have one guest player per team,” Grobbelaar explains. “My landlord Harry Weir, who played for Durban City, had a fallout with Norman Elliot before becoming the coach of AmaZulu when I was living in his maisonette. He asked if I wanted to play for AmaZulu and I didn’t have any hesitation because it was a big club with a huge following in the Durban area. “We had a fantastic time going to KwaMashu and playing games up in Joburg. In those days we used to get 50 000 fans in KwaMashu, shouting ‘Usuthu! Usuthu!’. “I really enjoyed it and was always treated very well by my teammates and fans. I think they enjoyed having me there – maybe I was a novelty. “There was no backlash from anybody, it just kind of passed by. Nobody really made a big fuss of it. “For me it was normal to play with black players, coming from my upbringing in Rhodesia [Zimbabwe], so at the time it did not feel like such a significant moment. But now I recognise that it was. “If you look at the Zimbabwe national side, I was also the only white playing in the team. “That’s why they gave me the nickname ‘Jungle Man’ as they said, ‘this is not a white man, this is a black man in a white man’s skin, so we’re going to call him Jungle Man’.”