“Jingles” made life so wonderful
OnthepassingofFrank “Jingles” Pereira
I used to follow the late Frank “Jingles” Pereira’s career from his time with Kaizer Chiefs, where he was one of the few white players who was integrated into the old National Professional Soccer League. He was revered by supporters. This is why he was given the name “Baba ka Sibongile” and he was in the Chiefs side that was unstoppable in 1981. He had such a great and wonderful career. When he joined Chiefs, that was the first time I saw a skillful white player. At the time, I was still part and parcel of Hungry Lions amateur team and we used to play curtainraiser matches before Chiefs games. Whenever we played curtain-raiser matches at Rand Stadium, we would get an opportunity to see all these big-name players and marvelled at this white man who could dribble and play from the back. Back then, that was something rare because of racial segregation. We were not privy to seeing skilful white players who could defend, score goals and dribble, and Jingles had it all. Jingles and Lucky Stylianou were something out of this world. Players from his era are incomparable. Jingles had passion, he had a winning mentality, he could graft and that is why it was easy for him to play for a team with players like Jan “Malombo” Lechaba, Pule “Ace” Ntsoelengoe, Teenage Dladla, Leonard “Wagga Wagga” Likoebe, Jacky Masike, Simon “Bull” Lehoko, Ryder Mofokeng and Zacharia “Computer” Lamola. These are the players that you cannot compare with players from my generation or current players.
Jingles belongs to a generation of talented and exceptionally gifted players that knew what football stood for. Those players knew how to dish out world-class football for fans who were coming to matches in numbers. I don’t think there is anybody you could compare him to. For me, it’s difficult to think of any central defender, who could read and play the game from the back like Jingles did. Maybe Mark Fish, Lucas Radebe and Mark Tovey are a few that could come close to him, but Jingles started playing from the back before it became a trend.
On playing under Jingles at Orlando Pirates
When he coached us at Pirates, he gave me permission to train in Mafikeng, where I went to school, and travel to Pirates matches on matchdays. He was somebody who believed in youngsters and Pirates at the time was a team of youngsters because the club didn’t have money. The language he used when he coached us made him relatable and the only other coach who was like that was Manny Pinheiro. They were both way ahead of their time, they both understood black players. When I made my professional debut during the 1987 Iwisa Charity Spectacular, Jingles was not around – he joined us the following week before the league started. I was in awe when I met him – he was tall and spoke in isiZulu, which surprised me. The confidence he gave me, the understanding and the courage that he gave me in my first year, it meant so much. As a youngster, I saw all the Kaizer Chiefs players winning and here was this guy that knew everything about winning. In my first professional season, we reached the JPS Cup final and I was scoring goals under him. He encouraged me to be who I wanted to be and not who people wanted me to be because of my late father. He gave me confidence and told me that in a couple of years, I would be playing overseas, and that is what happened when I went to Turkey. It was an experience that I will never forget. People talk of Barcelona, but the Kaizer Chiefs team that Jingles played for played that type of football. In onev-one situations, he would tell me, “G win ya lo m un tu” and that meant I should dribble past a player. He wanted us to entertain fans and get results. He taught us how Orlando Pirates should play and emphasised that supporters should be happy when they go home. That is the type of football he wanted us to play. Pirates, at the time, were going through financial challenges and the only seasoned players that we had were Basil Steenkamp and Nick “Bazooka” Seshweni. Jingles made life so wonderful. There was a time when we were (in) position 13 and people saw us as relegation candidates, but the message that Jingles instilled in our heads was so powerful. He made us think like winners. Every weekend when I was traveling from school in Mafikeng to Pirates matches, I used to look forward to listening to this man. 1987 was one of my best years and Jingles made my life easy.
On the father-figure he was
Jingles was a father figure to me. If our matches were on Sundays, he used to make sure that I brought my school books to camp so I could study and do my homework. He would check on us during distressful times when we didn’t know when salaries would be paid. He sympathised with us and knew about our backgrounds. The last time I spoke to him was when we did an interview with Robert Marawa. Two weeks before he passed, I heard that he was not well. While I was trying to find out which hospital he was in and contemplating to visit, it was already too late. That is when I heard the news of his passing. It was sad to hear the news because this is someone who gave me my first game, and whenever I was on off-season during my time in Turkey and Columbia, I always made sure I went to visit him. But once I retired, I didn’t make a lot of contact with him, and that is something that we need to improve on as a country because we need to look after our legends while they are still alive. But I will always be grateful to Jingles. May his soul rest in peace.