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GOLDEN ARROWS’ SIYANDA ZWANE (PART 2)

Mangethe, let’s get straight into Part Two... you were talking about your time at Mamelodi Sundowns. Ha, ha, ha, eish, let me tell you about my very first training session after joining Sundowns from Golden Arrows. Normally, I’d go to training with just one pair of boots and I saw no reason to change that when I joined Sundowns. I had a brand new pair of six-stud boots in the boot of my car. I get to training and the introductions and all formalities get done. We do warm-up and then play an 11-a-side training match. I completely forgot to fasten the studs before taking to the field. A few minutes into the match, I realised that two of my studs were missing and I was so uncomfortable and running awkwardly. I tried to keep it to myself until I just couldn’t take it anymore, after a few minutes, so I walked up to the coach (Pitso Mosimane) to explain my situation. As I was walking towards him, he was like, “What’s wrong?” Eish, I was so embarrassed, scratching my head, and told him I had lost two studs because I forgot to tighten them. You know how coach Pitso can be, at times, man, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, tell us, what happened? Ha, ha, ha, eish, my bro. The rest of the guys were busy playing and unaware of my situation and I was happy to keep it that way. Eish, the coach called everyone, “No, no, no, wait, wait, come here and listen to what he’s just said.” Ha, ha, ha, eish, everyone came quickly and the coach made me repeat what I had told him, in front of everyone. Ha, ha, ha, eish, my man, I did that and he looked at me and said, “Are you serious? Are you serious? This is not Golden Arrows! Here, we win cups, we don’t fight relegation! What car are you driving?” Eish, I told him, “Errr, coach, I’m driving a BMW…” He then looked at me and asked, “Are you serious? You’re driving an old BMW; you come to training with one pair of boots, with missing studs?” (Laughs hysterically) From a simple conversation, the coach went from 0 to 100km/h, ha, ha, ha. He asked if I had an- other pair at my place and I told him I did. Because I was staying closer to the training ground, he allowed me to drive home and bring another pair. Remember, that was my first real interaction with him because, before that, we just used to speak over the phone and meet during our games. So I didn’t really know that side of him, but the guys made sure that I understood him better. They all laughed the incident off and that was the ‘warm welcome’ I received at Sundowns, ha, ha, ha. Since that day, I always take two pairs of boots to training. Ha, ha, ha, you learned the hard way! So true. Coach Jingles is funny, my man. There’s another story that I just remembered. The other day, apparently, he heard something about one of the players... I can’t remember which one it was. Normally at Sundowns, we’d meet for breakfast in the clubhouse before training,training so the coach heard that one of the players went to buy his groceries at Shoprite. Ha, ha, ha, you should have seen him when he into the dining hall the next day. “You’re playing for Sundowns but you buy your groceries from Shoprite? What’s wrong with you?” The other guys just laughed and asked where our teammate must buy his groceries. “Go to Woollies! Are you kidding me? You’re playing for Sundowns now!” Ha, ha, ha,

eish, that man is a legend and I always laugh at some of the things he used to say and do at training. He really loves his football and players. One thing is for sure, you will never win with coach Jingles, ha, ha, ha – that man is so passionate and he always demands nothing less than the best. The stuff he says, he doesn’t mean it in a bad way, but he just wants to raise the bar. The man loves his job and he always wants his players to be professional especially with little details and things that people don’t think are important. important That’s one of the reasons he’s been so successful in his career. Exactly. Let me tell you about my good friend from day one, Thamsanqa Gabuza. Ha, ha, ha, what a character! I went to visit him when he was still staying at one of Pirates’ townhouses, shortly after he had joined the club. Having spent a lot of time with him during our days at Arrows, we’ve become really good friends. So I got to the security gate and as I was driving into the complex, I park the car and then he’s already waiting for me. We walk up the stairs to his house and there’s this white kid calling him, “Gabuza! Gabuza!” and my bro quickly suggested that we turn around and take a different route to his flat. I asked why. “No, man, woza, asambe ngapha (come, let’s go this way).” We went a different way and, when we finally got to his place, I realised that the first route was s shorter than the second one. I then pushed him for answers, especially after realising that we were closer to his place when we changed c directions. It turns out that he was avoiding that kid because she always wanted him to speak English, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, what? I’m telling you, bro! “Uyazi (You know)

Mangethe, leyingane za la zinesdina (these kids here are irritiating) maan. Vele uma zingibona zivele zing’fak’ isingesi njalo (Every time they see me, they want me to speak English).” My bro, I laughed so hard and asked if we went all the way just to avoid speaking English with a five-year-old kid? He told me one day they called him, “Gabuza, Gabu...” and he was so tired of them he just cut them short and said, “Hey

voetsek maan!” Ha, ha, ha, I just couldn’t believe it. All of that just because he’s avoiding speaking English. Ha, ha, ha, it can only be Gandaganda. Ha, ha, ha, eish, that guy. Trying to justify his actions, he told me, “You know when you feel like you didn’t have enough rest the previous night, you go to training the next day, only to find that you’ll be playing 11-a-side and the ball comes to you all the time, as if the ball can smell that you’re not rested. It is the same thing as these kids – it is like they can smell that I can’t speak proper English and they all want to speak to me, no man!” Ha, ha, ha, eish amajita ebhola (football players), my brother. People see footballers as serious because we take no nonsense on the field, but off the field, footballers are so crazy, man. Hlompho Kekana is the craziest guy off the field but on it, he’s a completely different guy. That guy will make you laugh the whole day. Ha, ha, ha, by the way, he saw what you had to say about him last week. Let’s leave it there for now. Thanks once again, bro. Ha, ha, ha, sure, my brother.