Hola Paseka, it’s been a while since we heard from you. Thanks for making time to chat to us, man. In Touch With...

PASEKA SEKESE (UNATTACHED)

Thanks for the opportunity.

So, where do we start?

There is a story I can remember from my early days in football. When I finished school, I went to SuperSport United for trials. Gavin Hunt was the coach at the time. I had this funny hairstyle. I had bleached my hair, like that Wiz Khalifa type of vibe. And then he was like, “I don’t want this one with that hair”, ha, ha, ha. So, I left, ha, ha, ha.

Just like that?

Yes, I went to Wits after that.

Wait a minute! He did not even watch you play a bit to see if you are good enough?

I played, but he was like, “I don’t want this one.” Then I was like, “Sharp.” I went to the Wits reserve team and then, from SuperSport, Gavin came there. And I was like, “Eish, this guy is here now.” Funny enough, he was the guy who promoted me to the first team, but he did not want to take me when I was at SuperSport, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha. It’s funny how life works sometimes. So, did he remember that you were the player he did not want because of the hair?

I don’t know. I don’t think he remembered, but I think my agent told him. My agent was Glyn Binkin at the time and he and the coach were close, so he probably told him.

Quite interesting! It would have been nice to know if he remembered you. But let’s move on…

Before I got to play my first game in the first team at Wits, we were playing a match in training. There was a free kick for the other team and we were defending. So, Moeneeb (Josephs) told me to be in the wall and then Gavin said I should move out from the wall. So, I decided to move. They took the free kick and scored, so Moeneeb was mad! He came running to me and he hit me on my head with the gloves he was wearing. I was mad and I started saying stuff to him. I left and went to the change room. There was ameeting afterwards and Gavin was like, “You know what? I am taking this one to the game on Saturday.” That’s how I started my first game, after fighting with Moeneeb, ha, ha, ha.

Brilliant. What a way to earn place in the team. You were brave enough to take on Josephs while you were a youngster fresh in the first team.

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Ha, ha, ha, yeah. I remember we were going to play against Polokwane City and Gavin was like, “You, I am taking you.” That’s how I started playing. It was such a crazy moment. It was just training, but you know how Moeneeb is. He came there and he was like, “You don’t f***ing listen!”

It made sense to listen to the coach at that moment…

Yes, I had to listen to Gavin. I would not listen to Moeneeb at that moment. It was like a small-sided type of game. Moneeb and I were cool after that. We never had any fights or anything like that. There was no beef between us.

Ha, ha, ha. Great story!

While I was at Richards Bay FC, my roommate was Kgotso Malope. We prepared for the whole week for this one game. I don’t remember who we were playing against that weekend, but it was a home game. Usually in the morning we’d go for breakgo fast and then for a walk afterwards. That day, we had breakfast and then we were like, “Let’s go to our room and then we will come back to go for a walk.” We went into the room and then we slept. Our teammates went for the walk and did all the stretching, and we were not there. We were fast asleep. That was the first time that happened. Simo Dladla was our coach, and he came in and then he was like, “You guys don’t listen.” He took us out of the team. It was a sad day for us. He replaced us with two other players, but we obviously did not sleep on purpose. We were watching the game from the stands, but luckily, we won the game. After the win, all that drama disappeared. But if we had lost the game, it was going to be a big thing, ha, ha, ha.

Yeah, right! How deep was that sleep? I don’t know what happened, ha, ha, ha. One more story I can think of is when I was at TS Sporting. We were playing against

Swallows. We travelled from Mpumalanga to Jozi for the game. It was an afternoon game and we lost 2-1. Benson Mhlongo was our coach. After the game, we went back to the hotel, we showered and then had dinner. After dinner, Mhlongo came in and he made us answer questions on why we lost. I think we were there until 02h00, ha, ha. We were sitting in the boardroom the whole night and we had to travel in the morning to go back to Mpumalanga. I’ll never forget that day. He made us sit there for hours.

So, he was not satisfied with your answers?

I think he was just not happy with the loss, and I don’t think it was a bad game. I think it was his first or second week back at Sporting. Imagine just after eating we had to have a meeting until 02h00. We were falling asleep on our way back to Mpumalanga because we had to wake up early. He kept walking up and down in the bus, trying to ask us questions about the defeat.

That defeat must have hit him hard hey, ha, ha, ha. Thanks for your time. Hopefully we can see you back on the pitch soon. Thank you so much.