You think these young boys know that?
On Kaizer Chiefs’ 2-0 win ov er hoodoo side Royal AM
If you look at the officials and players at Kaizer Chiefs, they are really in heaven after this weekend’s 2-0 win against Royal AM. When they lose and are not getting the r es ults they want, they get edgy becaus e they know what that m eans. I think it’s hum an nature that when you get m oney easily, you spend it recklessly because you know that tom or r ow you will get another one. The point I’m trying to m ake is that at Kaizer Chiefs, the problem is that there is no com petition and the officials have been lenient on the player s . Even when players m ake m istakes, they know that they will always get paid. Nobody is harsh on them and it m eans nothing for them to los e a gam e. After los ing a gam e, the very sam e routine they had befor e, they will do it again. But now things have changed. On the eve of Kaizer Chiefs’ birthday celebr ation on Januar y 6, we were at Kaizer’s (Motaung) house in Phefeni, where the team was s tar ted. We called them (player s ) all, s at them down and told them about the beginning of ever ything. I told them to com par e that hous e and Naturena. Eight players used to s leep in that hous e in Phefeni, we used to eat there and had to wait for another player to finishing taking a bath. But in Natur ena, they have ever ything – they have m oney, they have car s and ever ything. And their problem is that they don’t know the feeling of s upporters after losing a m atch. For us, we knew because we used to m ingle with our s uppor ter s as they us ed to com e to Phefeni – they us ed to s it with us . As a goalkeeper , if I conceded a silly goal, supporters would tell m e how they felt and that encour aged m e. We knew that we were not alone because there wer e people who watched us when we won and when we los t or m ade m istakes. That m akes you a team that does n’t want to los e.
A blast from the past…
Let m e share another story. One of our officials, the late Bab’ China Ngem a, once cam e to our hotel while we wer e having a team breakfast before a m atch against Or lando Pir ates . He took s om e of the players, including m yself Petrus “Ten-Ten” Nzim ande, Pule “Ace” Ntsoelengoe, Ariel “Pr o” Kgongoane, Her m an “Pele” Blaschke and Michael “Bizzah” Dlam ini – he dr ove us to Or lando Stadium ver y ear ly and when we arrived, there were buses of fans from East London, kom bis from Eswatini, Botswana and Lesotho. There were lots of cars outside the stadium and som e fans dr inking tea, queuing up waiting for the gam e, which was going to start late. Mr. Ngem a said to us, “The reason why I brought you here is because I want you to see how m uch thes e people love you.” Som e of them cam e from rural ar eas and had been s aving m oney to pay a kom bi or bus in or der to travel for 20 hours so that they could s ee us play for les s than two hours, and they would be going back again. Mr Ngem a s aid to us , “Thes e fans who ar e her e, m os t of them don’t have m oney to buy food and you guys sleep nice at hotels and los e the gam e.” What we s aw that day brought us together and we had to r elay it to other player s who were not there. That m ade us realise what it m eant for suppor ter s when we los t a gam e. You think thes e young boys know that? No, they don’t know. They los e a gam e and still go to a party, they have fun and get paid. The differ ence between the Chiefs of today and the Chiefs of yes ter year is the com m unication between player s , officials and s uppor ter s . We never s tayed away fr om our supporters because they are the ones who m ade us who are today.
‘The win against Royal AM is a relief’
The win against Royal AM is a relief for m e. Arthur Zwane, he said to us, “If I can be given a chance like (Arsenal m anager) Mikel Ar teta, I can do this .” Kaizer Chiefs is a team that wants to win and have supporters m ore than any team in the country. If he does s om ething and s uppor ter s ar e happy, they will give him a chance. But you don’t have to los e 4-0 to Am aZulu FC – that is not good. If you play bad, play a dr aw and if you los e, los e by 1-0. He los t to (Mam elodi) Sundowns – yes, they m is s ed chances , but it was a good gam e. What I’m saying is, give Arthur a chance. The m an m ust grow and we will see his philosophy after a season or two. Maybe it will take another two m or e year s for Kaizer Chiefs to win a trophy but not now or next year. People m ust understand that Arthur is fr om the developm ent depar tm ent and he believes that these young boys will give him glory, which is a wr ong thing to do. You cannot gr oom them all – along the r oute, you need to have well-exper ienced players in different positions. At the back, you need to have one or two, in the m iddle as well and up front you need one experienced s tr iker s o that you can have a balanced team with youth and exper ience. But Ar thur wants all of them and it’s not pos s ible, es pecially in a countr y wher e young player s don’t have the basics. In Europe, you can do that because players grow up knowing the bas ics of football. Her e, we don’t have that. We s till watch m atches wher e player s don’t know how to tr ap the ball. They don’t even know whether they ar e offside or not. Arthur believes he can m ake s tar s out of thes e young boys. If you look at players he wants to lift the team , they are so thin and weak. If you have a team like Kaizer Chiefs, you need one big guy, even if it’s not a good footballer but som eone who will destroy. We need the harder one. At Chiefs , they ar e s am e s ize. The new s tr iker , Chr is tian Saile Bas om boli, you could see he is a hard worker and good footballer . A good footballer , when you ar e in pos s es s ion of the ball, you don’t look down. I saw Keagan Dolly and another player talking to him and telling that he m ust look up and cross and when he did, the s econd goal cam e. Befor e that, he was s hooting for him s elf. He is the bes t s igning of the last seasons though.