Stanley Matthews – SuperSport United Director of Football

“I had a good relationship with Jose (Ferreira, Bidvest Wits CEO). And I said to him, ‘Joe, look, Papy is coming out of contract. I am planning a pre-contract. Is that a problem with you?’ Jose said, ‘No problem at all. But you must be aware that he is one game away from dropping dead on the field! You would be crazy to sign him because he had a heart attack. And you are a friend. We have worked together for many years and we won championships together, but I had to tell you that you are taking a risk because I’m scared to play him. Sure, he wants to play. But we are scared to play him and medical opinion is that he is a risk. He should be claiming a disability grant and retiring from the game.’ And on that basis, I reviewed my interest in terms of signing a pre-contract with him because it would have been a stupid thing to do. Certainly, no contract was ever signed. But even if it was, it could have been subject to a medical test. He would never have been able to pass that medical. Listen, he was a good player and I felt bad for him. But the truth is that after that incident suffered by Tommy (Thomas Madigage collapsed while playing for SuperSport United against Hellenic in Cape Town back in 2001 and was air-lifted to hospital), I was the person to tail the ambulance. I remember the ambulance was parked in and that is why we called the helicopter. It’s funny because that morning we felt he (Madigage) could not play because he had flu. But he insisted on playing and we all know that he collided with a Hellenic player and subsequently suffered from what was later explained as cardiac shock and was given oxygen and put on a drip. I vowed from that day that I would make sure that if a player is under any kind of medical condition and his health is at risk, I will not allow him to put his health under further risk, certainly not under my watch.”