In this edition of My Locker Room Secrets, former Orlando Pirates player Daniel "Sailor" Tshabalala shares details on the Buccaneers changing room during his time at the club.
Whose locker room are we in today?
"Daniel Tshabalala was born in Sebokeng in the late month of 1977. I'm the second born in the family, I'm the first boy, and Orlando Pirates was my first PSL club."
Who was always late?
"[laughs] I wouldn't say late because our training sessions started at 09:30, and I was one of those who arrived around 09:20.
"You know in the morning, people have different moods. So, I didn't like talking a lot in the morning, hence I arrived with 10 minutes remaining. So, I wasn't necessarily late, but I was the last one to arrive.
"I was not avoiding my teammates, I was avoiding the early conversations that were unnecessary. Sometimes, I'm not a morning person. I didn't want anyone to hear anything that was going to spoil my day."
Any interesting rituals before you played?
"No ritual, but I would meditate to protect me and not to harm other players.
"I meditate a lot, I'm not a praying person. I'd meditate on not hurting anyone and also not hurting myself."
Who was the Jokester?
"At Pirates, we had different players. Steve Lekoelea was number one when it came to that. Eish, Steve can be crazy man, he never runs out of jokes.
"We grew up together, so I know him. He was the main man when it came to jokes. We had characters like Jimmy Kauleza, Lelo Mbele, Felix Musasa, but Steve took the crown [laughs)."
Was it a muti change room?
"Bhakaniya is a big club, there they don't call it muti, they call it 'izinto zakhona'. So, we often did 'izinto zakhona' [laughs].
"We had some coloured guys there, we had James Mothibi, Tyrone Arendse [laughs] who would kill me "Nee ek toor nie man! Ek pray ek man! Ek gaan nie daar en toor en toor!"
Who was the singer?
"We were singing a lot there man. I think I was one of them. But mostly it was the likes of Steve Lekoelea and Gift Leremi who led our songs."
Who was the best dressed and worst dressed?
"Some of us care less about clothes. But we had people like Steve Lekoelea and Thapelo Liau who were the best dressers.
"Those guys were wearing expensive clothes man, not Uzzi's and stuff. We are talking expensive stuff, not manga-manga. We are talking about Italian quality.
"I was the worst dressed, I'd always rock up in my tracksuits, and I wore sports brands. I was the most boring person. Even now I'm more comfortable in sportswear compared to jeans."
Rate the coach's team talk…
"I'll give it to Kosta Papic. I think he studied us before coming to the club. It was not much coaching but much training. He did everything at training. Come match day he would not talk much. I think it was one of his downfalls because in professional football you need to analyse your opponents, I think that's one thing that made us not win the league. He'd just say, "Come on guys let's go and get them!"