Take it from me, goalkeepers are really crazy

Let me first apologise to Pirates’ fans, I know they are going to think I am rubbing salt into a fresh wound but please bear with me, it is something which might help you understand why your goalkeepers are so prone to schoolboy errors.

As I watched that Hlompho Kekana goal against Bucs, I remembered a conversation I had with Manqoba Mngqithi some years ago while he was coach at Golden Arrows.

He had a keeper there, his name was Nkosana Maseko if I remember correctly, who kept conceding what could easily be termed as silly goals.

I asked Mngqithi why he kept using him because he was obviously a weak link and costing the team. His reply was: “All goalkeepers are a little crazy and they are people you don’t have to take too seriously because if you do, you might die young.”

Maseko happened to pass by just as that comment was made but to this day I am not sure if he heard us or not.

But those words have stayed in my mind and whenever a keeper does something like that Wayne Sandilands howler, I understand and just feel sorry for them.

I also remember that when I was young and playing football we had a keeper whom we called Mbhodobhodo because of his strange

Sibongiseni Gumbi

antics.

He was good, well, he was the only keeper we had anyway.

In one game he was making such unbelievable saves against this one striker and we later learnt they had had a disagreement over a girlfriend and they had agreed that if he scored, he would keep the woman but if he didn’t, then Mbhodobhodo got her. I mean, who agrees to such a thing?

Before that match he had given strict instructions to his defenders that they must “take care” of him. That striker was later substituted and the match was still level at 0-0. It was then that Mbhodobhodo conceded two silly goals and when we shouted at him he took off his gloves, handed them to the coach and went to his buddies who were sitting at one corner and joined them as they were drinking there.

There are many other incidences where keepers have proved to be a little crazy. I was making a joke about how it was the first time I saw a goalkeeper watch the ball hit his own net when he was outside his 18-yard area after Arrows’ Nkosingiphile Gumede conceded against the Buccaneers last weekend.

And also just look at how Oscarine Masuluke scored that goal which is now world-famous. Even now he can’t really explain what drove him to run across the field to the other end, except that he got a “feeling” he needed to do it.

I read yesterday that Micho is still undecided on whether he will use Sandilands or replace him with someone else for tonight’s match. I smiled because in my mind I just thought maybe he needs to speak to all his keepers and try to determine who is less crazy on that day and play him.