In this edition of My Locker Room Secrets, the hilarious Phumelele 'Ace' Bhengu leaves nothing out as he tells KickOff about what used to take place in the Moroka Swallows dressing room.
I'm sure you have a lot to tell the KickOff readers about the dressing room of one of the most loved clubs in South African football, Moroka Swallows?
"Bekumnandi ku Swallows to hang out with Siyabonga 'Bhele' Nomvethe and Greg Etafia, and Goodman Mazibuko [laughs]. We also had two best buddies in Scelo Zuma and Morgan Shivambu, they loved each other even though they couldn't hear each other, the problem was a language barrier. You wouldn't dare touch Scelo Zuma if Shivambu was around, he'd shout 'Hey Bhengu! Yekelela Msholozi ingani ya mina!' [Laughs].
"I remember us playing against the Orlando Pirates side that had the likes of Teko Modise, Thulasizwe Mbuyane, and Katlego Mashego [laughs].
"Teko was buzzing that day, and come half time our captain Goodman Mazibuko was fuming, he gave the coach no chance to speak, 'Coach! Please take me out! I can't mark this young boy from Pirates so please I'm going out! You can put in whoever you want to put in my place!'
"He was saying all this busy taking off his kit, and he headed straight to the shower. And our coach Julio Leal was flabbergasted. We went back to the coach without the coach having said anything at half time."
Who was always late?
"The biggest culprit was Gareth Ncaca. He joined us from Sundowns, and the problem was that that he started driving at a late age."
Any rituals before a match?
"Our kit manager Junior was in charge of that department. We used to call him 'Ndondemfishane'. And every time we lost he would say it's because they gave him the wrong muti."
Who was the jokester?
"Siyabonga 'Bhele' Nomvethe. His biggest problem was English. Remember he was our captain, so he loved calling meetings. Because he was my roommate he'd say to me, 'Uyabona Ace I want to tell these boys to stop costing us games!', but because we had some foreign players in our squad I'd ask him, 'So how are you going to put it in English since we have Brazilian players in our team?', and he'd reply 'Nah I will tell them straight hey you this is bullshit! This is bullshit! This is bullshit!' [Laughs]."
Was it a muti change room?
"It was a mixed bag [laughs] because at one point Greg Etafia his training kit and playing kit stayed at his house, he never left it with the kit manager like most of us did. And Bhele did the same saying the likes of Mbesuma and other strikers were bewitching him [laughs]. We also had bo moruti James Mayinga, and also there'll be the likes of Lefa Tsutsulupa who you couldn't tell if bayasonta or basebenzisa umuthi [laughs]."
Who was the singer?
"There was this boy Kagiso. I forgot his surname. He was agreat singer. But Goodman Mazibuko was the best in that department, even though he was making us singing songs from Free State, thinking we all understood Sotho."
Who was the best dressed?
"Fabian McCarthy. He dressed so well. It was expected from a player from Kaizer Chiefs. And the likes of Mark Haskins used to dress as if they were from the Mall, and then most of us we would always be in our shorts."
Who was the worst dressed?
"Edward Malinga, the one who came from Pirates. He'd put on the first thing he came across."
Who never showered?
"Gref Etafia, ubethi bayathakatha emashaweni. He preferred doing it at home."
Coach who gave the best team talks?
"Rainer Zobel the German. He'd just get into the change room and say 'Bhele, you will play 55 minutes and then Ace will come in for you', and that would happen exactly. He kept his word. No matter if Bhele was buzzing on the pitch that, Rainer didn't care, he followed his script [laughs]."
