LA MASIA’S JOSHUA

Howzit Joshua? We are having one last go at it this week. It’s been a good few weeks with you in the ‘In Touch With…’ driving seat, so let’s make sure that we end it with a bang, right? Of course, my brother. I have enjoyed being here.

Same here. Go

for it! There’s a guy named Sipho Mahlangu – his twin brother plays for TS Galaxy. That guy always makes my day. So, recently we went to Cape Town to play against Cape Town Spurs. We arrived there on Saturday, and, on Sunday morning, we went for training. Our driver came with some koeksisters. That’s what we eat and it’s something that’s loved by Coloured people. Koeksisters are something you would find on the table on a Sunday morning in the Coloured community, so our driver brought some for us. We had them in the morning before training. So, I told the guys to leave some koeksisters for after trainobviously ing because we would be hungry again after training. While we were eating, they told Sipho that there was something for him to have. I don’t think he knew what koeksisters were, but he came to the kombi and had a taste. They were still nice and hot at the time, so they were very delicious. He had some and then he left. After training, when we went back to the hotel, we still had some koeksisters left. Sipho met me at the door and he was like, “Do you still have some of those fat cakes?” Ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha. Well, difference between and a fat cake, alone in his confusion.

That made me laugh so much. That was probably all he had on his mind during some can’t tell the a koeksister so poor Sipho isn’t training. I am sure he kept on thinking about how nice they were. It took me a while to go to my room because I was just laughing in the lobby. But, to be fair to him, the koeksisters look like fat cakes. But they are not the same thing. It was epic, ha, ha, ha.

How many of them did he have then? I think he had about four of them, ha, ha, ha. Dit was baie heerlik (That was very delicious). That guy had me laughing for a while. It’s a moment I will remember for a while, ha, ha, ha.

For sure. Surely there must be more hilarious moments to share with the Soccer Laduma readers… Eish, there is another story that just came to mind right now. There was this time when I was at Witbank Spurs. We lost a game, but I can’t remember who the game was against. My former boss at Spurs, Themba Mafu, was angry because we lost a game that he did not want us to lose. He came into the dressing room and sat us down. He felt that he was wasting money on us. He was saying that all we were there for was the paycheque, because of our performance on the pitch. When he came into the dressing room, the man was furious!

Yho! Yho! Yho! A negative result and a furious chairman is a recipe for disaster, ha, ha, ha. He started to shout at us and he was telling us nonsense. So, during that moment, h esa id something that we did not expect him to say. He said, “All of you, izinja (dogs).” He was saying we were dogs. I think he ran out of things to say and that’s the word that came to his head, ha, ha, ha. I did not know what he meant though, so I got home and told my wife the story and I asked what izinja means. She told me that it means ‘dogs’. I was like, “This guy called us dogs?” I was so upset because

• The striker would love to meet CAF president Patrice Motsepe one day.

• He has already planned for retirement by starting a business where he refills and exchanges gas for households and businesses.

• The last time he cried was in July this year when his nephew was murdered - bless his soul.

• The veteran campaigner says he will never forget 10 September 2016 – the day his son Thoriso Jaden Sauls passed on. May his soul continue to rest in peace.

• Sauls named his business - TJ Gas - after his son. he was calling us dogs. I could not sleep that night after I found out what the word means. People can call you all sorts of names, like blood sucker, but to be called a dog, that’s another level, my brother. That’s a crazy story about Themba Mafu, ha, ha, ha. But he is a good human being. We practically became father and son.

Eish, it seems Mr Mafu was a real character and a boss who accepted nothing less than perfection. We also understand he was coach and chairman at the same time, at some stage. Talk about a Jomo Sono of sorts! Ha, ha, ha!

So how did the players react to that outburst?

They were angry and they showed it by getting relegated, ha, ha, ha. Don’t play with players like that. Footballers are crazy. You can’t call them dogs when they are angry, ha, ha, ha.

MORE THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT SAULS

Talk about a dog-eat-dog world down there hey. Players can put you in the dogbox if you make them angry. They will leave you with your tail between your legs. They don’t mess around, ha, ha, ha.

Josh, thank you so much for showing us your crazy side these last couple of weeks, we’ve absolutely enjoyed every story shared… from Lebogang Mothibantwa seeing red, to the director who threw R1000 win bonuses for fun in Cape Town, not to mention the senior player whose payslip was not so confidential. Hopefully we can bring you back in future for more of these precious stories. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I had a great time and I hope to be back in future.