ISAAC MASIA (PART 1)
VENDA FOOTBALL CLUB’S
Isaac, great to have you with us. This is not the first time you are joining us on ‘In Touch’, so you know exactly what to do, ha, ha, ha. Yes, thanks for having me back.
Let’s get straight into it…
The first story I want to share is from December, so it’s still a bit fresh. We were playing our last match of 2023 against NB La Masia. So, we played well, and it finished 2-2. You know, as footballers, sometimes we play rough. So, after a game we can get 100% juice and then each player gets their own food. There are times when the guys fool around and steal your juice. On that day, they stole one of the players’ juice. So, the guy who stole the juice took one of the 350ml cans and then he urinated in it. So, you know urine and apple juice can have a similar colour. So, he put it inside the bus and then Matimu Tshabalala picked it up. The guys acted like they were not seeing him. He drank urine without realizing it.
For real? No one stopped him before he drank it?
No. He drank urine. He could taste that it was urine and he spat it out immediately. We usually get juice, water or a recovery shake when we are in camp. So, sometimes the guys just steal your juice. I laughed, but I was like, “Guys, why are you doing this?” Because, can you imagine drinking someone else’s urine?
Literally distasteful. Eish, that must have been the worst feeling for him. How did he react?
Matimu did not speak to anyone after that. He was angry. At least if he had drunk his own urine, but someone else’s? Eish! I don’t think he will just go around drinking other people’s juices. He is someone who likes making jokes, but that day he was so quiet. We had a meeting the following day, which was the final one of the year, and the guys were laughing about that incident. The guys like pranking one another. Sometimes someone can just take your boots, even on the day of the game. At that time, we are meant to be warming up. So, pranks are things that we usually do in the team.
He will never touch juice that is not his… but let’s move onto the next one.
Recently, Matimu Tshabalala came to training with these funny-looking gloves. They looked like gloves that have rubber inside them. It’s the type of gloves that you would see the construction guys wearing. He wore those gloves for the whole week, and it was so hot. Can you imagine how hot Louis Trichardt is? He was wearing those gloves for the whole week, and I kept on laughing at him. Those gloves were blue, and he was wearing them in training. He is a funny guy. I call him “Skomota” because he likes making jokes. But he does not like it when I call him Skomota. I played with him at Black Leopards before I left to join Maritzburg United. I know that he loves making jokes.
Hewaswearingglove s i nt he heat of Venda? He is really brave, ha, ha, ha. Our goalkeeper coach Azwindini Maphaha is a character. He is not great when it comes to speaking English. I think it was in Soccer Laduma where they asked him where he learnt how to be a goalkeeper. In his response, he said, “Since I was in my mom’s bed”, ha, ha, ha. Can you imsurprised, agine? I was ha, ha, ha. Sometimes the guys just start a conversation in English, just so that they can hear what his response will be.
Crazy! You guys must show a little more respect to your goalkeeper coach. What a character. Since I got to the team, Maphaha is always collecting bones. Like when we are at the hotel, you will see him collecting bones because he has dogs. If we are in camp for two days, the plastic he carries with bones in it is so big, ha, ha, ha.
So, we also know that we should give him bones after we eat because he is going to take them home to his dog. The one time we were saying he should show us this dog that he keeps collecting bones for, ha, ha, ha. Coach Maphaha is a character. I have come a long way with him because we played together while we were at Magesi. Another thing about him is that ever since I got here last season, he has been saying he has a car, but I have never seen it. Last year, towards the end of the year, he told me that he bought a BMW X5. When I asked him where it was, he said he first wanted to buy tyres. To this day, I have not seen that car. He says tyres are expensive and the ones he got with the car need to be replaced. I am still waiting to see that car. But he is my grootman (senior). He is a great man… but he is quite the character.
Well, he sounds like one indeed. But let’s hold it right there for this week. We know you have so much more to share with us, so we will bring you back next week.
Ha, ha, ha! Thank you. I’ll have more stories to share next week.