ABISAI SHININGAYAMWE
(PART 2)
Talk to us about some of the funny guys you played with at Jomo Cosmos.
There was Innocent Ntsume, but the most important guy was Sammy Magalefa. That guy… I’m telling you, without Sammy Magalefa in the change room, you could already sense that we’re going to lose this game. That’s how it was with Sammy. Having Sammy in the dressing room just lifted everyone’s spirit and then you would see him making fun of Jomo (Sono) … things like that, man. So, Sammy was actually the life of the dressing room during my time at Cosmos. He was the guy. Even Sipho Sephadi had his moments here and there, but Sammy was the best guy. There was Valery Nahayo as well. Anthony (Laffor) was more like a spoilt child, ha, ha, ha.
You mean he was a cry-baby? Ja, a cry-baby that one. He was Jomo’s last-born.
Why do you say that? What did he do?
I don’t know, man. I don’t know, seriously. He was that kind of guy that if he didn’t get what he wanted, then he’d be looking all sad. He could even decide that he was not going to play, even if he was in the team… just like that. That’s how Anthony was. I think Jomo spoiled him too much, man. That’s why he was like a cry-baby.
There must be funny stories…
Eish, there were plenty of incidents, man, even the ones involving the common traditions in South Africa, ha, ha, ha. You would find maybe some guy coming from Burundi and then they would bring this main guy who was going to take care of our pre-match rituals. You would find that he had already been briefed that no, man, “Zico” is having an injury where, Bamuza (Sono) is having an injury where, this one was doing what where… things like that. Then he would come and tell our guys all sorts of things, and they would believe all these things he was saying. Then we would go to play and get hammered. These guys would get nice paycheques and then, on the Monday, you would find guys like Sipho and Sammy having a meeting, telling Jomo, “Bra J, this thing of bringing people from outside is nonsense. Don’t bring these things. Let us just dump these people and play.” Because these guys came here with info on the players and all these things, man. The traditions were something else, but it was part of the game, so you just had to live with it.
We hear these were happening at almost every team.
Ja, no, no, all of them. All the teams in South Africa. I don’t know about Wits. The mlungu teams, I don’t know, but ah, all the darkie teams, hayi (no). They’d tell you that it was not about doing things against other people, it was just to cleanse yourself so that the things of other people didn’t touch you.
How was Bra J?
You know, with Bra J, to be honest, I owe him a lot. Let me say all the players that played for Cosmos owe Bra J a lot because he is a father-figure, he is a guy who will take you on as his son and he will mentor you through everything. He’ll advise you on life. He’s the owner of the team, he knows how much you are earning and everything, and then he’ll advise you to say, “No, man, you are still young, you’re earning this much. Do this, do that, put your money here”, things like that. The last three years before I retired, I was in the business of selling pots. So, I was importing pots from Switzerland and I was selling them there. I don’t even know how he found out about that. Then he called me in and said, “Young man, I actually knew already. When you came here to Cosmos, you didn’t look like a football player. You looked like someone who was just going to be here maybe to eat my money and then go do your business somewhere else. I could tell from the things you were doing at training. So, now, I found out that you are selling pots and all these things.” I told him, “Ja, Bra J, I’m selling pots.” Then he said, “Ja, I can see football is not your thing.” Ha, ha, ha. guys at Cosmos were having your pre-match meals in the dressing room! Ha, ha, ha! No, hayi khona (no ways)! Bra J will have his pre-match meal, his KFC in the change room, but players, ha, ha, ha, no. Ronnie, no, man, seriously! I mean, we were always staying by Bra J’s hotel in Grayston Drive, Sandton, and everything was always done professionally, including our eating times. In the change room, we’d usually have your normal fruits, but hey, only Bra J was having his KFC before every match. But us, the players, no, Ronnie, ha, ha, ha. Imagine having your prematch meal in the change room and then you go out there to run on the field… you would be heavy.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Okay, there were two. The one was more of an incident than an embarrassing moment, and that was when I collided with Joel Luphahla against Platinum Stars there in Rustenburg and then he broke his leg. You know, that day, the score was 0-0 at half-time and, in the second half, I couldn’t cope because I was more worried about him. His leg was like… you know how Dillon Sheppard broke his leg and his leg was hanging? The same thing happened to Joel that day. In the second half, I wasn’t concentrating and we were beaten 3-0 that day, and the goals that went in were just all my mistakes, really. The other one was against Orlando Pirates in Durban, at Kings Park Stadium. That day, we were on fire. We scored first and then Pirates scored two goals through my own mistakes. I don’t even know what happened there, bro. After the game, Jomo came to me and said, “Ag, don’t worry. You know, these guys of Pirates don’t sleep. You Namibians are weak. You don’t protect yourselves. Maybe they put something on you and that’s why you played like that.” That’s Bra J for you, comforting you, while deep in his heart, he knew that you played nonsense, ha, ha, ha. That (Bennett) Chenene killed me that day!
What about fights between teammates?
There was one incident between Laffor and Chris (Katongo). But it was not a thing of fighting per se. You know when you have a leader like Katongo, he always wants to win at all costs. Laffor missed a sitter, man, and then he had another chance but lost possession. These guys then attacked us and went on to score. Katongo then ran up to him in a fit of rage and confronted him on the pitch. Even in the change room, he confronted him and told him, “If you don’t want to play, go out! We want to play and win!” You could see the tears in Laffor’s eyes… you know he’s a cry-baby. He didn’t even want to go back for the second half. But when he went back, he scored and we drew 1-all in Katlehong. The other one involved George Hummel. You know those old guys didn’t like losing. They could even come and give you a slap on the pitch, telling you to man up because we want to win this game. So, George had a go at (Lazarus) Kaimbi, similar to what happened with Chris and Anthony. Kaimbi was quite short-tempered, so they gave each other answers there, ha, ha, ha.
And that’s where we leave it, Zico. Thank you so much and all the best!
Thanks, Lunga. But I’ll get Ronnie for saying we were eating our pre-match meals in the change room at Cosmos. That one was crazy, ha, ha, ha. I’ll get him for that one. On a serious note, it would be really sad to see Bra J going down, man, because that team has a rich history and that history can’t just go down like that. I was even speaking to Bamuza a month ago and seriously, they need to do a lot of things because the team must survive, at least, and then re-look and start over. Maybe I’ll just tell Bra J to come retire here (in Namibia). He must just stay away from the team for now and relax on the beach here, ha, ha, ha.