Jersey number 10 doesn’t make Dolly
Lunga Adam: In your opinion, is Keag an Dolly carrying the team well like a jersey number 10 should? Justice Sithole: I believe that Dolly, one, is a very good player. I think Chiefs made a good signing when they signed him. So far , in terms of his performance, I think he can only improve because I believe he can offer Chiefs a lot. Dolly can give Chiefs a lot of trophies, but ke ukuthi (it’s just that) he came to Chiefs when the team wasn’t in a good situation to accommodate players such as him. When he came in, the team was struggling and they needed to go back to the Chiefs we all know and Dolly alone would not have done miracles. We’ve seen Dolly performing well in games, but the truth is that you alone will never make Soccer Laduma one of the best newspapers or whatever, you get what I’m saycollective ing? It needs a effort and teamwork. He needs teammates that will help him to become what we know him to be and even better. So, until things are alright at Chiefs, that’s the day we will see the best of Keagan Dolly and other players. When it comes to jersey number, eish, mina mf’ethu (me, my brother), these things of jersey numbers I’ve never taken them to my head, on a serious note. For me, a jersey number is a jersey number. If you can get the right person for number 10… not necessarily number 10 but any other number… that person will make that number a good number. The fact that he’s wearing number 10, that doesn’t make Dolly. Jersey number 10 doesn’t make Dolly. Look at it this way…
LA: We’re listening. JS:
You can take number 10 and sideline it and decide that you’ll wait for a player that will be suitable to wear that jersey, and then you don’t get that player. Instead, a defender arrives and he becomes the best defender wearing number 10 or a striker comes and becomes the best striker and scores lots of goals wearing number 10. So, for me, the issue of jersey number, it’s the same as age – it’s just a number. If you are going to get the right player at that particular time, then it’s fine, give that player the jersey that you feel he deserves, whether it’s number 10 or number 20 or number 21 or number what-what. I don’t know if you understand my point, because I believe as South Africans, we have this thing… we like to compare. The mistake that I think we make, which ends up putting our players under pressure, is that we want to compare. Sifuna ukuthi sifanise uLunga no Justice or sifuna ukufanisa uJustice no Lunga (We want to compare Lunga to Justice, or vice-versa). Lunga is a brand yena self, nami mangifika (and when I arrive), I have to make a name for myself. My aim of coming to Chiefs is not wanting to be better than so-and-so or competing with so-and-so, my aim is to deliver and do my job. Manje thina (We) as South Africans, we have this thing of saying if Justice was wearing number 21 at Chiefs, then this boy who’s just arrived at Chiefs needs to do the same or even better than Justice. So, that boy is already under pressure to do what he is able to do, and now he has to raise the bar while he hasn’t even done anything. Already he wants to score 20 goals if Justice scored 19 goals for Chiefs so that he can be better than Justice.
LA: Eish… JS:
So, why when a player arrives at a club, we say you have to be like Jomo because you are wearing number 10? Or you have to pass like Shakes Kungoane because you are wearing number 10. If I can’t pass like Shakes Kungoane, so am I not allowed to pass the way that I know how to pass? Look at it this way, Lunga. The most important thing is for the ball to reach my teammate, as for how it gets there it’s not important. Players can make a pass in different ways, but in the end, where does the pass go? It goes to your teammate, right? If I am a long ball specialist, as long as my long ball has reached my teammate and he’s used it the right way, that’s important for me. So, I think the day as South Africans we start to judge a player based on his performance or abilities, then I think our football will improve. If I can pass the ball simple, then allow me to pass the ball simple. Don’t judge me based on the number on my back. The most important thing is the football that’s being played on the field, not the number. This is the same as judging players based on the money they are getting compared to the money we were getting before. It’s not right, mf’ethu. Look at it this way. A person who was working at Soccer Laduma in the early days of the paper was not earning, let me say, R20 000 – I’m just making an example. Maybe he was earning R500. But if mina I can come to Soccer Laduma and earn R100 000, it’s my time to earn R100 000. ❐