TSHAKHUMA FC’S TEBOHO MOTLOUNG

“Rasta”, your turn. After all, your teammate, one Kamohelo Mohoje, whose presence he graced us with recently on this page, recommended you as the tonic to our readers’ blues, what with your humorous streak. Stories please! Yes, I have a few that I can share, and by the way, thank you for having me. So, when I was at JDR Stars, we were in camp for a game against Uthongathi in Durban. On matchday, we went for breakfast and then went back to our rooms. I was sharing a room with Lucas Mthethwa. We went for a pre-match (talk) and then afterwards, we went back into our rooms. Then the team photographer, the wellknown Vino, came to our room and sat with us for a while. We were talking while he was editing the videos on his laptop. He was telling us so many stories, but then the team manager sent a message in the WhatsApp group to let us know that it was time to go to the stadium. But, at the time, we all did not have our phones on us because we were busy listening to the stories that Vino was dishing out. He ended up falling asleep and we also fell asleep. The bus ended up leaving us as the team went to the stadium for the game.

Ha, ha, ha, but why did everyone fall asleep, including the storyteller? We imagine his anecdotes were so boring. So, the bus actually left you?

Yes. They went to the stadium, but as they arrived there, they realised that we weren’t in the bus. One of the team members, Didi, was busy taking our temperatures and she realised that the team was short in numbers. When they checked, they were able to see that we were not in the bus, ha, ha, ha. The team manager ended up calling me and he was like, “What’s happening? Did you not see the time?”

Tha tti me, Vino happened! Did they come back to the hotel to fetch you? Yes, they came back to fetch us, and everyone was laughing at us.

All Vino’s fault, ha, ha, ha…

He was just telling us about the stories in the kasi because he takes a lot of pictures there whenever there are tournaments. So, we were having a good laugh and did not even realise what time it was. At some point, he was showing us the photos he took and asked us which ones we wanted and which ones he should edit. So, our focus was on him, until he fell asleep. He was tired because he had just arrived from Johannesburg. I don’t know what happened afterwards, but we also fell asleep, ha, ha, ha.

But before the team bus leaves, don’t they check if everyone is there?

We would normally sit at the back, so I think they just thought everyone was there because they had also given us a time of when we needed to be in the bus for us to leave. When they were taki ngt he temperatures of th ep layers, that’s when they realised that we were not in the bus. Fortunately for us, we did not get punished or anything like that. I actually thought we would get some sort of punishment or that the chairman would be on our case. The guys were just laughing and they made it a topic, but not for long.

Did you play that day?

No, I was not playing much at the time. We had gone to KZN for two games, against Uthongathi and Royal AM. Mthethwa played against Royal AM, but I did not play in both games. After that, I have not done that again. Even now, I would rather be early, ha, ha, ha. I make sure that I arrive early because I don’t want a repeat.

To us, you fit the description of a real character.

I was mostly the guy who was the character and talkative. Most of the guys used to like saying that I smoke because I was always so energetic, ha, ha, ha. That’s funny because when I played for the Diski Challenge side at Bloemfontein Celtic, they would say the same thing about my energy. Even now at TTM (Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila). But I think it was worse at JDR, ha, ha, ha.

Your coach at TTM, Lucky Nelukau, is another worth a mention, judging from the interviews he conducted during your impressive Nedbank Cup campaign. Tell us a bit about him…

He is someone who is usually joking. Like when he announces the team that is going to travel for a game, he likes looking at the guys who are not usually selected and he says, “Now, what do you want me to do? Should I go to the PSL and tell them that I want to play 28 players because none of you want to sit on the bench and you want to attack me?” He likes saying things like that, but the guys know what type of person he is. You won’t get angry at him because he is someone who likes making jokes. Even if you get angry, you will end up laughing because of who he is as a person. He is such a character. He will tell you that coaches who use boards and analyze games don’t have work. He will tell you he has work, ha, ha, ha. He does not believe in analyzing and all those things. Even at training, he will tell you that he won’t have these cones all around the pitch.

Ha, ha, ha. Thank you so much for your time, Rasta. We had it good this week and hopefully we’ll have you back in future. Thank you for the opportunity.