KENNEDY MAKARA STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS

(PART 2)

One of the interesting things we took out from your first part last week is the fact that your trial stint at Bloemfontein Celtic lasted just 15 minutes. That’s mind-blowing!

It was literally 15 minutes, my brother, because Styles Phumo had to stop the game and say, “You and you and you, come this side.” You know how the trials are conducted. The following day, we were inside the kombis… You know Ntate (Petrus) Molemela bought some kombis which were written “Phunya Sele Sele, Bana Bao Shebile”. It was two microbuses, one was green and white. Imagine, the second day we are there going to play friendly games against one of the mines in the Free State, and the rest is history.

There must have been some form of resistance from the players who were already there though, as you were coming to take up a position held by one of them.

Oh yes! We still keep talking of the intelligence of the late Styles Phumo. How do you infuse the other players into the already existing players because you know professional football is employment. Others would feel bad and think, “These boys are going to take us out of the jobs.” But what Styles did, during some of the friendly games in the off-season, he would gradually invite Ace Gulwa, (Abram) “Wire” Nteo, Fabian McCarthy because I remember when… we went to play some friendly games in Vryburg, which is where McCarthy comes from, and gradually we started our partnership with him there. I would play four and five with Fabian, which is there in the centre of defence. So, that’s how he introduced us gradually so that when the senior guys… we used to call them senior players, but eish, my brother, let me just tell you something off the record but you can publish it if you wish.

Publish we will, ha, ha, ha.

Rona (Us), we never had senior players, we believed that we were senior players. Imagine, as a trialist, I wanted to be a captain there. I told the guys, “Hey guys, when the season starts, you vote for me. I’m a captain.” Ha, ha, ha. Remember we were still trialists. Then on the first day, when we were doing the warm-up, when they were going right, we did our own warm-up going left, until Styles stopped us and said, “Hey, we are one team, we do the same warm-up.” Then there was also Willem Vries. He was a character. Very good footballer and a good human being. My heart is so sore to see him in the state that he is in. There were some publications which were saying Vries is struggling. I don’t know why Bloemfontein Celtic let him struggle.

Only God knows why, only God knows why. But Vries came when we played (Mamelodi) Sundowns. I remember the first game was against (Jomo) Cosmos, we destroyed them. The second game was against Kaizer Chiefs, we destroyed them. The third game was Sundowns, home game. Vries was there. When we beat Sundowns, Vries came to the dressing room and said, “Now you have a team, I’m coming.” That was because the previous season Celtic did not perform well. Then after Sundowns, we played Hellenic away. If you recall, it was not easy to beat Hellenic at night, but we destroyed them. I remember the interview ya (of) Styles and Chomane Chomane on radio, where Styles and Ntate Molemela were saying our pattern was morabaraba. “If you block here, we make sure you open a hole here.” Ha, ha, ha.

Lovely.

The manner in which Styles formed that unity amongst the players that were there before we came and us, it showed he was an intelligent coach. It takes an intelligent coach to manage that situation. I remember when we first arrived, some of the guys were staying there at Molemela Hotel and we would just pass each other in the stairs. We as the new ones would say, “Heita! Heita!” and they would not respond. Then we said, “Leave them, we’ll get them on the field because that’s where we know how to express ourselves well.” Usually the trialists… When the season opened, there would be a smalla-nyana friendly game, 11 v 11, between the guys that were here and the new guys, but Styles never made that game materialise because he knew what would have happened, ha, ha, ha. Thank God he didn’t because we were going to crush them, my brother. We were going to destroy them. Rona we were just unstoppable, and that’s why it took us 15 minutes to pass the trial.

Really good memories, man.

Ja, no, those were the days. We were just arrogant upon arriving there. Not arrogant in a bad way, but as a footballer, you need to be arrogant and not have stage fright. I don’t understand this thing of players having stage fright. If you are a footballer, you are a footballer. You can bring Messi, bring Maradona, I will play with them because I’m a footballer. And defenders everywhere, whether ke (it’s) Barcelona or Kaizer Chiefs or Sundowns, defenders defend. I’m a defender, I will defend anything that comes in front of me, uyabona (you see). So, I don’t know why people have stage fright. The difference between us, the newcomers, and that team of Styles Phumo that beat Chiefs, Sundowns and them… we were arrogant. We believed so much in our talent, and the rest is history because Lebohang Kukame was chosen to represent Bafana Bafana, Thiyekile “Ace” Gulwa was chosen from that team. And our coach… I remember we were playing (Manning) Rangers, who had won the league the previous year. That Rangers of (Simon) “Harare” Makhubela and Gilbert Mushangazhike. Trott Moloto was still the coach and he was looking for an assistant coach. We were playing there at Petrus Molemela Stadium, then it was called Seisa Ramabodu. We destroyed Rangers 2-0 there. I was a defender. Ntate Molemela had to come to the dressing room to shake my hand and say, “Well done, my son.” After that game, on Monday there was an announcement that Styles was the assistant coach to Trott. So, it meant that, my brother, we were just unstoppable. You can ask people that played with us. Ask Doctor (Khumalo). Ask (Roger) Feutmba. He will tell you what Thapelo (Liau) did there in the midfield at that tender age.

Players who played under him always speak fondly about the late Styles Phumo.

Styles was an intellect. He knew how to handle us as youngsters. You know, the good thing about him is that he was good at studying characters. He knew that hey, these ones are not your normal youngsters who have just been introduced into the team, they had something special and he was able to see that special thing. My brother, I will tell you something that happened at that time. You know the interference by management destroyed that football team. There was a time when I wanted a copy of my contract when I now had an agent. I wanted to know for how long I’d be there. Remember when we signed the forms as youngsters, they would hide all the other parts and say, “Sign here.” But because you wanted to play professional football as a youngster, you signed. Then way into the season, our eyes were being opened, that hey guys,

First paycheque: R3 000

Biggest bonus: R1 000

Opponent I respected the most: Doctor Khumalo & Roger Feutmba

Team I’d have loved to play for: Orlando Pirates

Favourite PSL player right now: Themba Zwane

Best coach I played under: Styles Phumo

Craziest request from a fan: Ha, ha, ha, I will share later! the season will end, then we might have to renew contracts. I then went to the office and wanted a copy of my contract. There was bo (the likes of) Ntate Ramabodu. Maybe some of them are not here on earth, may their souls rest in peace, but I hope they are still with us. They did not even call Ntate Molemela because he would want us to have that. He played his cards open, he had love for his players. I’m answering the question of how Styles was as a coach. So, he picked that up. Usually after training, they would drop us off where we were staying. I was staying in my own flat there. He made sure that I was the last one to be dropped. It was him and Ntate Silas, who was our driver. We used to call him “The Sea”. May his soul rest in peace. Styles then said to me, “Kennedy, monna the office has instructed me not to play you because wena you are a politician.” He then said, “Kennedy, monna you must not stop fighting for what you are fighting for.” Because I was questioning Styles about why I was being benched yet I had been playing well. I told him I played well in Cape Town, I played everywhere, we played Pirates and I played well. I remember I was marking Jerry Sikhosana at that time when we played at FNB Stadium. Maybe I lost two games in the PSL, when we were beaten by Cape Town Spurs and Pirates. Players who are fighting for their rights are a threat to teams. But Celtic was run by that office without Ntate Molemela. Remember he was in the construction, so he was building schools all over. He was seldom there in the team, and he would be fed lies that Kennedy did not train.

Sad stuff.

I remember in one radio interview, he was asked by Ntate Chomane, “Why was Kennedy not playing because he played well with Fabian when you beat Hellenic away.” He said, “No, they said Kennedy was injured.” That time, I was never taken off the field because of injury in my career in the PSL. So, that is why I am angry, my brother, especially if things are not happening in the right manner in football. People who distort the truth are my enemy.