Still In Touch With Gerald Modabi Part 2

Soccer Laduma’s ‘In Touch’ & ‘Still In Touch’ feature has been a fan favourite for almost two decades in Soccer Laduma’s weekly newspaper. 

Millions of readers turn to it first each week to read the crazy stories that Mzansi’s former players tell and to see current soccer stars dish the dirt on their teammates and coaches. 

Over the years, together with our readers, we have laughed uncontrollably and gasped with disbelief at stories that have never been told before!

Due to the incredible success and reading pleasure over the years and the timeless nature of this incredible content, Soccer Laduma has dug through the archives to bring back to life some of the gems you may have missed, or simply want to re-read and share with your friends. 

This week, we look back to 27 September 2017 in issue number 1042, where well-travelled ex-midfielder Gerald Modabi continues sharing rib-cracking anecdotes about the legendary Jacob Sakala during their time together at Dynamos. In this instalment, Modabi also delves into his time at Orlando Pirates, where there was no shortage of crazy personalities, with the late Gift Leremi taking the cake. You better read on! 

Still In Touch With Gerald Modabi (PART 2)

Nicknamed ‘Jomo’ after his former coach Jomo Sono, Gerald Modabi was an intelligent footballer who many believe would have received more recognition in the game, if not for an off-field life lived on the fast lane. To his credit, he openly admits to his weakness for the green bottle and that it destroyed his career prospects. On a positive note, the 35-year-old returns with more hilarious tales from his playing career. Sit back, relax and have a laugh!

Gerald, some great stories in last week’s instalment. Jacob Sakala was something else, hey.

Ha, ha, ha, he was a clown. The players loved him, but he loved his salary more. I remember that on payday we’d train for a short spell. On the way to training, they’d announce on the radio that the banks would be closing at 11h00. We’d start training at 10h00 and then finish at 10h20, ha, ha, ha. He would be so desperate to go and get his money, that he’d not bother taking off his shirt, tracksuit and Copa Mundial boots. Even the whistle would still be hanging around his neck while he stood in the bank’s queue, ha, ha.

Such a character. Every former player of his that we’ve interviewed gave us this impression that Sakala was scared of Pat Malabela, the ex-Dynamos club boss.

Big time. I remember one time Malabela said he was giving us the weekend off to go home. Sakala was adamant we did not need a weekend off, as the club was in a precarious position on the league table. So he said we all had to be at training on the Saturday, at 10h00. I think Friday he went drinking. Saturday morning we are all there at the training ground and Sakala is conspicuous by his absence. Malabela had decided to come round to the session because we were based in Giyani and he was staying in Polokwane. The coach was not there! Worse part is he had caught sight of Sakala the previous night at some watering hole. When Sakala eventually appeared at a distance, he realised that Malabela was there standing with the players at training. He started shouting, saying that he doesn’t like players that don’t listen. He said, “Do you want me to be fired? When I say training starts at 11h00, training starts at 11h00, and then you arrive here at 10h00.” Ha, ha, ha. Malabela said, “No, Sakala, you are lying. I was here when you told the players they must be here at 10h00. Why are you late?” He responded, “No, Bra Pat, you remember you didn’t pay me and the bank phoned me that they are repossessing my house, so I had to go and speak to the bank manager.” Malabela retorted, “But the bank is closed, Sakala. It’s 11h00 now and it’s a Saturday.” Sakala said, “I’m very good friends with the bank manager because I coach a famous club like Dynamos. But let’s stop fighting and try and avoid relegation together.”

Ha, ha. You must have had a ball of a time at Orlando Pirates...

Yho, lapho bezibuya (it was going down there). There was everything there. I once shared a room with a teammate who would have a bath with some stuff I didn’t even know what it was. It was shocking. My time at Pirates was marred by controversy and what people called ill-discipline was fun for me. When you open a player’s car boot, you expect to find maybe soccer boots or a club shirt or something. But during my time there, it was a huge competition of who had the loudest subwoofer and the biggest cooler bag. But they needed to be filled... not empty cooler bags! The late Gift Leremi and I had big muscles, so we used to try and compete to see who could carry the most boxes of Heineken. We all know who lost that battle! He’d lift four packs of 24 beers on his head, while I’d only manage to carry two. I used to be promised huge, huge beatings by that guy.

Hayibo! What for?

For fun! He just enjoyed beating people up. In some cases, I would accept the promise of a beating and in other cases, I’d plead the fifth amendment until I got to his house. As soon as he jumped out of the car, I’d open the window and tell him, “It’s fine, you can continue promising to beat me, but you must find yourself a lift to training tomorrow because I’m not picking you up.” Some days he didn’t even have transport to go to training. This one time, he wanted to go to this chesa nyama in Alexandra abathi kuse (at) 15. They sold mogodu on Mondays and most Jo’burg soccer players used to hang out there. We’d be there nabo (with the likes of) Lungisani Ndlela and Katlego Mphela. We’d all have a fun time with the Mamelodi Sundowns boys. Gift decided ukuthi (that) that weekend he was going to visit the joint. Little did we know that the guy was not in a friendly mood. He had come to sort Mr Scara Ngobese out – may his soul rest in peace. He greeted us nicely and bought each of us alcohol. Scara being Scara, he told him, “You can’t buy Black Jesus alcohol. Black Jesus buys things for himself.”

Ha, ha, ha, that really sounds like Scara.

Suddenly Gift lifts his T-shirt and then we see a gun. We realised ukuthi hey kuyan*iwa la (it’s getting hot in here). He then took out a condom and opened it. He said to Scara, “Today I want to teach you a lesson. Because you play for Kaizer Chiefs, you think you are God’s greatest gift to mankind. Today I will teach you. I want you to open both your eyes wide and if you dare close them, I will shoot you dead now because I know you are sleeping with my woman. Today you are going to stop and I’m going to make you stop.” He started beating him with the elastic condom in both eyes. You can imagine the river of tears coming out of those eyes because they were not allowed to shut. When Gift was done with him and left, we decided to have a good laugh at poor Scara. We said, “So Black Jesus decided to go on holiday to Mauritius today. He didn’t come through for you.” As he was driving away, he wanted to retaliate and said to me, “You can talk too much, but your Cooper is not an S. Mine is an S.” I said, “Go with your Mini Cooper S.” Talk about a thorough, thorough condom beating in the eye!

There will never be anyone like Gift.

No, Gift was Gift. He did funny stuff. I remember one time where, between the two of us, we had about R5 000 in our pockets. I’m sure everyone knows by now that we used to withdraw all our money at midnight on payday because we didn’t want to pay for our responsibilities. We had a bigger debt to pay, which was Heineken. Some nights we’d decide to book different hotels, although we were together. I’d drop him off where he was sleeping and I’d go to my sleeping venue. We once went home and got fully kitted in Orlando Pirates suits. We filled our bags with alcohol and iimpahla zokushinsha (casual clothing) so that u Mamello no Gugu (Leremi and Modabi’s wives) would think we were going to camp. But we were going to our different camp, ha, ha, ha. Off we went... but soon, there was a spanner in the works. Both our wives had decided to go out for a night out in town as well. All of a sudden we’re driving on the same lane with them on the M1 and if we didn’t die that night... well, he ended up dying... but I should have died that night from heart attack. Lunga, you do not want to know the embarrassment I have to this day whenever Gugu asks me about it. Now it’s embarrassing, but ah, back then it was huge, huge fun. I miss the boy because I have no one to go to “camp” with now.

Still In Touch Fun Facts

Best player I’ve ever faced: Gift Leremi

Best player I’ve played with: Myself

Biggest pay cheque: R38 000

Smallest pay cheque: R1 500

Favourite current player: Happy Jele

Current occupation: Founder of Crucial Zone Free Kick Centre

Former teams: SuperSport United, Silver Stars, Orlando Pirates Jomo Cosmos, Bidvest Wits, Dynamos