CHIPPA UNITED’S JUSTICE CHABALALA

Hosi Ya Mina, it’s great to have you with us. We know we had an interview with you not so long ago, and now we need to get laughing as we know you can be quite a character. In fact, there are videos of you dancing a lot at the different teams you’ve played for. Yes, there are videos of me dancing at Sekhukhune United, (Orlando) Pirates, Free State Stars, (Bloemfontein) Celtic and they will have more here at Chippa (United). We will dance soon. Already we have a dance. The guys are just waiting for me to score and then we will go and dance, ha, ha, ha. I owe th emagoal.I have been teaching them and they say, “You have to score so that we can go to the corner and celebrate.”

Ha, ha, ha. Do the guys know how to do your dance moves though? Yes, even Roscoe (Pietersen) does the dance moves. He likes it so much. He is the one who is going to lead the dance, you will see, ha, ha, ha.

That means you need to score soon and celebrate with your teammates, man. I will score, my brother, soon. I can feel it.

Good, we like the confidence, we will certainly look out celebration soon. That was In Touch ice-breaker. What you want to share with the Laduma first?

and for that a great do Soccer

I remember when I was at Sekhukhune, I did not get a chance to play when I first arrived. But then I got a chance to play against SuperSport United. I had a Man of the Match performance. So, when we got back to training, we started with jogging, and it was quiet. They said that after jogging, those who played would do a recovery session and then those who did not play would train. As we were jogging, I asked the training coach, “Coach, even those who did not play must joi nusw ho played?” I told Prince (Nxumalo), “We don’t want to jog with people who did not play”, ha, ha, ha. So he was like, “You play one game and now you want to talk too much.” We used to joke around a lot and the funny thing is that the guys would know that I was going to talk non-stop when I had played well, ha, ha, ha.

So,

did you play the following game? Because it would obviously be awkward if you didn’t, ha, ha, ha.

Yes, I did play the following game. But I remember after the Swallows FC game, we lost 1-0 and then I was out for the next match. I was on the bench and the guys said,

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT CHABALALA

• Before turning professional, he played as a midfielder and then striker.

• The 30-year-old first supported Chelsea in the English Premier League, but now follows Liverpool – talk about changing one’s colours.

• The big defender has four siblings – two sisters and two brothers.

• Both his parents are still alive.

• The former Orlando Pirates man boasts that he knows how to cook. “Hosi ,nowt hat you are not playing, you are not talking.” I said to them, “How can you talk when you are not playing?”, ha, ha, ha. But that’s how we would joke around in the team and no one would take it personally. For example, I always used to joke around with guys like Prince and say, “Angithi wena vele you are only here for training. You are not here to play matches.” I used to ask Prince, “Are you here to play or are you just here to sleep at the hotel and eat food?” He would say, “I am in the matchday squad”, and then I would say, “Let’s go eat at the hotel.” The thing about me is that I like joking around with the guys, but I have to get used to you first. Because if you don’t understand me, you can even hit me because you don’t understand what type of person I am. I allow people to understand me first and then I can joke around with you, ha, ha, ha.

Good strategy.

When I was at Sekhukhune, we played 30 Seconds in the bus. It was me, Sello Motsepe, Prince, Nyiko Mobbie, Tlotlo Leepile and Cheslyn Jampies. You know when you get the 30 Seconds card, you are the only one who can see what words are on the card so that you can describe them to the other guys. For example, if the card says ‘Engen’, I will say, “…where we pour petrol” and the guys will have to guess what the answer is. It could be Shell, BP or anything. So, when I got my card, there was ‘New York’ written on it. So, I simply just said, “Name the places outside. The ones overseas.” They all looked confused and they were laughing. So, the 30 seconds was up and I told them that the answer was New York. I told them that I am not good at that game. I don’t like it, ha, ha, ha!

Ha, ha, ha, ‘the places outside’! 30 Seconds is a tricky game, especially because you have so little time to explain everything so as to give your playmates a decent hint.

The problem is that they laugh at you when you don’t know how to describe what’s on the card. I was playing because they forced me to play, ha, ha, ha.

‘They made me do it.’ We see…

Another character we had in the team at Sekhukhune was Edwin Gyimah. Sometimes he would just start dancing out of nowhere. Like, it’s something that you would not expect. It would happen maybe after a win or sometimes before a game, in a way to motivate the guys. It was good to be around him in the dressing room. But when it’s time to work, he works.

We wonder who the best dancer between Gyimah and you is, but guess we’ll have to see when you score your first Chippa goal. Justice, we gotta bounce, thanks so much for your time, brother. It’s a pleasure, my brother.