In this edition of My First Pay Cheque, former Santos defender Cheslyn Jampies reveals all on his emergence from humble beginnings and how veteran Nasief Morris supported him as a young professional footballer.
Who you signed for?
"Santos in 2011. The first pay cheque for me wasn't about the money.
"I played there at Santos before they got relegated. I was at Ajax Cape Town for nine years, then I left for Santos. I think it was somewhere around 2010/2011 Season."
How much was it?
"[Laughs] People are going to laugh at me hey, it was R3 000. That's my first contract in the PSL.
"But look, that time I was still at school, so it was a lot of money for me. But you know, after you spend time with Tyrone Arendse and Nasief Morris, it teaches you the value of planning you know.
"So, I eventually went to the Santos owner to ask for more money. And he decided to increase my salary by R1 000.
"It then became a big thing there when I asked him 'How can you increase my salary by a mere R1 000? It's like you are using me. Your son is wearing a lot of clothes worth a lot of money, but you expect me to live off of R4 000.'
"To cut the whole story short, I got fined R15 000 after that."
How I celebrated becoming a professional footballer?
"I was happy hey, you know I never had it easy in life to be honest with you, and it was never just given to me.
"I'm a player that always believed that what I put in is what I will get out. You can call David Notoane, he was my coach at Santos at the time with coach Duncan Crowie, they will tell you I used to jog from Athlone Stadium to where we were training every day because my father, he couldn't enter that part of the world where Santos were training. So, he could only give me a lift to Athlone Stadium. Sometimes I would not have money for transport, you know, so I would run to training. So, I couldn't do any celebrations, R1 500 went to my mother, R500 went to our church's offering box. I was left with R1 000, and that was enough in those days because I was still at school. I was in Grade 8. I was a good boy.
"That season I won Player of The Year and Players' Player of the Year at Santos."
What I bought with it?
"Chocolates. Remember I have two younger brothers, so everything we did was for the family. I bought them chocolates, I used to love chocolates. I couldn't go to sleep without a chocolate. I ended up enjoying that R1000."
Did it last the full month?
"Nasief Morris played a big role in my success at Santos. He would help me when need be. I don't know when he is going to request it back, but he's done a lot for me in my career. I can tell you this much. Whenever I needed someone to go to, it would be him. He is the one who thought how to do these international tackles having the experience from Panathinaikos and all these places.
"A first pay cheque never lasts a full month, remember you are excited, you want to show everybody you got something from playing football.
"Luckily enough, I had my mother and father, and of course, Nasief who was always there for me, he would tell me 'You played well today, I'm giving you R4 000, and if you play well tomorrow, I'll give you R3 000. Nasief is a good man, I will tell you that much."