More Than Just a Game Page #5

We know how i is.

There are passions, healhy passions.

Bu l know l've said his before,

and please forgive me

if l'm flogging a dead horse,

bu we canno allow rough play.

Wha?

Makana Fooball Associaion,

draw for Daurday, he 1 4h May, 1970.

Black Eagles versus Gynaspurs,

your referee is Mr Harry Gwala.

Finally, we've go he Dilver Dars

versus Rangers, referee Mr D. Govender.

Linesmen will be Mr Njama, Mr Kunene,

Mr Dingh and Mr Radebe.

Look, can' we have Mr...

The League log laes poins.

l don' wan o hear i, Mr Duze.

l ruled according o wha l saw

in he field of play.

Field of play, wha field of play,

on which field of play were you on

-when ha happened?

-Tony, if you have any complains,

-use he official channels.

-Official channels?

Go you wan o know wha you can do

wih your official channels?

l'll ell you wha you can do,

you can ake your official channels,

file hem, in riplicae for all l care!

Righ is righ

and wrong is wrong, Mr Referee,

and in his case,

l am righ and you are wrong!

Presenaion o he B Givision champions!

-Well done, sir.

-Well played.

B Givision champions!

We had fans, we had banners,

we had logos, we had everyhing.

Spectators were fanatics, you know,

they were... They Ioved soccer.

They tended now to own the sport itseIf.

A chap Iike BIues,

and there was another one Iike Baartman.

For my sake, Mark, win i for me!

lf you can' win i for your capain,

hen hink of Baarman,

who cries every ime when you lose!

l hurs me. Please, l'm begging you.

l don' wan hose oher guys o win.

You're my only hope, my heroes,

my supersars!

Gefence!

Gick! Hey, Gick!

They promised me

hey're going o win i for Baarman!

They swore!

Leave ha Blues maniac alone

and figh wih he real man.

A real soccer man!

lsaacs! Dedick lsaacs!

-Wha is i, Blues, l can hear you!

-l call you ou.

Wha? Hey, Blues, you a crazy man.

Here l am.

-You sill suppor he losing eam.

-Today, Gick, oday is oday!

-Wha day, Blues?

-Today's he day ha you die!

Hey, you said ha hree weeks ago!

ls ha he day or is oday he day?

-You're confusing me.

-Today is he day ha you die.

Pass he ball!

Wow! l can' be.

-Look a ha!

-Yes!

-Look a ha!

-Yes, i is!

-Hey, hey! Mandela.

-And Waler Disulu!

-Ahmed Kahrada!

-l don' believe his!

No, no, no, no, no, no,

ha's no Kahrada and ha's no Mandela!

Tha's...Come, you're no supposed o

see ha, people! Move!

Power...is ours!

After that, we never saw the prisoners

from that section again.

They actuaIIy buiIt a waII between us

to keep them hidden away.

When we used o have regular meeings,

we had o pick sides.

And of course, there was a motto

that guided aII soccer on the isIand.

The motto of the Makana FootbaII

Association was ''Service before SeIf. ''

Genlemen, we have here he names

of he eam ha will be playing

he big mach on Daurday. Okay! Dhabalala.

When l played i was like l was home again.

l would ranspor you away from he island.

Chilewane, Kekane, Zwelendawu.

When we were toId that we were not going

to pIay in a particuIar weekend

we fel so bad.

l'm sorry for hose genlemen

ha didn' make i.

-We'll pracise hard his week wih Pro.

-l'm sorry.

As far as we were concerned,

a sociaIist society was one in which

all aspecs of your life had o be caered for.

Your mind, your body, your soul,

your spiri. And spors...

Playing spors, playing soccer was

a very imporan par

of ha inegraed, holisic approach o life.

For me i was very difficul

because l always waned o win.

And by now we were successfuIIy

administering and pIaying soccer ourseIves.

We had aIIowed no interference from

the authorities, and this made them mad!

It was one area on the isIand

in which we were sovereign,

and where we had controI over our Iives.

-Hey! Hey!

-Even when working in that terribIe quarry,

we found time to discuss soccer issues.

Like me compIaining

about seIecting the best teams,

and Pro's compIaints about training.

l ell you, man, hey're going o lose.

They're going o lose

because hey have go no samina,

because hey only wen o he bahroom

for 10 minues.

Ten minues!

You can' do anyhing in 10 minues.

l hough i was scheduled for half an hour?

No, i's 45 minues!

The upper body for fifeen minues

and hen he runk for fifeen minues.

-And running for fifeen minues, man.

-Do?

Wha is Pro complaining abou now?

He's angry ha Harry ook

mos of his raining ime

o give he guys anoher glimpse

behind he lron Curain.

Pro feels hey are

no going o be ready for he soccer.

Wha's Pro's feeling

abou Mbaha playing his week?

Marcus, i is very difficul.

Old Boos hasn' had a game in hree weeks.

Hey! Old Boos hasn' had

a game in hree weeks

because old Boos plays fooball

like a drunk.

And he is very unhappy abou no playing.

Yeah, well, l'm very unhappy abou i

when he does play.

They old me Boos wans o

lodge a complain wih he commiee

-if you play Pro again.

-Yeah, l know, l know.

The seIection process,

it was a heII of a process.

You want to pIay incIusive soccer.

You want to invoIve everybody.

Bu hen you know ha Daurday, he oher

eam is going o pick up heir bes players.

You sar wondering o say, ''Now, look man,

wha is imporan his week, you know?

''Talk o your guys, you know, hey should

ake i easy on socialism, you know,

''unil we've played our fooball

and hen hey can go back o heir agenda.''

There were clubs playing,

and a he end of he year,

in order o play wihin one anoher's clubs,

no playing agains one anoher,

hey creaed wha was called

''seleced sides.''

Mix he clubs up, and hose who played

wih one anoher,

now played agains one anoher

in heir new emporary club

and hey called i ''seleced sides.''

A side was picked on Robben lsland,

and hey named hemselves

he Alanic Raiders.

The Raiders were, almos by acciden,

a very, very srong side.

Drong soccer players like Duze,

and Bimos and Freddie Dimon.

And it was out of the whoIe discourse

of incIusiveness on the one side

and a desire to win at aII costs, that

the incident of the AtIantic Raiders arose.

-Maybe we won' have...

-Dkull and Bones, gens, Alanic Raiders.

Young guys, fas guys, hard guys.

They've poached wo players from Manong.

The Bucs eam have los wo players.

People are saying hese Raiders play

only for pride, for vaniy.

Duze only plays for one hing

and ha's o win!

-Dkull and Bones forever.

-Enough wih ha nonsense now.

l know you gens. l know you,

you are Dilver Dars men and Manong men.

You're no secessionis hooligans!

Dop his nonsense now.

AtIantic Raiders, they were the eIite.

We were the eIite.

The best pIayers in the best team.

Deleced from across all he cells

in he island. We were he bes.

Alanic Raiders was jus a eam

ha had everyhing o do

wih he saus, you know.

Yeah, yeah, here were complains

and accusaions because we were he bes,

we were he sronges eam.

They were rocking he boa

righ from he sar.

The men waned o leave heir clubs

in order o join he Raiders.

We were good, man.

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