2009 MTN8 champion goalkeeper Helton Da Rocha has disclosed intricate details of how he was surprisingly plucked from Brazil 'out of the blue' to grace the PSL where he landed a handsome salary of up to R160 000.
Da Rocha joined Golden Arrows in July 2008 from Tigres do Brazil after having had spells with Vasco da Gama and Fluminense.
The goalkeeper spent four years at Arrows.
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"I don't know how the people in South Africa came to know about me but there was an agent named Nadime Mahmood who told me that he had liked what he had seen of me," Da Rocha tells KickOff from his base in Rio de Janeiro where he is now the goalkeeper coach at Brescia.
"He [Mahmood] then asked if I want to come to South Africa and my response was 'when?' to which he said 'tomorrow'.
"He asked me to send a copy of my passport so that he could book my flight.
"I thought he was joking but after 20 minutes he had sent me the ticket which indicated that I should fly at 05:00 the next day.
"So, the day after that I was in South Africa and arrived not even knowing which team I would be joining.
"Crazy as that might sound, I waited five hours at OR Tambo airport because I didn't even know the face of the guy who was supposed to come and fetch me.
"He ultimately found me loitering around the airport after which I met one Brazilian that I knew, the late goalkeeper Alexandre Bezzera Revoredo.
"Crazy was that when I arrived at Arrows the coach [Manqoba Mngqithi] told me that he already had two goalkeepers so doesn't need another keeper.
"However, after my first training session the coach said: 'you're my number one because you are a good keeper'.
"At Arrows I was being given better money than what I had been receiving in Brazil because I started out on a gross of R75 000 [2008/09].
"The next season I got R120 000 after which it went up to R160 000 [gross] for the remainder of my time at Arrows.
"It was very good money for me which is why I even brought my wife and little son at the time before my other son was also born in Durban.
"I also received a signing-on-fee of R200 000 for every season which I got for all the four years that I spent there.
"I only didn't get my signing on fee for the fifth season which didn't come into effect after the termination of my contract.
"My first game for Arrows was away at Mamelodi Sundowns and we won it (4-2).
The highlight of his stay at Arrows was the famous 6-0 massacre of Ajax Cape Town in the 2009 MTN8 final at Orlando Stadium.
"After that game I was told there was interest from Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Bidvest Wits, and Free State Stars.
"Everyone was just interested in me, but Mato Madlala just walked up to me and said I must sign a new contract because she knew everybody wanted me.
"I was into the second year of my contract, but she decided that I must add another three years which would then make my stay at the club five years.
"I told her that if she is giving me money then there is no problem.
"She presented the contract at lunch and then transferred R200 000 after an hour asking me to sign the contract.
"I asked her to increase the salary which she did because she knew that other teams would snatch me especially Bidvest who were serious about me as they had a Portuguese speaking coach in Roger de Sa who had convinced me to join them.
"Bidvest was going to give me good money.
"But then I wouldn't have spoken at length to other teams without exhausting my talks with Arrows first because I respect this club and the owner because they gave me my breakthrough in South Africa," says Da Rocha.
Then following his departure from Arrows at the end of the 2011/12 season, he found his way to Mozambique.
"After the 2011/12 season I came back to Brazil for seven months but then one of the guys from Brazil asked that I come and help as a keeper at GD Matchedje in Mozambique where I was only getting USD1000 (approx. R18400).
"It was a small club, but the football couldn't be compared to South Africa by any chance and the money that I was earning was just so that I could buy food.
"I only spent a season with that club because it wasn't sustainable at all plus it wasn't a place that I could go to with my family unlike in South Africa.
"My initial plan after I left Arrows had been to come back to South Africa and even while in Mozambique, I still wanted to come to South Africa, but it didn't work out.
"When I played for Arrows, I saved a lot of money, part of which I used while I was in Mozambique where I was earning so little.
"In the end I had to come back to Brazil," says Da Rocha.
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