SAM MAGALEFA
Welcome back. The walk down memory lane continues, and we know you are enjoying it as much as Soccer Laduma readers are enjoying reading about it. So, we were rudely interrupted by the gods of space as you were about to bless us with a Chancey Gondwe story last week. Let’s hear about it!
So, we used to stay at this big house, together with the likes of Mpumi Gamedze, Lucky Qaba, Josta Dladla, Ashley Makhanya and I. He was one of our senior players. Pre-season was set to begin the following day and he knew about everything as they had told us to bring takkies along as we wouldn’t need soccer boots for two weeks. Chancey Gondwe being Chancey Gondwe, he hadn’t slept a wink, and met us while we were getting into the bus. He hopped in and went to training with us. Guess what he had in his bag? A pair of six-stud boots, ha, ha, ha. We were wearing our club uniform ready to go to the mountain just underneath Marks Park, where we were going to do our running. He was asking, “Ah, what’s happening? Why is everybody wearing takkies? Are you road runners?” We told him, “No, it’s pre-season, we are going to do some running.” He said, “No, I can’t run with these things.” I think he wore those six-stud boots deliberately, knowing there was no way he was going to run wearing them. They told him to stay at Marks Park and do some laps until we were finished running that side. So, somebody saw him sitting down drinking water. He just waited for us and as soon as he saw the guy in front coming back, he got up and started running and splashing water on his face. When the rest of us got back, he threw himself on the ground, and when the coach asked him what was wrong, he said, “I’ve never run like that in my entire life!” Ha, ha, ha. But that old man had seen him, as soon as all of us were out of sight, Chancey just went to sleep. In fact, the man snitched on him. That was funny because for almost a year, he always reminded us about that day, saying he had never run like that in his entire life. He didn’t know that the whole team knew he had done nothing and was just relaxing there.
Ha, ha, ha, he was a crazy guy.
Then the other day, he said he had forgotten his takkies at home and then he started borrowing takkies from the guys. However, all of us wore smaller sizes than him. Also, he wanted the coach to hear that he was borrowing takkies. He would say, “Hey Sammy, borrow me takkies man. You don’t have spare?” It also seemed he was targeting those of smaller feet, and it was hilarious because even if one of us had the takkies, they still wouldn’t fit him, ha, ha, ha. So, he kept up with the stories for the whole week just to avoid pre-seastories. son. Everybody knows the Again, the funny thing is that for the whole year after that, he tried to conrun vince us that, “Ah, I was gonna that day, but I didn’t have takkies.” When we went back to the hotel, the coach asked us to check in his room if there were any takkies lying around. When we got there, he had about 15 pairs of takkies, ha, ha, ha.
What!?
And he never used to wear six-stud boots when we went to play, he only wore them that time to avoid running. That was a funny character. I also remember there was a time when we were sitting in a restaurant during a team evening outing. I don’t k nowwho had just bought a phone, but his ringtone sounded something like, “Tick! Tick! Tick!” As we were eating, it just kept making this sound. Then suddenly, Chancey got up from his seat and almost knocked the table over, before asking, “Hey! Is that a bomb?” Ha, ha, ha. We were like, “No maan Chancey, it’s a phone.” He really looked frightened in that moment! Everybody started panicking when he got up like that. He was such a character that guy. Another one… Bra George (Mogotsi, former Wits general manager) was aware that the guy giving the players that cheeky attitude at times, so as he was waiting for Chancey to finish up, he said to him, “Hey! Hey wena !I will leave here!” Chancey peeped through the window and said, “Ja, you can leave and YOU will play.” Ha, ha, ha. He was like, “You can leave me, but wena you will play. Ngizosala mina, kuzodlala wena (I will stay behind, and you’re the one who’s going to play).” Ha, ha, ha. George had to wait for 30 minutes. That guy was having a shower, then he made breakfast for himself, after which he came out of there walking like a tortoise. Hey, that guy was a character.
Ha, ha, ha, it seems Bra George, who had a reputation as an administrator who took no prisoners, met his match that day. What a character Chancey was… Yeah, he was. And ungamngeni ujahile, uzokuphoxa (don’t attack him in a rush, he will put you in your place). He always had answers, and his answers were never simple ones. It was those answers that left you wondering, “When did he think about what he’s just told me?” Remember he was one of the highest earners in the team, so during month-end, he would greet you by saying, “Boy! Boy!” and then pass you by. But when he had no money and wanted you to lend him some, you would hear him calling you, “Ah! Sammy Jackson! Sammy Doe!” Or he would say, “Ah, Mpumelelo Gamedze! International from Swaziland! This boy can play!” Ha, ha, ha, then you must know there’s something he wants, and that
What about Jomo Cosmos? There must have been lots of funny players during your time there.
The character at Cosmos was (Innocent) Ntsume. There was one time we were in the room and he used one of the players’ phones and called Sibusiso “Mpasha” Hadebe pretending to be a journalist. He said something like, “I’m Lunga from Kick Off. I’ve heard you have a problem. Jomo is not playing you and (Orlando) Pirates want you. So, how much do you earn at Cosmos?” Ha, ha, ha, Mpasha straight away said, “I’m earning 2 point 5 (R2 500)! This man is robbing me. He’s frustrating me, I’m not playing. My contract says one, two, three. Please speak to Irvin (Khoza) there, mf’ethu (my brother), so that he can make things happen. I just want to get out of here!” They went on and on for, like, three minutes and we were all laughing wildly in the background. Imagine, he had even revealed his salary, which was so embarrassing. He really opened up some ‘files’ we didn’t know about. We also had Khwezi Masondo as our team manager. He was always joking around with the players. You would never see “Meneer” in a foul mood. Especially me, he used to target me a lot, ha, ha, ha. He would say, “Sammy, umnyama maan (you are so dark in complexion). The way you are so dark, it’s like you have been burnt inside a shack by comrades. Ngimubi, maar ngingconi kuwe (I’m ugly, but you are something else).” Every day, he would come for me, that sometimes even before he opened his mouth, I would be telling him, “I know what you are going to say.” He is one of those people who made our confidence grow because he was always happy. At times, you even forgot that Jomo (Sono) had robbed you once you saw Meneer. And there were things he said to you where you knew it wasn’t him talking. We knew who had sent him and that if he didn’t say those things, that would be him gone from the club!
Ha, ha, ha, that’s quite interesting what you’ve just said. We do it for the last time next week. Okay.