Development players are crying
“If I scored a goal, he would give me R500 and if I didn’t score, I gave him R500.”
Hendrick Ekstein’s five-year stay with Kaizer Chiefs’ first team ended abruptly after the Soweto giants unexpectedly terminated his contract, with the 2018/19 season left with only a few matches. Touted as a player to emulate former Amakhosi crowd favourite Jabu Pule (now Mahlangu) and achieve stardom at the club, the talented playmaker has been told that his services are no longer required at Naturena, albeit to the dismay of multitudes of the club’s fans who appreciated his performances. What happened though, as Chiefs head coach Ernst Middendorp appeared to have Ekstein in his plans, with the German tactician not shy to shower the 28-year-old with praise in recent times? Soccer Laduma’s Masebe Qina finds out from the Bekkersdal-born player in this interview…
Masebe Qina: Pule, your departure from Kaizer Chiefs was sudden after the club announced last Thursday that your contract, as well as those of Khotso Malope and Gustavo Paez, had been terminated by mutual consent and that you were leaving Naturena with immediate effect. How is Hendrick Ekstein feeling right now?
Hendrick Ekstein: Leaving Kaizer Chiefs hasn’t made me feel good. Chiefs is a club that I grew up supporting and it was a dream come true for me when I got to play for the team. But I cannot do anything about what has happened; it’s life, and I just have to continue working hard (in preparing for life at a new club).
MQ: How was the news of contract termination delivered to you?
HE: I was told on Wednesday that the club had reached a decision that my contract would be terminated, because I wasn’t agreeing on signing a (new) contract with the club. I realised at that stage that there was nothing I could do about the situation because I was told that a decision had been reached. All that I had to do was only to listen to everything they said. I was told that, ‘Tomorrow (Thursday) you should come to the office so that we can give you your papers of terminating the contract.’ All I said was, ‘Okay, no problem’.
MQ: We are listening! HE: The day arrived and I went to the club’s office, and true to their word, I was given the papers and I signed. As I saw that it was a contract termination letter put in front of me on my arrival, I knew what was happening.
MQ: Who else was in the office with you?
HE: It was me, Bobby Motaung, Gerald Sibeko and Abdul (Mayet). It was the four of us.
MQ: It would seem to some that the club was well-represented there, but why were you there on your own and not with your agent?
HE: I had briefed my agent (on Wednesday) on what I was told by the club. We both agreed that it was too late for us to do anything as the paper (contract termination letter) had already been drafted and ready to be signed. All that was needed was for me to be there to sign and… end of the road. Agent or no agent, I thought it was going to be waste of petrol for him to drive all the way from Randfontein to there for something that wasn’t going to change. Yes, it was going to be nice to hear the club speaking to my agent and telling him, ‘We don’t want your player anymore.’ It would have been nice to hear him negotiating the way forward with the club on my behalf and in my presence.
MQ: There you were entering the club’s office and waiting to be told that you were leaving. Take us inside there… who broke the news to you?
HE: Bobby! Bobby is the one who does everything. I had only been talking to Bobby. He didn’t want me to talk to the chairman. He doesn’t want us to talk to the chairman. That didn’t apply only to me, but to all the other players. Well, I don’t know about senior players like Itumeleng Khune and Khama Billiat. I’m talking about us, the players coming from the development. MQ: Is that so? HE: Players coming from the development are not allowed… according to Bobby, we were not allowed to go and talk to the chairman. We are (were) talking only to him. (Pauses)
Grootman (big brother), I’m not saying any of this because I want to badmouth Chiefs. No! I love the club. At Chiefs, if you are from the club’s
development, you will always be (seen as) a development player irrespective of how many years you have been there or if you are 30. It stays like that – development player! MQ: Are you for real?
HE: I can tell you now, all the development players are crying for the way we are treated. I can’t go into more details. But I want to let you know that all the development players are crying and it’s about the same thing for all of them.
MQ: Would it be correct to assume that you are talking about the financial side of things here?
HE: Yes! MQ: Please go on… HE: All I’m trying to say is that all the development players cry about the same thing. It’s about money. They don’t want to raise your money (salary), but they can give (money to) players who never did anything for their previous clubs. MQ: Are you saying you were on a low salary?
HE: It was not that bad. By the time I was on that salary, I was pleased. But my contract was coming to an end and I wasn’t expecting to be on the same salary again on the new contract. Let’s say I am earning R2, and if my contract is coming to an end, I have to negotiate for R5 for a new one, isn’t it so? I can’t be on R2 again on the new contract. MQ: Please make us understand. Did the club want to keep you on the same salary package that you were on, on your contract?
HE: No. They did offer me something, but it’s that ‘ something’ they offered that I wasn’t happy with. They made me an offer and I gave them my counter-offer. They didn’t agree with my offer and I didn’t agree with theirs either. We didn’t meet each other halfway. I was told that I was either taking their offer or leaving. I said I’d rather not sign, but not to say that I said I wanted to leave.
MQ: How do you feel about your decision of not taking Chiefs’ offer? HE: I’m no longer young anymore,
grootman. I have kids and I have a family to look out for. I have to invest in properties and in any other ways I can. My life is no longer about me. If I was 19 and my life was about me and I was still having fun out there, I would understand. I am a breadwinner in my family. I can’t just be happy with what I am offered. What will happen to me after football? People will say,
‘Pule Ekstein played for Kaizer Chiefs, but he doesn’t have money today.’ People may think that I was busy spending money on girls. MQ: You have a point!
HE: You will never find anything bad about me, grootman. I respect football. Even if I was someone who drinks, I don’t think I would ever go to training drunk. In all my years at the club, I have never given them anything to say that I don’t have respect, or that I have an attitude problem. I was always on point and they can tell you if you were to ask them for a report about me. I don’t regret anything about what happened because I am doing this for myself, my family and everybody who supports me. I am hurt that I had my Chiefs contract terminated because I never expected to leave the club that way, but I am confident that I will be happy later in life for the decision that I took.
MQ: With the season left with only a few games to go, one would have expected to see you finish your contract with the club. Why do you think the decision to terminate the contract was taken after you couldn’t reach an agreement in contract talks?
HE: Obviously, I can’t tell how they reached their decision, but as they told me that I never contributed anything to the club, I would like to see the club winning the Nedbank Cup because I contributed in helping the team to reach the final. I contributed there very much.
MQ: There aren’t many people who would disagree with you on that after your three starts in the first three matches and a goal in what was arguably the toughest match for Chiefs in this year’s competition, against Cape Town City in the quarter-finals.
HE: Even against Tornado, I am the one who came with the ball and passed to (Leonardo) Castro and from Castro’s kick the result was an own goal. Those things don’t count today. Had I stayed on and it happened that we went on to win the Nedbank Cup, he (Motaung) knows that I would have had something to get me to win the discussion on his point that I never contributed anything to the team. I was going to tell him that I contributed to the team winning the cup. MQ: Interesting! HE: I was let go because he (Motaung) knows that the coach was going to play me whether he liked it or not. Before we played against Golden Arrows, the coach told me that the team is fighting him not to play me because I didn’t want to sign the contract. He said he wasn’t worried about the contract issue as long as I gave him on the field what he wanted. The coach liked me as a player and I appreciated that. I was looking forward to playing more for the coach and the supporters, but it wasn’t to be. MQ: Hmmm… HE: I’m not sure if this whole thing was ever about the coach. I think this thing was about Bobby and I’m not sure about the chairman. MQ: How was your relationship with Bobby? HE: My relationship with Bobby was perfect and we never had problems. The only time we started having a problem was when the issue of the contract came up. Prior to that, he would tell me before a match, ‘When you score, you know where I will be seated’. That’s why whenever I scored I would look around to try to locate him from where he was and I waved as a sign to him that I delivered on the promise. You can go back to the video footage of our game against Cape Town City and look at what I did after I scored. I ran and looked up in the crowd and I spotted him from where he was and I waved to him. He waved
back. We went as far as starting a bet where, if I scored a goal, he would give me R500 and if I didn’t score, I gave him R500. MQ: Whose idea was it? HE: I came up with the idea. MQ: Why? HE: I wanted to push myself to do more for the team.
MQ: Let’s move on. How did coach Ernst Middendorp react to the news of your departure from the club?
HE: I didn’t talk to the coach because I didn’t know what was going on. On the Thursday that I went to the club to sign the contract termination letter, I found him in the office. For some reason, I wasn’t sure if the whole termination thing involved him or not. I don’t know what they were discussing as I wasn’t listening while I was waiting on the couch. I went in after the coach came out.
MQ: How did you feel as you were leaving the office after you signed the contract termination letter?
HE: To say that I wasn’t feeling good would be an understatement. I had just been thanked for my services and told that if I had any of my stuff in the changing room, I should go and fetch it as I wasn’t going to be back on the premises. I found myself even giggling because of the confusion, as I was struggling to come to terms with what was happening. I wasn’t giggling because I was happy. I was in shock and asking myself, ‘Is this really happening?’ But I knew it wasn’t a joke. I was heartbroken. I was with Khotso Malope, who was also in the same situation as me. We travelled there together in my car as he had left his at home. You can imagine the two of us walking out of the office and driving out of the village while consoling each other. We consoled each other by saying that we have been there for long and experienced things. Such a thing wasn’t starting with us. The Junior Khanyes, Jabu Pules (Mahlangu) and Scara Ngobeses had been there. Who are we? MQ: Did you have a chance to say goodbye to your teammates? HE: I spoke to Bruce Bvuma, (Letlhogonolo) Mirwa, ( Siphosakhe) Ntiya- Ntiya, Jomo (Itumeleng Shopane), who plays for the development, and ( Nkosingiphile) Ngcobo. Rama (Ramahlwe Mphahlele) called me later that night after my television interview. He encouraged me to be strong. George Maluleka also called and told me about his shock. MQ: Mfanakithi (Brother), you have touched on things that some people might find heartbreaking. What’s your message to the fans out there? HE: I thank the supporters, and not only them, but everyone and all the people I worked with at Kaizer Chiefs. The coaches, past and present, I thank you all. To the supporters that have always been there for me when I had good and bad games, thank you. I will always love you and I will never disappoint you. I wish the team will win the Nedbank Cup to make you all happy. All the best! MQ: This is not the end of your career, but a place to look at your rags-toriches story which is one of the amazing ever heard of in local football in recent times. You worked at Kloof Gold Mine (now Sibanye-Stillwater) before you turned pro as a footballer with Chiefs. How has your life changed since the day you signed on the dotted line for the Soweto
giants? HE: (Sighs) Eish… I don’t know how to answer your question, but let me try. My life has changed a lot, grootman (big brother), as working in the mine wasn’t easy. Yes, I was happy that I had a job, and I won’t say that I regret that I worked in the mine, because I needed money to take care of my family’s needs in life. I am happy I was spotted by Kaizer Chiefs, because they are the club I grew up supporting. Chiefs is a club that was also supported by some members of my family. Playing for Chiefs was a dream come true for me. The fact that I started my professional football at Chiefs is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. I still can’t believe that I played for the club. MQ: Amazing!
HE: It (Chiefs career) all started after our team from the mine played a friendly match against Chiefs. I remember that during that week of the match, I wasn’t training with the mine’s team, as I was on annual leave. But because I had gotten my job at the mine through my playing of football, I was called by my coach (Kgotso Mofokeng) from the mine and he told me about the planned Chiefs match. I still remember the coach’s words to me while speaking on the phone, as he said, ‘I know you haven’t been training with the team this week, but it would be nice for you to come because we are playing Chiefs. Who knows what might happen after the match? Maybe they may be interested in signing you’. That was to be the beginning of my Chiefs career, because after that match, I was told of their interest in me and, as they say, the rest is history.
MQ: Yours is a fascinating story, as not everyone can claim to have faced the challenge of working in the mine at the tender age of 20, only to be dug out of that life by joining a club of Chiefs’ calibre.
HE: I was only 20 years old when I got my job at the mine and I was spotted by Chiefs and was signed by the club. I didn’t join Chiefs immediately after they spotted me… I joined the club two weeks after our friendly match. We had a tournament for the mines that we went to play in after the Chiefs match and that’s what caused the delay. I only went to Chiefs after helping my team to finish in third place in the mines’ tournament. We had a good team of good players in the mine and I was their youngest player.
MQ: Interesting!
HE: They were very excited at home when I signed for Chiefs because they are the club that we all grew up supporting. My mother passed away and I don’t know my biological father. I was adopted by another family as a young boy and I grew up under parenthood of that family, before I went to work in the mine. Things in my family were not going well and I was getting disturbances in my life. That was when some Good Samaritan named Mr Kgomotso Segolabeng came into my life and he took me in with him at his home. When his family took me to live with them, I was no longer with my family, I was with guardians. But I do still have my uncles, aunts and my other family members at home.
MQ: How does Mr Segolabeng feel about the person you have grown to become and how do you feel about the role he has played in your life?
HE: He is very happy for me and he is proud. He is also a Chiefs fan, by the way. Whenever we had a home game at FNB Stadium, whether I was playing or not, he always attended our matches. He supports me in anything I do and I appreciate that. He’s always been there for me and I will never discard him and I know that he also will never do that to me. He is a father to me and I am a son to him. MQ: Moving on, you have been linked
with a move to Orlando Pirates. HE: I don’t know anything about Pirates and the reported interest from them. My agent hasn’t told me anything about Pirates.
MQ: But if they come knocking for your services, will you take the move?
HE: I don’t deal with ‘if this’ or ‘if that’, I deal with the present – something that happens now and that I can be able to reply to.
MQ: Back to your time at Chiefs. Before the team’s Nedbank Cup semifinal match against Chippa United, the Siya crew reported that you and other Amakhosi players were sent to train with the MultiChoice Diski Challenge team. Why?
HE: Coach Ernst is honest to his players, irrespective of whether he likes you or not. If you are not giving him what he wants in training, he will do everything to help you so that you can also want to up your game. So it’s clear that, at that point, he thought we were not giving him what he wanted and maybe that’s why he took us to the development. MQ: You made 12 league starts for the club this season and a few other appearances in cup competitions. How would you rate your season, especially considering what happened now? HE: This has been one of the best seasons for me at Chiefs since I joined the club, although we hadn’t won any cup (when contract was terminated). I scored five goals in all competitions and, although we haven’t won the league, I’m so happy that I made progress. As a player, you don’t stop learning until you retire.
MQ: Agreed! HE: But for the club, this hasn’t been the best season. The team has been in that position seven (for some time) and that’s so not like Chiefs. (Sighs) Eish… the Nedbank Cup final is coming up on 18 May and I wish the team could do well. It’s the last chance for the club to win something this season.
MQ: Until the semi-final against Chippa, you started in all other matches in the competition. Who can forget your impressive performance in the quarter-final match against Cape Town City, where you also scored a goal? How do you feel that you won’t be there for the final against TS Galaxy?
HE: I wanted to contribute in helping the club to progress. But I wouldn’t have done that alone. It was possible for me to do it with the support of my coach, teammates and everybody as a collective. It was through hard work that we reached the final and it was our aim to win the trophy and I’m happy I contributed.
MQ: At 28, you’re not getting any younger. What would you say to criticism that you are yet to play to your full potential despite the talent you have?
HE: (Sighs) I’m not sure how to answer your question, but in life, you must know that you can’t be loved by everyone. Should you be loved by everyone, then it means there is a problem with you. I always gave my all for Chiefs whenever I took to the field and I always tried to be the team’s best player, while also contributing to the club. As for how other people felt, I wouldn’t know… obviously I felt bad when I didn’t perform well. I felt bad because I didn’t give the fans what they wanted, as one of the players they liked. I was happy whenever I performed well because it meant that I gave the fans what they wanted.
MQ: Have you been under pressure to prove people wrong?
HE: I wasn’t under pressure because I wasn’t playing alone. I had the support of my teammates.
MQ: Pule, we thank you for your time. All the best in search for your new club.
HE: Thank you for the opportunity. ❐
“I was adopted by another family as a young boy.” “I found myself even giggling because of the confusion”