Lucas Moripe
He is one of the greatest players ever to feature in South African domestic football … the amazing story of ‘Masterpieces’.
Aft ter having a street and stadium named after him in the township of Atteridgeville, Lucas Moripe was, to those lucky enough to have watched him, a man who could engage in the most outrageous dribbling stunts imaginable. In a game against Orlando Pirates, he left their defenders sprawled all around the pitch, then in an arrogant act of showmanship, opened up his jersey wide with both hands, flipped the ball in the air and caught it in the apparel. The referee spoiled his unconventional fun by promptly flashing a yellow card for handball. In this interview with KICK OFF’s Thomas Kwenaite, Moripe recalls a chilly winter evening at Orlando Stadium almost 48-years ago when he dribbled six visiting British XI players and scored a wonder goal that earned him a contract to pursue his career in Hong Kong.
Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe sports a perpetual smile that lights up his cherubic features these days, a result of unprecedented joy since the return to big time soccer of his beloved Pretoria Callies, who won promotion to the GladAfrica Championship at the end of the ABC Motsepe promotion playoffs.
His warm hand clutched mine and his grip was unusually soft. Recognition dawned and the corners of his eyes wrinkled. The gentle eyes danced and twinkled when I greeted one of the greatest footballers this country has ever produced.
A few years ago, a mild stroke left legendary Moripe slightly paralyzed but with the help of physiotherapy he has gradually regained the coordination of his movements and is no longer confined to a wheelchair.
There is no doubt that “Masterpieces” has contributed his fair share towards the development of local football in a career spanning almost two decades. He was one of the first players to advertise South African football in Asia at a time when the country was still banned by FIFA.
The late Pule “Ace” Ntsoelengoe once admitted to have been a great admirer of Moripe.
“I also admired Ace a great deal,” he replies. “And I remember we [Pretoria Callies] always planned on how to neutralise him in particular whenever we played Kaizer Chiefs.
“The task of closing him down always rested on ‘Malambo’ [Jan Lechaba],” said the man who formed a deadly combination with the late Patrick ‘Let them Dance’ Molala.
“No-one understood me better than ‘Potjo’ [Molala]. He almost always instinctively knew what I would do next with the ball before I had even made a pass!
“He was an exceptionally talented fellow with an incredible football brain. He operated as a number eight in those days and I was a number 10.
“At times we confused opponents by operating from the same flank.”
“AT TIMES WE CONFUSED OPPONENTS BY OPERATING FROM THE SAME FLANK.”
The Romans confined in the dustbin of history
Football politics and poor administration was to result in the demise of Callies, a team that in later years would produce exceptional players like Peter ‘Shaluza’ Sello, Sam ‘Eewie’ Kambule and Mark Anderson, to mention just a few.
But nothing has pleased the maestro more than when news filtered through
that Callies had won promotion to the GladAfrica Championship fr the 2020-21 season.
“It had always depressed me thinking that ‘ The Romans’ had been confined to the dustbin of history,” he said.
Moripe joined Callies during 1971 when he was 21 years old and quickly established himself as one of the deadliest and most skilful attacking midfielders of his time.
The bow-legged maestro had a delicate touch, some considered him a swaggering braggart but he could delicately extricate himself from a tight situation in a blur of movement and tricks that inevitably left defenders for dead.
Legend has it that the day Moripe made his official debut for Callies at the stadium now named after him, shebeens completely emptied all over the township as people converged to the venue.
“There was something magical
about Moripe,” veteran soccer journalist Phil Nyamane once wrote. “One instant he seems completely surrounded by defenders and the next moment he emerges out of the situation, hurtling towards goal with the defenders left behind.”
Shining through the days of Apartheid
He was a terror to defenders and nightmare to goalkeepers. He possessed such a bagful of tricks that you simply didn’t know what he would do whenever he was in possession … blink and you would miss the action!
At times he seemed to be waving a magic wand to put defenders to sleep as he weaved his way past them.
South Africa was, in those days, suspended by FIFA because of its Apartheid racial policies and so could not participate in international competitions.
However, Moripe introduced himself to the world on a cold winter night at Orlando Stadium when he lined-up for the Black XI against a touring Malcolm Allison’s British All Stars in a ban-busting international friendly match.
But such was the complex and crazy set-up of life under Apartheid that despite being South Africans, the nationalist government decreed that Blacks and Whites could not play sport together, one of the major reasons why the country was eventually banned by FIFA during 1976.
And so, Allison’s team first engaged a purely White SA XI and, and later a Black XI. The tourists included some of the best players of their generation, including Allan Ball, Gary Sprake, Mick Channon, Rodney Marsh, Francis Lee, Geoff Hurst and Johnny Haynes.
“The Black XI squad was made up mostly of players from Soweto and I was the only outsider from Pretoria,” he recalls. “We played individualistic football and were duly punished.
“For some stupid and selfish reasons, most of the players conspired not to pass me the ball, even when I was in a better position. A player would instead seek out another Sowetan team-mate irrespective of whether he was tightly marked or not, and then pass him the ball.
“The only players that were not stingy with the ball was the late Percy ‘Chippa’ Moloi and ‘Chincha’ [Kaizer Motaung]. They liberally and unselfishly shared the ball but the rest starved me of it.”
Magical moment
It was soon after the visitors had taken a 2-0 lead that Moripe, who had been growing increasingly frustrated about this glaring individualism, blew a fuse and in a fit of pique, decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I received the ball from Motaung and suddenly I was mad,” says the 70-year old. “I decided to go on a suicidal, mad solo-run. I think I dribbled five, if not six players and
“WE HAD A LOT OF FREEDOM DURING OUR PLAYING DAYS.”
could distinctly hear team-mates shouting for the ball.
“I shut out everything and simply ignored them. I kept on running, deliberately refusing to pass to anyone. I knew I would be in trouble if I lost the ball and would be blamed for selfishness. But I didn’t care!”
That “suicidal” solo run ended in what was to be described as one of the greatest goals ever scored, which reduced the deficit to 2-1. The BBC graphically captured the goal on video, and it won him a contract to play professionally for Caroline Hills FC in Hong Kong.
Motaung, Moripe, Moloi and Sugar Ray Xulu then started sharing the ball liberally in the middle and like an orchestra, started pulling the strings. The whistling from the stands raised temperatures on a chilly winter night.
Inspired by Moripe, the locals staged wave after wave of attack and after conceding a penalty which was sensationally saved by Joseph ‘Banks’ Setlhodi from the boot of Sprake, Motaung drew them level before they were caught on the break to concede a last gasp goal in a memorable 3-2 loss.
But Moripe managed to carve his name in gold letters in the hearts of millions of South Africans that had listened attentively to running commentary of the match on the radio from the late Dan Setshedi.
Sowetans displayed their love to Moripe when they bestowed the nickname “Soweto” to the bow-legged one while others simply declared that he was indeed Modimo wa bolo [the god of football].
The same year Pirates, coached by Tony Sanderson, had created history by making a clean sweep, winning all five National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) titles on offer, but Moripe was deservedly voted “Footballer of the Year” and “Sportsman of the Year.”
Best game
Moripe considers a match Callies played against Pirates that same year, in the BP Top Eight quarterfinals on January 5, as his most memorable.
He recalls that as a strategy, he started on the bench and Pirates quickly raced into a 2-0 lead before the half time break. Then the juggler was introduced at the start of the second half.
Two ‘horsemen’ completely attired in intimidating ancient Roman soldiers regalia entered the field galloping proudly around the pitch atop their snow-white horses to thunderous applause as Moripe entered the field.
The minute he touched the ball, he left Oscar Dlamini for dead and wrong-footed captain Shakes Mashaba, before expertly dancing around Tiger Motaung to smash a thunderous shot past the great Patson ‘Kamuzu’ Banda, reducing the deficit to 2-1.
Molala, George ‘Mastermind’ Kgobe and Lechaba seemed to wake up from their siesta and took the game to the visitors. The Pirates rear-guard completely fall apart. Moripe soon had them back pedalling and then grabbed his brace to tie the score 2-2. It was game on!
In extra time, Moloi found a young Jomo Sono with a long, searching cross and the ‘ Troublemaker’ applied the scuffing tactic to beat advancing goalkeeper Louis Kiewitt, who initially seemed to have the ball well covered.
However, the goalkeeper just could not firmly clutch the ball due to the wicked spin put on by the crafty Sono. It slipped from his buttery fingers and into the net to hand Pirates a 3-2 victory.
At the end of this high voltage match, a visibly disappointed Moripe admits to have exchanged a few choice words with Kiewitt, who retaliated instantly and a fist fight ensued in the tunnel. The referee had no option but to hand both players red cards, even though the game had already ended.
“That was one of the best games of my life,” admitted Moripe, who revealed that a few weeks later, with nothing but revenge in their mind, they faced Pirates again at Orlando Stadium and ran out 3-1 winners.
‘There was a lot of rush-rush football’
After his stint in Hong Kong, he briefly guested for Arcadia Shepherds before joining Pirates. But he was well past his prime and injuries, a result of the rough treatment he had endured throughout his career, put paid to any influential role he planned to play at Bucs, and he retired.
A staunch supporter of Mamelodi Sundowns, where he gets VIP treatment at their matches on the instructions of club President Patrice Motsepe, he might now be conflicted following the return of Callies to big time football, albeit in the GladAfrica Championship.
He naturally bemoaned the lack of creativity in the game today and blamed, in most instances, coaches, some of whom come to the country without the complete knowledge of the nature, culture and traditional background of the South African player.
He admits that football is results-orientated but blamed certain coaches for adopting “cowardly tactics” of stifling skilful players by forcing them to develop into versatile “work horses” required to abandon their flair by resorting to defending.
“There is a lot of rush-rush football these days,” moans Moripe. “We had a lot of freedom during our playing days. I admit that the modern game has drastically changed and has become faster.
“And I also admit that it is unfair to compare our time with today’s generation, but I still feel there is a decline or a dearth of skilful players.
“Coaches seem to be impressed by socalled hard-working players and they prefer them to skilful players. The truth is that people need entertainment. They cannot pay their hard-earned cash to watch ‘trap and pass’ type of football.
“One of the reasons why Sundowns is attracting a steady increase in the number of supporters is their style of football, which is pleasing to the eye and clubs can take a leaf out of their book.”
“FOR SOME STUPID AND SELFISH REASONS, MOST OF THE PLAYERS CONSPIRED NOT TO PASS ME THE BALL, EVEN WHEN I WAS IN A BETTER POSITION.”