In Touch With...

CAPE TOWN ALL STARS’ CHADE ROMAN

Howzit, Chade? Are you ready for us?

Let’s do this.

Aha!

I’ll start with the story of when I was still playing for Stellenbosch FC. It was the time when the league was still called the NFD (National First Division) and we won it. I did not play the whole season. I played one game for the whole season and it was, like, 10 minutes against Real Kings. During the month where I got 10 minutes to play, we were not doing too well, but we were still at the top. We drew a couple of games, so we did not have too many standout performers in the team that month. So, we had this Player of the Month award. Every second month, they would give out the Player of the Month award. That was the month they wanted to give out the Player of the Month award, but there was no one who really stood out. I played 10 minutes that month and we lost that game. At the braai, I was the one who was given the Player of the Month award, ha, ha, ha. It was a class touch from everyone. In the moment, it was so funny.

Ha, ha, ha. Did you have a Player of the Month award speech?

Yes. I can’t fully remember what I said in the speech, but I know I said,

“Thank you and it’s been long overdue,” ha, ha, ha. Everyone was just cracking themselves up, but I was just thanking them for the award. They did not need to give it to me because I did not really play and I did not add anything on the field, but it was basically for my contribution around the team and how I conducted myself in a professional way. But it was a funny moment. It was close to the end of the season. But yeah, I basically said it was long overdue. It was probably because my attitude was so cool, seeing that it was my first season as a pro.

Quite a cool story.

Another story I can think of is of Ricardo Williams. That one is a funny guy and there was a time when he was pranked. He was in the shower and he was washing his hair. He put some shower gel on his hair and then he rinsed it. Obviously when you’re washing your hair, you close your eyes. So, one of the guys in 5

• He says he love poetry.

• The Cape Town All Stars man is also into art.

• The ‘e’ in his name is silent.

• The 22-year-old shares a birth date (11 May) with Andres Iniesta.

• He was born in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT ROMAN

the team, I can’t remember who it was, put more shower gel on Ricardo’s head. So, Ricardo was surprised that he had just rinsed his hair, but there was still more foam, ha, ha, ha. He was confused. He kept on rinsing, but they kept pouring more shower gel on his head. He did it for about two or three times. It was a funny moment. Afterwards, he was so pissed! It was super funny because he just kept on trying to rinse his hair, but the foam was still soap on his head, ha, ha, ha.

Being a funny guy himself, he was now getting a dose of his own medicine.

We had some crazy characters in the team, and they were ridiculously funny. You’d find yourself laughing all the time and they would be on your case. Like, if you pronounced words wrong, you wouldn’t hear the end of it. But that’s how it is in most teams. They always look for these small mistakes so that they can make funny of you.

Have you come across coaches you can share funny stuff about?

I remember we had an assistant coach at Steenberg United who was quite funny. He was coach Suthu. The guy would just get into the ocean with his second skin on and sometimes to training with his second skin and no top. I don’t know how to explain it, but I would think how in the world did he think of these things. He was really funny.

For those who might not know, what’s a second skin?

A second skin are those long tights which players wear under their training kits. It was normal for him, but I found it strange though. He would have the same one every day, ha, ha, ha. I was probably the only one laughing whenever I would see him, but I was laughing inside because I was super confused. I had just arrived at the club, so it was all new to me and different to see a coach just wearing a second skin like that, ha, ha, ha.

Thank you so much for your time, Chade. It’s been good to have you gracing the ‘In Touch With…’ page this week. Thank you for the opportunity to share the stories with Soccer Laduma readers.