I found the formula
WALTER RAUTMANN (PART 4)
“I feel confident to take off my shirt in the middle of nowhere.”
“I can’t really understand the reason behind that.”
Tshepang Mailwane: You’ve scored five league goals so far this season after managing only two the whole of 2019/20. Improvement…
Lehlohonolo Majoro: Last season, I don’t want to lie, it was one of those seasons where I encountered a lot of challenges. There were injuries, change of coaches and every coach has his way of wanting to play. So, last season was a bit of a struggle here and there, but as a professional footballer, you have to adjust. I did manage to adjust, which is why I managed to contribute in the bio-bubble, and I managed to build up from there.
TM: As a striker, when you go through a season with a record like that (two goals), what does it do to your confidence?
LM: Yes, obviously, as a striker you are judged by the number of goals you score, but football is a team sport and people tend to forget that an assist is as important as a goal, you understand? Depending on the role that you play on the field of play, that can sometimes take away from you finding yourself in a scoring position, based on the system that you play, the opposition and so forth. Gone are those days where you look at football with one view, where a striker is a striker and he must score goals, where a midfielder is a midfielder and he must provide. Football has evolved and it requires (the contribution of) everyone. You’ve got fullbacks who overlap and they find themselves in the box more than they would have found themselves before. Things have changed, so you must make sure that when you play, you play your part and contribute positively towards the team’s win. But me, personally, as a striker I always want to score every time I play, but experience and maturity has helped me. Mentally I know that I cannot be a bad player based on one season, whereas I’ve had so many seasons where I did well. All I had to do was to go back and retrace where I could have gone wrong and I found the formula and one of those things is my diet. I feel like I am in better shape and my energy levels are higher than when I first started playing football, which is a plus for me.
TM: Tell us more about the diet.
LM: If you follow me, you know that I have started using Herbalife products and I’m a distributor. Ever since I started, everything has changed. I’ve lost that weight that was not necessary. I watch what I eat now and it’s so amazing how a small change like that can go a long way. It has been working for me.
TM: As you get older, how important is it to stay disciplined in looking after your body?
LM: The reason (Cristiano) Ronaldo, Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) and (Lionel) Messi are still playing with the same pace that they started with when they first got introduced to football is because they have people who make sure that they eat the right stuff. They have dieticians, they have physical trainers, they have everything. Here in South Africa, we have been lacking somewhere with that. I am saying that because when I was still a youngster, I was not paying too much attention to things like my diet. People think that just because you are young, it does not matter what you eat, you will still have those energy levels. But I believe if we can start our players with this diet thing at an early age, they will grow to become way better than we see them being now. If
Ronaldo, at his age, can still perform with the same intensity and dedication, there’s nothing preventing a youngster from doing that throughout his career. With me, comparing myself between now and when I was younger, I can tell that there is a huge difference. Had I started with this when I was starting out in the PSL, I think I would have gone way further than I am today. So, your diet plays a big role in any sportsman’s career.
TM: Do you feel you’re in the best shape you’ve ever been?
LM: Yes, I feel confident with my shape. I feel confident every time I walk into the field of play and I feel confident to take off my shirt in the middle of nowhere (laughs). It’s just unfortunate that you can’t take off your shirt after scoring, or else you get a yellow card. If it was back in the days, I was going to play topless (laughs).
TM: What else would you say has changed about you?
LM: Mentally, I’d say I’m stronger than I was before, which is one thing that has really helped me go through difficult times, because life changes. I’m at a phase where I see life differently and I see football differently and when I play, I look for opportunities with a different view. With the kind of players I am playing with now, who are experienced with a mixture of youngsters, it makes your job easier because you have confidence in your teammates. Also, competition has made me to be the way I am. When I look back, throughout my career, I’ve always had people who push me at training and during games. If you want to grow in football, you must always pray to get competition in your position because that will go a very long way.
TM: Three of your five goals this season were against your former teams – Orlando Pirates, Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs.
LM: As you grow, you see things differently. For me, I don’t even pay attention that I’m playing against my former team. Every game for me is important. Every goal I score, I celebrate it the same way, be it against my former team or a team I’ve never played for. I’m just enjoying scoring.
TM: Some players never celebrate against their former teams, a topic that was raised by Soccer Laduma editor Vuyani Joni in his column in last week’s edition. What’s your take?
LM: People differ. I can’t really understand the reason behind that, but everything starts with someone and then it becomes a trend. Maybe it was someone who started this trend, where the player scored against a former team that made him, and then he felt no need to celebrate, and then other people saw that and thought if you score against your former team, there’s no need to celebrate. For me, when I go to another club, they are the ones who pay me, they are the ones I represent. So, when I score, I have to celebrate with my teammates. I have no hard feelings against any of my former teams, so it’s not like when I celebrate, I want to get back at them. I am just doing what I’m paid to do, and I celebrate with my teammates because football is a team sport. In order for me to get myself in a scoring position, it’s because of my teammates. If I don’t celebrate, I deprive them that opportunity of celebrating the hard work they put in for me to score.
TM: Your most recent goal against a former team was against Chiefs. You and Itumeleng Khune are, of course, quite close. Did you talk about it after the game?
LM: We are friends, and we are professional enough to separate our friendship from our work. You will be amazed that we do talk about football, but certain things like this incident we don’t even talk about that much because we don’t want to destroy one another. It’s not like we are there to destroy one another and brag about whatever. For me, he is still a good goalkeeper and he will always be the best goalkeeper I have ever seen in the PSL. I am proud to be his friend. Other than that, a goal is a goal, regardless of who I put it past.
TM: Let’s focus a bit more on AmaZulu FC. Even Ray Charles can see the kind of impact coach Benni McCarthy has had on the team since his arrival.
LM: Just like a good lecturer, I believe Benni is a good coach. He knows what he wants and he knows his plan. He has made his philosophy and goals to be known to players, and what he expects from every player. That makes your job to be easy as a player because you know what is expected from you. I would say he has really become a good coach, a good tactician. He motivates and he is firm when you do wrong, and I think that’s the best thing you can ask for in a coach. You don’t want someone who is going to shy away when you are doing wrong. The very same way he comes to you when you are doing wrong, he will come to you when you are doing well. When you have someone with that integrity, you are bound to always be at your best.
TM: Do you feel his presence is helping you, considering he was a striker?
LM: Yes. I don’t want to lie, every session does not finish without a finishing exercise. With him and coach “Bhele” (Siyabonga Nomvethe) and both of them being former strikers, it also contributes. One thing that I always laugh about and kind of enjoy is that they also
join these finishing drills. You wouldn’t want to be beaten by a coach who is no longer playing football. I think that also adds up into us wanting to be better. I must say both of them are tactically gifted and you can see it in the way they strike the ball. It’s years of experience.
TM: Do they ever beat you in the finishing drills?
LM: (Laughs) No, I have never lost against them.
TM: What role does Bhele play, considering he played for AmaZulu and is deeply rooted into the KZN culture?
LM: Coach Bhele is that coach who approaches players individually, especially when he sees there is something you are struggling with. He will come to you and give a bit of advice. I’ve seen him having conversations with other guys during training sessions, trying to show them here and there. And if any player wants to do extra training, he is the one who is always there, making sure that he avails himself.
TM: What’s contributing to Usuthu’s positive results of late, after a slow start to the campaign?
LM: One thing I can tell you is that the belief that we have whenever we go into a game is something you can’t turn a blind eye to. Every time we step into the field of play, we have that belief that we are going to win, regardless of who we play against or how tough it is. I must also say the resilience and never-say-die attitude is there and I think you saw it when we played against (Bloemfontein) Celtic, where we scored in the 94th minute. You saw that when we were playing against (Golden) Arrows (in the Nedbank Cup), where we equalised towards the end of the game. That shows we don’t give up. You saw it when we played against Chiefs. They equalised and we managed to score towards the end of the game. We believe that we deserve to win a game when we play. That boosts the confidence of the team and makes us stronger.
TM: What about the new signings?
LM: If you were to be appointed as a coach of this team, which starting line-up would you have? As a coach, I think that’s the kind of headache you want to have. Everyone you see at AmaZulu is equally capable of being in the starting line-up. You only get that if you have assembled a good team and have the right players mentally.
TM: There’s also good experience in the team with the likes of Siphiwe Tshabalala, Tsepo Masilela and yourself …
LM: You require experience and that’s why they say experience can never be bought. These are people who have been through good and bad times in football. These are people who know how it feels to win silverware. Each of us still has that hunger to win silverware because what’s football without silverware? Silverware is something you can point at and say, ‘I played for so many years and this is what I won.’ With their brains and motivation, I have seen a guy like Tsepo giving advice to (Sibusiso) Mabiliso and they play in the same position. I’ve seen Shabba doing it with a few players in the team and that’s what we need, for them to share the same goal with whoever is playing. It’s rare to find.
TM: Looking at the squad AmaZulu has, can it get to a point where you can compete for silverware?
LM: Yes. I’ve seen that with Cape Town City when it was first assembled. The squad we had there was more or less than same as the one we have now at AmaZulu. We managed to win silverware (Telkom Knockout) and we also managed to compete for the title and we lost it towards the end. I feel the same way about this team – the mood, the team spirit and belief of players who are here.
TM: Based on what you’ve seen from Shabba in training, how much do you feel he still has to offer?
LM: I think as South Africans, we’re still stuck on the mentality that once you go over 30, then you can never deliver. But then we contradict ourselves by still supporting people overseas who are in their late 30s. When we in South Africa are above 30, people then say we are ready to retire. They don’t give them an opportunity to prove themselves and they don’t give them that belief they had in them previously. There are so many players I see who are over 30 and I’m amazed with the kind of performances they give week in and out. Our coach, Bhele, played until he was about 40 and he was still capable of delivering. Shabba is no different. Every day at training, he works hard and if you look at his physique now, he is well-built.
TM: Major, it’s been a fantastic chat. Cheers!
LM: Thank you. ❐
“Mr Fitness”, fire away! At Dynamos, we played the secondlast game of the season in Venda against African Wanderers. Big relegation battle. I had coached Wanderers before, where Gordon Igesund was my assistant and we also had (Michael) “Bizzah” Dlamini. They also stayed in the same hotel with us. I got a call, saying, “Wanderers officials want to meet you, Walter, urgently.” I said, “What for?” The person said, “No, they want to talk to you. They have something for you. It’s an important game for both teams. They want to fix something.” So, I said, “Listen, no, no, no, I don’t want to talk. But maybe later after tea.” I then decided to go in the sauna because I thought they wouldn’t come and find me in the sauna. I stayed there an hour. There was a couple with me inside the sauna. Suddenly, (there’s) a knock at the sauna door. I opened and it’s the African Wanderers officials standing there, the coach and the manager. I said, “What do you want here?” They said, “Coach, we want to talk to you about tomorrow’s game. You know, you don’t need to win. We play a draw, we look after you.” I said, “No, I can’t come out. I’m sick. The doctor said I must come into the sauna, so I can’t come out.” You know what happened?
Huh?
I said, “If you want to talk to me, you must come into the sauna.” They were dressed in suits, complete with the ties. So, before I opened the door for them to come in, I put hot water on the sauna. It was burning… 45 degrees Celsius. I was sitting there in my swimsuit. They came in, and I prolonged the joke and asked, “What do you want?” They explained to me. They were sweating. They said, “Coach, it’s too hot!” I said, “Doesn’t matter, if you want something. I can’t go out now, you know. I must get the heat for tomorrow. I’m sick. I need to stay in the sauna.” They were there for about 10 minutes, but they were burning, sweating, with red faces. I released them and we agreed ona draw for the game. Come the next day, I beat them 2-0 and they were relegated for the second time, ha, ha, ha.
Ha, ha, you were too hot for these officials to handle! One funny muti story from Moroka Swallows, we played at George Goch Stadium against Mangaung United. I was still player-coach. We had three players from Zimbabwe – a goalkeeper, a defender and a new striker. The new striker hadn’t scored a goal in two games. Swallows used a lot of muti in those days. I never disagreed with muti because I said to players, “Listen, I don’t believe in it. I don’t want any muti man ever next to me. If you believe in it, you do it somewhere else, not in front of me.” So, in the change room, there was a big basin with all sorts of muti inside of it… chicken, blood, everything, and it was stinking. All the players had to jump inside, you know. So, this player refused because he said, “I don’t believe in muti, I’m a Christian.” I said, “Listen, you haven’t scored in any game. Maybe it will help you.” No, he wouldn’t go. So, when he walked past the basin, one player tripped him and he fell inside the muti, ha, ha, ha. Anyway, we go out and we hammered them 11-1. I scored two goals and our new striker scored a hattrick. After the game, h esa id to me, “Coach, this muti really works.” The next game, he was the first one to jump into the muti, ha, ha, ha.
In terms of the players, who were the troublemakers?
Of course, I always had big troublemakers, but I was always a players’ coach. I fought for the players. That’s why officials didn’t want me and wanted me to go because I couldn’t take it. When I started out in the old days, the players didn’t even have contracts. You know, they gave them R50 or R70 a game from the gate-takings, which was ridiculous. At Swallows when I came there, some of the players slept on the garage floor of the club boss at the time… things like that. I hated it when they mistreated players. Let me quickly tell you a story… Do you remember Thokozani Mnguni?
Oh yes, Themba Mnguni’s younger brother. Good defender.
He came on loan to us at Black Leopards. When I came there to training, I asked for a list of players and read out the names to get to know them. At my first training session, on a Monday, I called out Thokozani Mnguni – not here. Tuesday, Thokozani Mnguni – not here. Wednesday – not here. The players were laughing and I said, “Why are you laughing?” They said, “No, coach, he’s supposed to be our captain, but you will hear the story when he comes.” I said, “What do you mean ‘a story’? You can’t play whereas you were not at training.” So, he turns up Thursday morning, I smell some alcohol on him. I said, “Listen, what’s that? In training (only) now. Alcohol. Where have you been for three days?” He said, “Oh, my uncle passed away.” This happened every week. Then it was his aunt who died, then it was another relative, which led to him not turning up for two to three days’ training. But I was under so much pressure because we had to win all nine games (left). He was the captain and he was my top player, even with drinking and missing two-three training sessions, which I would never have allowed in any other situation. I would not have played him, but I had to field him because we had to win every game and he was outstanding in every game despite coming drunk on Thursday to training. Still, you could smell the alcohol, but he was unbelievable. I’ll tell you what happened to him. Unfortunately, I lost him for the last important games. He got injured in his knee. At Leopards, they had a witchdoctor from Swaziland.
So, what happened to Mnguni?
David Byrne was my assistant coach. On the Monday after the game where he got injured, I said to David, “Please take him to the physiotherapist. I need him to play on Sunday.” On Wednesday, Thokozani was not at training. I asked David, “What’s happening now? Why is he not here? Didn’t you take him to the physio?” He said, “Coach, you won’t believe what happened. The officials told me: ‘Don’t say anything to Walter, the coach. We’ve got our own medicine man, the sangoma, who fixes injuries. We don’t need a doctor or the physio’.” He said, “At 23h00, they called me to fetch Thokozani from his room, not to tell anybody. We went to the sangoma. A lady took him, put some muti around and then she spat on his knee. Then she took the elbow and, with the elbow, she hit the kneecap. Guess what? She buggered up the kneecap, so he couldn’t play. He was out for the last three games.