ISAAC MASIA (PART 3)

VENDA FOOTBALL CLUB’S

Third instalment it is, “Fish”, and we hope it continues to get crazier and crazier. Last week, you had some crazy tales to tell about, among others, Lefa Hlongwane, who was your teammate at Black Leopards. We know that there is another exteammate you have been dying to get some stuff off your chest about. Tell us about this character…

Ha, ha, ha, it’s Edwin Gyimah. What a character! When you see him dancing, then you must know that we just got paid and he is happy. But get him when he does not have money or when he is not happy, then you will see him not smiling, ha, ha, ha. You will have to dance to his tune on that day. You better not make him angry on that day, ha, ha, ha. I’m telling you, when it’s payday and he has money, he is happy and has jokes for days, ha, ha, ha. He might look serious, but he has this funny side to him.

Well, everyone is happy on payday.

When he is on the pitch, he talks a lot. He is always talking and he can intimidate you. You can hear him saying to an opponent, “I am a lion! I will eat you! I don’t eat grass!” Ha, ha, ha. That is so funny. We (Venda Football Club) were recently playing a friendly match against Sekhukhune United when we were in Johannesburg. We have a guy in our team named (Athini) Jodwana. So, the two of them went in for a 50/50 challenge and then Jodwana reacted. We were all wondering if he did not know who Gyimah was. Then we heard (Lehlohonolo) Seema saying, “No, no, no, Gyimah! Leave him alone!” Even Thabiso Nkoana was questioning Jodwana. Remember Nkoana played with Gyimah at SuperSport United, so he knows him very well.

Ha, ha, ha, let’s just say Nkoana was being a good teammate. Jodwana definitely owes him one.

Then Gyimah laughed after all of that. We were like, “That man will kill you.” Ha, ha, ha. If Gyimah kicks you, you just keep quiet, ha, ha, ha. Whenever Jodwana says something, I am like, “I will call Gyimah.” Ha, ha, ha.

No, man, why do you have to scare the man like that?

Ha, ha, ha, I am just making fun of him. But we all know that you don’t start with Gyimah. Just leave him alone. Guys like Gyimah are the ones who will come at you even when they are the ones who had kicked you, ha, ha, ha. If Seema had not stopped Gyimah that day, Jodwana would have probably been attacked and you would have heard that the friendly match was cancelled, ha, ha, ha.

Eish, we’ve heard stories about Gyimah. Some of them are best left unpublished, ha, ha, ha. Tell us more.

There was a time, during the biobubble…. We were in the bubble for about three weeks and we were 16th on the log in the topflight. We needed to push to stay away from relegation. Kaizer Chiefs were playing against Baroka FC. We thought that there was no way Chiefs would lose to Baroka. We were playing against (Mamelodi) Sundowns, who had the likes of Hlompho Kekana i nt heir team. I remember “Mshishi” (Themba Zwane) dribbled Gyimah and he fell on the ground. He held his waist and said it was sore, ha, ha, ha. Then he went off. In the second half, Sundowns scored three goals and then Baroka drew with Chiefs.

Yes, we remember this was the last day of the 2019/20 season, and Lebohang Maboe scored a hat-trick that day. Chiefs threw away the league title in the last 30 minutes when “Lord Kambala” equalized. We had to go to the play-offs. Polokwane City got relegated. Before going to the game against Sundowns, we had packed our bags and we were looking forward to going home after spending three weeks in the bio-bubble. But we had to play in the play-offs, which meant that we had to go back into the bio-bubble. My head started aching just from thinking about spending another three weeks in the bubble…

Hard luck!

I went crazy, but we had no choice but to spend three more weeks in the hotel. So, when we went into the dressing room after the defeat to Sundowns, I thought I was dreaming. Gyimah started hitting the security guards and he said he was leaving! They were telling him that he couldn’t leave because we had to take part in the play-offs. But he was forcing the issue. He hit the security guards, took his bags and said, “I want to go see my family.” Ha, ha, ha. They tried blocking him, but he left.

It did not matter to him that you guys had to participate in the play-offs?

Not at all. He was saying, “I am a lion, I will eat you.” Ha, ha, ha. When he was like that, there was no one who could stop him. He kept saying, “I am a lion!” The security guards opened the gate for him and he left. It was something I had never seen before. I have so many stories on Gyimah, but if I share more of them, I know he will call me, ha, ha, ha.

Coward, ha, ha, ha. But let’s also protect you from the welldocumented wrath of Edwin Gyimah. Many thanks for your time.

Ha, ha, ha. Thank you for the opportunity.