Make Your P int

Please note that letters / e-mails of more than 200 words will not be considered for publication.

SPIT IT OUT, LADS!

What an honest and frank interview with Edward Manqele by Masebe Qina. I’m not going to go deeper into what Manqele said, but I just want to thank Masebe for the parting shot of the interview. It’s enough to reassure “Hlokoloza” that speaking out is the first step of the healing process. A few editions ago, we read another heartbreaking interview, that of Phumlani “BMX” Mkhize. That was another interview where advice on the problems and challenges facing soccer players was given. Most of these are caused by instant fame, money, girls, drugs and booze. I firmly believe it’s up to the current players to learn from the mistakes made by their predecessors. Thanks, Mkhize and Manqele, for the honest interviews. Let’s hope guys out there will learn from what you went through. I so wish we can get Junior Khanye’s interview in future, not to come and lambast Chiefs, but to narrate his soccer life story and mistakes he made, which cut short his career. I think he would also heal somehow and change for the best just as Jabu Mahlangu has done. Mompati Panyaza Ndlovu, Lekubu Village, Zeerust

ZIP IT, FELLOW READER

Sundowns’ technical team and supporters are annoyed by Chiefs for offering Al Ahly their facility. Chiefs is a brand that is marketed globally and it needs no one’s approval to do what they did. Batandwa Coko (MAKE YOUR POINT, edition 1267) should just leave our team alone. We as the Khosi Nation support Masandawana for their achievements on the continent. Ngwaketsi Malaka, Riverside Village, Jane Furse

UNDRESSING BUCS PROBLEMS

Nothing but the truth from “Juju” (Thulasizwe Mbuyane). Even a blind man can see the interference from Mbele and Screamer. That’s what we call the “naked truth”, Juju. Siyabonga Nkalambela, Delft

Bravo, Mr Mbuyane. I couldn’t have said it better myself. No insults, no undermining, just straightforward talking. I admire your honesty and just wish something can be done about the situation at Pirates, especially the Mhango saga. Really, it’s childish what Ncikazi and Fadlu are doing to him. It’s pure hatred. If Mhango is as ill-disciplined as they claim, then why don’t they give him a free transfer? The two ‘trainers’ have succeeded in destroying Mhango’s career. I just don’t understand why Screamer is still at Pirates. I mean, he has served his purpose and must give way for new blood. Mbuyane played for Pirates and he knows what he is talking about, but other former players are afraid of speaking out. The truth only hurts those who are doing wrong and don’t want to be exposed. Lastly, I wonder if Irvin Khoza still cares about Pirates. Doesn’t he hear our concerns or is he just too busy to care? How many deserving players are being sidelined due to favouritism? Morongwa Zwee Mokgohloa, Ga-Mokgohloa

Please allow me to call upon Bucs supporters not to be overzealous about Benni as I’ve seen a lot of them think that his availability is a solution to us. Remember, at Bucs, there are people with remote controls, controlling proceedings from a hidden location, and that may mean an end before the beginning if Benni was to be appointed here because he definitely won’t allow what’s happening under his watch, which will mean the start of friction. I mean, now in January,

coach Ncikazi made it clear that he couldn’t get reinforcements to areas he felt there was a need to strengthen simply because those people felt the team was adequate and it seems these so-called supporters who are quick to attack the coach didn’t even see that. In the same spirit, I’m advising Benni that should he be approached to come here, this is one of the areas to address before signing because when results are not coming, none of those people is blamed but only the coach. The thing of buses having conductors is an old thing that is no more practised and now the driver must get his way because he’s the one behind the steering wheel. I hope this make sense to these supporters so they can understand where lies Bucs’ problems compared to their competitors like Chiefs and Sundowns. Mogaletlwa Koos Machacha, Emalahleni “Could Benni be right for Bucs?”, asks Soccer Laduma in last week’s edition. Absolutely not! Pirates isn’t an academy for SA’s former players, black or white. We are a business entity aimed at progress and enhancing the club’s brand both locally and internationally. Ex-players should try their luck in the lower divisions or with smaller teams like your Chippa, Stellenbosch FC, Maritzburg, Arrows, Swallows FC, Sekhukhune etc. Bucs should be campaigning in the Champions League season in and out, not this manga-manga business done by local coaches. Zinnbauer delivered a cup for us after a long trophy drought and was let go because of Screamer and Floyd. What have their favourites, Ncikazi and Fadlu, delivered? One setback after another. Away with Screamer and Floyd! Now that we’re allowed back in stadia, we’ll show them our displeasure. Sporo Lukhele, eLukwatini

I think changing coaches and buying players every season is what’s dragging Pirates back. Coaches need time to make the team play the way they want and for the players to adapt. Changing a coach means progress is disrupted and when a new coach comes in, the team has to start over again. No coach will just come and win everything in his first season, no matter how good he is. Pirates must give coaches time and be patient with them. Ncikazi and Davids have not been impressive so far, but they’re slowly improving. I don’t think it would be wise to chase them away, otherwise we are going backwards. I think we must judge a coach after three seasons without any progress. I heard that Benni is being linked with the team, but I’m against that, not because he is not good, but because of the timing. It is not the right time. Let’s see what happens in the second season under the current coaches. Linda Wa Le Pirates, Thabaleboto

MBAPPE & CO. TOY WITH BAFANA

Firstly, I welcome the Soccer Laduma cover price increase. I feel that R6 is reasonable and still affordable. We get more for less with this publication. As for Bafana v France, I expected us to lose judging by Hugo Broos’ selection criteria and his starting line-up on the day, but not by such an avalanche of goals. The Xulu-Sibisi combination isn’t working. Not sure if Sibisi is better than De Reuck, but only the coach knows why he benched the latter. Another thing, I have to blame Baxter for continuously benching Khune for Bafana’s downfall. As the last line of defence, a goalkeeper needs to be vocal and lead from the back, qualities that Williams lacks. We’re yet to find Khune’s replacement and it might take us decades to do so. If Broos selects unattached Xulu, surely he can select Khune as well. Bafana should be made up of all our best available players, but why have Zungu, Mothiba etc not been selected? SAFA is also to blame. When was the last time our U17, U20 and U23 teams played a competitive match and who are their coaches, to start with? What are they paid to do if their teams aren’t playing competitive football? SAFA, swallow your pride and recall Pitso before coach-less Egypt grab him, to be assisted by De Sa. Tente Mokoka, Sepharane

When I saw France’s line-up against Bafana, I realised that it was going to be a tough day at the office. It was their best team and they took this game seriously. Whereas they bombarded us in the opening stages, we were struggling to get out of our half. The pressure was high and Mbappe was like a thorn on Bafana’s defence. He terrorized them from the wing and Mobbie struggled to contain him. Honestly, we never threatened France. Foster and Hlongwane weren’t in the game. Williams had a great outing as he saved us on many occasions. Griezmann orchestrated all of France’s attacks, while Giroud also posed danger. It was a free lesson for Bafana and hopefully they learnt something. Madimetja Vic Mashamaite, Renstown

I congratulate France for teaching us a few football lessons. I’m not one for finger-pointing s as I believe that the team wins and loses as a unit. I hope Hugo Broos noted a few things from that game. We never troubled the France defence, let alone their goalkeeper, as they camped in our own half for the most part. That was a free football lesson. Jimmy Thomas, Elliot, Eastern Cape

You could see from their starting line-up against Bafana that France meant business. It wasn’t just a friendly game to cap players but to prepare for the World Cup. Maybe we should learn a thing or two from that drubbing and do better in upcoming games. The biggest problem that I saw from our players is that they idolised their opponents instead of competing. The French players never undermined their opponents and understood that it’s XI against XI, irrespective of who is playing. I feel very sorry and bad for Williams because the final score doesn’t reflect his good work. The truth is that he had one of his best games in the national team jersey but was let down by his teammates. Some of our players enjoyed the outing and forgot to represent the badge. Having said that, I hope they learned from that and will use that experience to at least take us to the next Afcon. On the home front, it was good to see Nurkovic celebrating a goal after a lengthy dry spell. Malesela “Dance” Boya, Kanana, Hammanskraal

Seeing our beautiful nation sinking deeper and deeper into a dark hole makes me feel hurt and hopeless. Hugo Broos is gambling with our nation and the SAFA bosses seem to like it. He’s arrogant and stubborn and I don’t see the nation going anywhere with him at the helm. Before we even played France, he already knew that we were going to lose, only hoping it wouldn’t be by a huge margin. Bafana can’t even beat Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana, but we flew all the way to get an embarrassment in France. A shame! To add insult to injury, our players were seen taking selfies with the France players after the game. Sweet mother of Jesus! We as a nation were feeling pain. Our players don’t take the opportunity of representing the nation seriously. They’re not mentally fit. The whole Bafana set-up is a mess. The technical team is clueless. This coach keeps on undermining the nation by selecting benchwarmers. And how can you select a clubless Xulu? What does that say to other defenders who are playing week in and week out? How can he keep selecting Bvuma, a benchwarmer? Doesn’t that say to the technical team of Chiefs that they’re clueless? We’ve passed the building phase and we only need results. Danny Jordaan and his friends are gambling with our tax money by hiring clueless foreign coaches. With Broos as Bafana coach and Jordaan as SAFA president, we’re going nowhere slowly. Sibusiso Khumalo, Melmoth, KZN

Bafana again lived up to their “bunch of losers” reputation when they were dismantled and humiliated by Mbappe, who made them look like monkeys trying to climb up trees. I’m so happy that Tau, Zungu and Zwane were not part of this nonsense. Let’s be honest, guys, we don’t have a national team. This Bafana team is a waste of state resources, and all they know is take selfish after the game. Can someone out there please help me understand whether Monare is better than Zwane and Zungu? It’s blatantly ridiculous. It’s the first time I see a national team being coached by a plumber. What a shame. “Bhotsotso” Mkhize, Eshowe, Mpaphala, KZN

Hail Les Bleus! Let me put things into perspective, lest I be castigated as a traitor. I’m a bona fide South African, a staunch Bafana supporter and I’ll not trade my citizenship for anything under the sun. Not even our status as soccer’s weeping boys

will coerce me otherwise. France selected their creme de la crème in their friendly against Bafana. Most of our overseas opponents have in the past displayed a condescending attitude of fielding their second-string squads against us. Not France, who called up all their big-name stars with the exception of those nursing injuries such as Benzema. On the field, they hit top gear from the onset, hence they roasted us 5-0. It’s on the basis of this context that I salute the defending world champions and wish them everything of the best in Qatar 2022. In the absence of Bafana, I’ll definitely be rooting for them, more so that there’s a lot of African influence in their team George Sithole, Honeydew

After I saw the France line-up against Bafana, I knew that our players were faced with a mammoth task. France had the likes of Giroud, Mbappe, Kante, Griezmann, with Pogba on the bench. Our players were taught a football lesson, with the world champions dominating from the onset. Despite the heavy loss, we need friendlies of this magnitude to test the strength and readiness of the Bafana players. Our players must practice target shooting seriously as they struggled to take shots in that game and to keep possession, losing it cheaply. Hugo Broos should have brought in both Dolly and Makgopa earlier as it was too little too late when they came on. Bernard “Bra Ben” Tshukudu, Ga-Maria

I have never been as embarrassed as I was last Tuesday evening, especially with the unprofessionalism that is portrayed by our national team. Our team does not have their names at the back of their jerseys – what a slap in the face! Is SA so far behind that we cannot afford to do that? Even if this was a relatively friendly game, our team played to a full capacity stadium and need to raise the standard. Please address the professionalism with these guys. Thank you. Clint Langson, via email

I’m confused. How could we play the friendly game against Guinea in Belgium? Was it a way of spoiling Hugo Broos? What has he done for us? At this rate, you’d think he’s won the World Cup for us. I heard that he invited his Belgian friends and family over. We are in a circus. People are doing family reunions using our national team. After every game, this guy flies back to Belgium. He’s not even interested in watching PSL games. That’s why he’s not selecting Jali and

Zwane and instead keeps on selecting Bvuma and others. Shame on you, Jordaan! Stephen Mpya, Mamphulo village

AVULEKIL’ AMASANGO!

I’m elated that the President has finally relented and allowed fans to return to the stadium, 50% of venue capacity, subject to a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR report not older than 72 hours. My plea to the fans is that they respect these restrictions. I would also call on the ticketing offices to sell tickets by validating these requirements at the points of purchase. Fans, please don’t cut corners. It is all for everyone’s benefit, so be diligent. Itikiti lomjovo esandleni, itikiti lebhola esandleni. Kubo! #Khosi4Life #ForeverFearless Mpendulo Donono, via email

I just don’t get it. But guys, what’s the difference between the fans of cricket, rugby and football? What is special about cricket and rugby fans that they are allowed to fill the stadium, while for us football fans it’s only up to 50% capacity? I mean, we also want to fill up our football stadiums like those sporting codes. If a person like Jake White says he wants 25 000 fans at the stadium, then surely Floyd Mbele has a right to say he wants 35 000 fans at Orlando. You see, these are the sort of things that start this whole thing of “racism”. We also want to experience that atmosphere once again at the stadiums. We have also vaccinated and have certificates to prove it, in case you didn’t know! Mr Khoza must go back and consult with Nathi Mthethwa again so as to resolve this issue. Tau-Tona Molebatsi, Lenasia

At least, freedom at last, thanks our president. Our cries didn’t fall on deaf ears. Mr Ramaphosa and Dr Khoza, thanks once again. Now supporters will be back at the stadiums. Let us behave ourselves and continue to protect ourselves against this cruel pandemic. We as sports fanatics really appreciate the efforts made by our leaders. At least 50% is much appreciated. I personally was tired of being an armchair supporter for the past two years. Small businesspeople will manage to put food on the table now by selling at the stadiums – i.e. those selling sweets, ice cream, food, fruits, not forgetting car guards. Buses and taxis, too, will benefit because we’ll frequently need their services. It’s long overdue and teams who perform well only when spectators are at the stadium will improve. I know it’s too late in the season, but half a loaf is better than no bread. May God continue to bless South Africa. Boitumelo Vanrooyen, Schweizer-Reneke

Quick One-Two’s

There’s always been a comparison between SA and Brazil when it comes to gifted players, but when looking at both national teams, one finds no similarities. When watching Bafana under Hugo Broos, there’s not a single technically gifted player in the squad who can eliminate opponents. No comparison whatsoever in any department. Broos is trying to play a European brand of football, which our players are not equipped to play. When watching Brazil, you always have to be on the edge of your seat because of something out of this world that they might do, but watching Bafana, you can be forgiven for sleeping while at it. Players like Mvala and Mobbie make me ashamed to be a South African. Until Mzansi gets rid of Danny Jordaan and his European coaches, Bafana will always be a laughing stock in international football. Thulani Wogqoyi, Frankfort, eDonqaba

If truth be told, PSL players are getting away with murder. The level of incompetency that they sometimes dish up is a cause for concern. Of all the 16 teams, how many have been consistent with positive results? Yes, the coaches might shoulder the blame in most cases, but what about you as a professional player? Don’t you want to be remembered for how you mesmerised teams even after you’ve hung up your boots? How many players have raised their hands in bigger leagues the way McCarthy,

Pienaar, Radebe, etc. did? The current crop doesn’t have that passion anymore.Yesteryear players will tell you that if a coach’s tactics weren’t working for them, they’d reshuffle things on the field. That’s the hunger we want to see. No wonder our national team’s form keeps declining every year. Introspection is needed here. Nafie Moloantoa, Kwa-Thema

When my team Izinyoni, the Dube Birds, got relegated from the topflight and then the second tier, my passion for football never ceased. I didn’t follow the Mighty Birds’ progress much in the ABC Motsepe League. However, my passion for football got revived by Sundowns’ heroics and great football. They’ve been the greatest team in the last decade. To Chiefs fans, stop boasting about numerical advantage, as quantity cannot demean quality. Amakhosi fans, stop the jealousy against Sundowns.You were great in the ’60s to the ’90s, competing with Pirates for glory. Now that the tables have turned, the majority of Chiefs fans do not applaud Sundowns’ success. First, you shared your sentiments against Pitso, and now your arrows are shooting at Mngqithi. Pirates fans not only share a star with Downs, they seem to have a better understanding of football than their Chiefs counterparts. To my team Swallows, let’s sharpen our boots and score goals. Kerr is a good coach. We won’t be relegated. PAD,CapeTown

I call on all Chiefs supporters to rethink their behaviour as fans are going to be allowed in the stadium once again. Let us not make those in charge to regret their decisions due to fans’ behaviour of hooliganism. Football must be the winner after the 90 minutes, whether your team lost or won.You can’t hire a plumber and give him an electrician’s tools to work with. Geddit? If there’s anyone to be blamed for Chiefs’ poor results, it’s the management, not the coach. They let the previous coach buy players for the current season, which he believed would bring success to the club and he had a plan for them, and what the management did next was to fire him and give those players to a coach who never bought them and had no plans for them. That was because of the fear of missing out on a Top Eight spot, a competition they were knocked out of in the first round. We all know coach Baxter never played entertaining football. The only time he did was when he had that MaLeMa combination. The reason Chiefs are in this situation (trophyless season) again is because of trigger-happy management who don’t believe in the building process and want instant results. Hunt didn’t have to be sacked, despite those results. To Chiefs management, this unrest surrounding coach Baxter is all your doings. King Lenno Msindo, Cape Town

I hate the way Egyptians are complaining about the welcoming they got in Senegal. They must know that they lost their game on the field, not in the stands. I remember when Pirates lost their CAF Champions League final against Al Ahly, the latter’s supporters were busy with those lasers, targeting Pirates players, but nothing has ever been done by CAF about it. So, Egyptians, try again to focus in the next World Cup qualifiers. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Masoke Trust Thipane

When Salah stepped up to take his penalty in a recent World Cup qualifier, Senegal fans shone laser lights into his eyes, which, to the displeasure of his countrymen, resulted in him blasting the ball over the crossbar. Shortly afterward, Mane converted his spot-kick, booking his country a place in Qatar. Notably, there’ve been calls from both the Egyptian Football Federation and the fans to have the Senegal fans’ unsportsmanlike conduct investigated by FIFA. An Instagram statement from the Egyptian FA thus read: “The Egyptian team was subjected to racism as crowds held up offensive banners in the stands, particularly against team captain Mohammed Salah.”While bad sportsmanship should be discouraged on all fronts, Egypt and good sportsmanship certainly can’t be in the same sentence – that is, they should be the last ones to cry foul over unsportsmanlike conduct. If anything, they were served a taste of their own medicine. Many African clubs that have had to face Egyptian clubs in continental competitions were, at some point, subjected to this hostile treatment. In their 2013 Champions League final against Pirates in Cairo, Al Ahly fans, for a better part of the game, shone lights into the face of Senzo Meyiwa. If the Egyptians couldn’t see anything wrong in their conduct then, why should the Senegal fans’ conduct be investigated now? Before pointing fingers at anyone, the Egyptians need to have a long serious look in the mirror. Manare Matabola, Rheinland farm, Polokwane

It saddens me to see a lot of people saying a lot of things about this issue, yet we all know how arrogant Benni is. Mr Zungu has a club to run, and every individual working at the club must respect and abide by the rules of the club, regardless of your wealth or knowledge of football. By the way, all these individuals came to Mr Zungu looking for a job. If you can’t respect your employer, then you have a serious problem. As for Sithebe, he got what he deserved. He won’t be playing for AmaZulu next season, so the technical team must start grooming his replacement. I think this is the best method that club owners must adopt towards all players who sign pre-contracts with other clubs. Stop fielding them until they leave the club. In fact, they must go and train with the Diski Challenge squad, but no game-time. Bizzarro, Jozi

I’d like to register my profound appreciation to Mhlongo and Manyisa for launching My Football CV. Thanks heavens that the camaraderie between the two young men is for a noble cause. Due to the changing tides in this digital world, the initiative is an ideal platform that will potentially create an online marketplace where coaches and scouts will be able to watch videos of players

they can directly make contact with. My Football CV will also help agents

to improve player marketability. Let me pay special praise to Mhlongo for being a visionary and a young man that soldiered on in life after he was forced into early retirement last season while playing for Marumo Gallants because of an eye injury. His intelligent decision to launch this app is a good message to other footballers that they can re- invent themselves after hanging up their boots and be of good use to the football fraternity. Thanks, Brighton and Oupa, for this initiative. May it bear more fruit. Batsirai Kativu, Jo’burg

Good game by my favourite team Chiefs on Saturday, even if they blow hot and cold. What a welcome back for Nurkovic with a beautiful goal, even though his other clear goal was disallowed. Dolly is always Chiefs’ better player. What a brilliant free kick taken by him, wow! Great goal by Alexander too, his first in Amakhosi colours. I hope we are going to do much better in all our remaining games. On another subject, Mr VeeJay, don’t stress about the new price of our favourite Soccer Laduma paper. You’ve got our support nomakanjani (always). I think every reader knows that cost of some of the things frequently goes up, but you always feel for your readers. Sometimes you keep the same cover price for years. Nyambeni Samson Khuphani, Tshiawelo Ext 5

My wish is for Baxter to now get his team into fifth gear and release the handbrake. Mathematically, anything is possible, but Baxter being Baxter, I don’t think he’s got it in him to do what Pitso did to him in 2013/14. I don’t even think he’s changing the approach to plan and execute the football heist that has happened against my team twice at the hands (or rather feet) of the same Sundowns in 2013/14 and 2019/20. Only if he could smell the blood and go for the kill. These are the kind of situations that define coaches. Middendorp lost the league in the last 30 minutes of the season and lost the Nedbank Cup to a then NFD team and is a brilliant coach in some people’s eyes. In 2014, Baxter had a healthy lead when he lost the league to Sundowns. Just a reminder why Baxter is here, in case I’m harsh: To not try but to “win” silverware based on his past achievements in the PSL, regardless of how well other teams are doing. He accepted the challenge knowing well that we have Putin, in Sundowns, bulling everyone. We’re forced to accept the defensive type of football he prefers hoping it does the job, but we still concede and don’t score enough goals to win some games. As a result, it put the defence under unnecessary pressure. We are forced to accept players being played out of position and good enough young players being sacrificed for the so-called “experienced”. A brave coach would risk it all. Lucky Khunou, Meriting

Congrats are in order to my beloved Chiefs for collecting all three points against Chippa, although it wasn’t a convincing win, but at this stage of the season, we’ll take it. We really need to consolidate and make sure we finish as runners-up because it’s going to take a miracle for us to win the league, more so because inconsistency has been a thorn in the flesh for us this season. I was happy

to see Nurkovic finally breaking his duck this season with a well worked goal, but he’ll be the first to admit that he could have had a hat-trick. But we won the game and all’s well that ends well. I advise the team to keep him for next season because he still has a lot to offer provided he’s being played in his rightful position. In the EPL, the race for the coveted title is heating up and both Liverpool and Man City can Ill-afford to drop points. We are in for a superb finish to the season and everybody should just grab their popcorns. I still say Liverpool will win the title and that will make me the happiest chap alive. Marvin Matseke-Mabula, Burgersfort, Leboeng Rutseng

There was drama, and yet more drama, in the LaLiga game between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo when the log leaders were awarded three penalties. Benzema could have scored a hat-trick had he not missed the one chance. Perhaps it has happened before whereby a team is awarded three penalties in a single game, but I have to think hard to recall that game (Ed’s note: In one game during 2013/14, Victor Gomes awarded Sundowns three penalties and Ajax two. The match ended 3-2). On the other hand, Barca are now second on the log, replacing Sevilla after beating them 1-0. Sevilla fought brilliantly and had some chances. Lastly, congrats to Amakhosi for doing the double over Chippa. I’m happy Nurkovic is slowly regaining his sharpness. Amos Tshukudu, Ga-Maria

couldn’t be there to give them that extra motivation and boost. It also hurt to see our team destroyed 3-0 by Sundowns and I felt if we were there, we would have helped the team get back into the game. Above all these hurtful experiences, there’s one game I will never forget for as long as I am alive. It was on September 5, 2019, when we lost the league title with about eight minutes to go! (Ed’s note: Baroka actually equalized in the 59th minute). I had invited a lot of people, watching the game on a projector, and we were cruising leading Baroka FC 1-0 and when they equalized towards the end, I nearly collapsed! It was so tense because we kept switching between our game and that of Black Leopards v Sundowns.You know when you put milk on one side and meat on the other side of a cat? It gets so confused because it wants both at the same time and that’s exactly how those games were and when the referee blew the final whistle, it was heartbreaking! Bona (Look), we had bought champagne and printed “2019/20 COVID19 League Champions” on our shirts! Can you imagine how bad it all felt when Sundowns beat us to the title, thanks to that Baroka equalizer? I was so angry and heartbroken I almost chased everyone out of my place. I will never forget that disappointment because I almost died that day. People almost put a tent next to my house for my funeral that year. History might repeat itself this year, you must tell those other ones that the roles might be reversed this time around. God doesn’t have a voicemail, but if He doesn’t answer our prayers, then we are definitely finishing second so that we can go and fix our mistakes where we lost the star right at the end.

“People almost put a tent next to my house for my funeral that year.”

VJ: Football will kill you, ha, ha, ha. Legend, thanks for your time. Enjoy being back at the stadium.

SM:

Ngiyabonga (Thank you). Please tell the supporters to rally behind their teams and take advantage of this opportunity. We have been crying for a long time now and the PSL has opened the gates, so we don’t want to see empty stadiums. If there’s a mini-derby in Durban, where Golden Arrows are playing AmaZulu FC, their supporters must come in full numbers and so should the Pirates, Chiefs and Sundowns supporters in that city because we support football. The same thing should happen across all the provinces so that our teams can feel our presence after missing us for so long. More importantly, let’s get vaccinated, comrades, and follow instructions from our clubs on what to do and where to go. I know this is going to be a new experience, but if we work together with our teams, we will get used to it in no time. For instance, Chiefs will let us know what to do when we host our first game with the supporters, when we play SuperSport United on April 16. All the teams will do the same trough their structures and, as supporters, let’s please help one another and also encourage our members to arrive at the stadium early so that there are no problems. If you are not vaccinated, please don’t even think of coming to the stadium because you are just wasting your time. ❐