Chiefs’ great coup-turned-flop
Jairzinho won the World Cup in 1970 and played for Kaizer Chiefs four years later – the real story of his time at Amakhosi.
Name a South African side who have had a World Cup winner in their line-up and you would be surprised at the high number.
Members of England’s 1966 World Cup- winning team played and coached in this country: Gordon Banks, Roger Hunt and Bobby Moore guested at Hellenic in the off-season in 1971 in an era when British professional earned little money and they used to head south in their holiday time to come out to South Africa and earn a few extra pennies.
Wembley hattrick hero Geoff Hurst was at Cape Town City in 1973, Alan Ball at Hellenic in 1976, as was Bobby Charlton at Arcadia Shepherds.
Terry Paine came to settle in the 1980s, coaching amateurs first and then Witbank Aces, Wits University and SuperSport United. George Eastham, too, was a player and coach of Hellenic and still lives in Cape Town.
Rene Houseman was a member of the 1978 Argentina winning team and, five years after World Cup success, played at AmaZulu briefly. His brother Marcello, who could hardly kick a ball, was at Aces briefly but later, infamously, became the agent who took the likes of Steve Komphela and Fani Madida to play in Turkey.
But arguably the biggest catch was Brazil’s Jairzinho, who played a handful of games for Chiefs at the end of 1975.
His huge afro made him stand out in Brazil’s all-conquering team of 1970 and it is now common cause that with- o u t him they would not have won in Mexico, even if Pele, Tostao, Rivelino and Carlos Alberto were all in the side that beat Italy 4-1 in the final.
That was the extent to his influence on their winning run.
Jairzinho, who turned 75 last Christmas, wore the number seven jersey made famous by Garrincha, in whose shoes he followed at Botafogo.
Jair Ventura Filho, to give him his full name, spent most of his career at the Rio de Janeiro club, moving at 30 to Marseille in France after competing at the 1974 World
Cup.
At the end of 1975, he came to South Africa for handful of exhibition games. It was a massive coup for Chiefs to secure his services, even if just as a guest player for a few weeks.
Jairzinho was interview by Soccer Laduma about it two years ago.
“I was invited by (Ewert Nene) to play two matches in Africa, as he knew that I was part of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 World Cup. Although I can’t remember the details of any of my games.
“What I can say is I have wonderful memories of my time in South Africa. T The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. When I walked on to the field, it was beautiful watching all the supporters that had come and were applauding me. “The Chiefs fans and the club were very hospitable towards me. I had a great reception! There was a big crowd at the airport upon my arrival and I was treated like a king!” Those who remember it, however, recall a major flop. Jairzinho was out of condition, on holiday and made little impact. He played only one official game, in the second leg of the BP Top 16 final. Chiefs were beaten 2-0 by Moroka Swallows Limited at the Orlando Stadium with two goals from Andries Maseko securing a trophy for the Birds, who were coached by Oscar Gonzalez in place of the vacationing Mario Tuani.