Players were shaking

G’day I know April 11 will always be a sad day for the South African football fraternity because of the 43 supporters who lost their lives on this day at Ellis Park in 2001. It was a Soweto Derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates and it was such an unfortunate incident because no one wants to be reminded of what transpired on that fateful night.

We are talking about people who lost their lives at a football event, which is uncommon. I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was on the bench, which was very strange. This game always attracts a lot of people because of the rivalry between the two teams. The magnitude of this match can’t be over-emphasized. Whether you’re a supporter, coach or player, you want to be involved in this game in one way or another. You get too emotional when this game comes around and neither team wants to lose to the other. I know it is not a nice thing to talk about because it is like opening up old wounds that were recovering. My sincerest apologies to the affected families because I really don’t mean to take you guys back to that day. You’ve suffered a lot already, but we can’t turn a blind eye on this historic day.

I still remember watching people falling off the grandstand as we were sitting on the bench. We couldn’t understand the commotion that was happening behind our goalposts. Before we knew it, some people were carried into the field and there was so much interest around this game. I remember as we pulled into the stadium, we were talking as players that the game would definitely be delayed because of the huge number of supporters who were still outside the stadium. Mind you, this was a night game and during the week. Whether you play the derby in the morning, afternoon or even at night, it will always attract a number of people. We didn’t see it coming and no one could anticipate that gruesome experience. For those who don’t know what really transpired, the game was delayed in order to allow the supporters into the stadium, then a few minutes after the game finally kicked off, it was 1-1, which created even more hype. Chiefs scored first and then Pirates equalized. You can imagine what was going through the supporters’ minds as they were trying to force their way into the match venue, hearing the loud cheers and celebrations not knowing which team had scored or anything like that. All they cared about was getting inside and not knowing that there was a risk to lose lives.

That night remains a sad reminder of what happened because we lost so many innocent lives. This was a second such incident for me, after the Orkney Stadium disaster, and you can imagine the psychological impact the second incident had. It was the worst day in South African football’s history. I remember watching the game while the stampede was unfolding behind Brian Baloyi’s goals, but it was just not clear what was really happening. The next thing, I saw Putco (Mafani) walking into the field with a mic and pleading with the match officials to pause the game as people had lost their lives. When they told us that people were hurt, the last thing we expected was to learn of people having lost their lives. The whole situation was just on another level because the authorities were trying to hide the full story to the players so that we could fully focus on the game. A few minutes later, we were told that we had to go to the change rooms. That’s when reality sunk in because we could tell that this was a more serious case. Some players were shaking and we were told that some people had died. The number kept increasing and then we were told we couldn’t continue with the game and players started crying. We left the stadium and it was only when I got home that I found out we had lost 43 people. Can you imagine the psychological effect that had on us, especially those who had witnessed the Orkney Stadium incident as well? When we assembled at the Naturena Village the next day, we couldn’t train or do anything because we were so distraught.

An announcement was made that the two teams would send representatives to different funerals and I was one of the guys who were dispatched to North West, Klerksdorp, and it wasn’t a good feeling or experience at all. April 11 drained us so much emotionally, psychologically and physically. This is a day I will never forget in my football career. Can you imagine your loved one so excited about their trip to the stadium and that turns out to be the last time you ever see them? Only God knows why that happened. Let me send my heartfelt condolences to both teams, families and friends of the loved ones, and you must know that your loss remains ours as well. This is the day that we will never forget, in honour of the departed souls. This is a day I wish I could delete from our calendar so that we don’t have to relive the sad memories, but unfortunately, no one can do that for us. We just have to keep soldiering on in honour of our wonderful 43 supporters who went to enjoy their favourite game but couldn’t make it back home. This is a really sad day that I wish we didn’t have to deal with in our lives, but here we are.