More Than Just a Game Page #6

The Alanic Raiders was a op eam

and the BIue Rocks were right at the bottom.

It was a very poor team.

Go! Go! Go!

OId crocks, you know?

But everybody had to pIay

in the Makana FootbaII Association.

It was the ethos.

And so that's how it came naturaIIy

that these BIue Rocks,

hese old guys, hese crocks,

had o play Alanic Raiders.

l was always going o be a massacre.

Massacre.

l don' know wha was heir preparaion

like before we played ha November.

But what I know that our preparation,

as aIways, was pretty intense.

Nice!

And hen he big day came.

I was reaIIy Iooking forward to that match.

You know, aIthough we were

poIiticaI prisoners,

we did not want poIitics to consume us.

We did seminars and poIiticaI discussions.

But then we aIso wanted some fun.

And pIaying BIue Rocks was

going to be great fun.

-Offside ref, offside.

-Play on! No offside! Play on!

He was oally offside. Toally.

l hink he even handled he ball.

Really, i's a ough experience,

going behind he ne

o go and collec a ball ha has been scored

agains you as a goalkeeper.

-A goal?

-How?

l's a goal. l am applying FlFA rules,

he goal sands.

Tha was clearly offside,

and wha abou he hand ball?

And wo bloody yards away

from he las fee.

-How can ha possibly...

-This is unaccepable!

l canno ref under hese condiions.

Harry Gwala is subborn.

-Where are you going?

-You are refereeing.

Where's he going? You're walking away.

Anhony Duze is subborn!

Tha's agains rules and you know i!

l was crazy bu we said, ''Le's jus

win his hing and ge back home.''

Pass he ball!

Move.

Come gens, come gens.

Pass he ball!

The oId crocks decided

to go and bIock the goaIs, you know.

Pass he ball, man.

Pass he ball, Freddie!

l wen on unil when i came clear ha

the pros, the Raiders camp, couId not score.

Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!

Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!

Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!

Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!

Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!

The record book of course refleced

ha Blue Rocks had won he mach.

-l know, Tony, l saw i. Okay, l saw i.

-Jesus, Gick! Jesus! l mean, a complain.

A formal appeal or somehing.

Tha hing can' sand. l's a farce.

We will appeal immediaely. There are

various grounds we can appeal on.

-For insance, for sarers...

-The refereeing is a bloody joke.

-Yes.

-Tha's wha. Gick, you can' do ha.

You saw wha he did, he jus wen off

he field like ha. You can' do ha.

-Tha is agains FlFA regulaions, righ?

-l'm almos cerain i is, yeah.

How hen? Jesus, Gick, l mean

his hing is a knockou compeiion.

-But now, they couIdn't take it.

-We ge knocked ou...

Blame he referee, blame he linesman,

blame everyhing in he world, you know.

We appealed almos immediaely.

We threw the book at the MFA.

It was serious stuff.

We went there with our captain,

Freddie Simon,

our vice captain, Lucas MahIangu,

and we became very, very technicaI.

But Mr Isaacs, the executive committee

of the Makana FootbaII Association beIieves

that you have covered this territory aIready.

lf you had a complain, i behoves you

o make your proes immediaely afer

he irregulariy had been observed.

Once again, l'd like o refer you o

he consiuion

of he Makana Fooball Associaion,

secion 7C, page 9,

-where i clearly saes ha...

-Wih all due respec, Mr Decreary.

Wha we are saying, and no for

he firs ime in his meeing,

is ha we are aware of secion 7C.

Bu we find i problemaic.

The Oxford EngIish Dictionary defines

observe as ''become conscious of.''

The evens leading o our proes...

Mr lsaacs! Please do no ry

o diver his hearing wih sophisry.

l will no be oleraed.

Mr Decreary, l'm simply poining ou

ha he evens leading o our proes

are complex and require checking.

Will you concede ha?

-Go on.

-And because hey require checking

he process of becoming conscious

of hese evens,

ha is, observing hem,

has aken some ime,

which is why we are presening

our peiion of appeal

hrough he correc channels now.

-He allowed...

-Gown.

...ha rubbish hand-ball of a goal

and he jus walks off he field,

like a bloody chicken!

And he unceremoniously desered he field

afer allowing a goal which had

a elling effec on our morale.

And which arose from a malicious

applicaion of he conens

of he Referees' Charer. ln ligh of hese...

...horrible misakes, l kep on shouing,

Gick, l kep on shouing, ''Come on!

l mean, come on, are you blind?

''Can' you see?

Gon' you know wha a hand ball is?

''Gon' you know wha an offside is?''

Then, you know wha?

He hen reaced o he infringemen

of he associaion fooball rules wih mirh,

as if i was a joke.

This is fully couner o he spiri

and hisory of associaion fooball.

And i is also proof...

...ha all referees are

bloody nincompoops, yeah!

You ell hem, Gick, you ell hem.

Nincompoops.

We asked for a replay.

We asked for a change of he saus of

he game, anyhing, we fough very hard.

But sometimes I think we fought too hard.

It took five months to resoIve the

AtIantic Raiders-BIue Rocks demonstration.

We aIIowed due process to take pIace,

no matter how frustrating

the whoIe affair was.

And we wouId never have become

vioIent about it.

One of the cardinaI ruIes was never

to Iay hands on another poIiticaI prisoner,

and never give warders or guards

an excuse to intervene.

Duress. We'd make our case in such a way

that they had to Iisten.

Was it the right thing to do? It seemed Iike

the right thing to do at the time.

It seemed Iike the onIy thing to do.

Wha he bloody hell is going on here?

l'll bea you o a pulp.

When Makana FootbaII Association

stages a match,

we'll no allow hem o play.

We wen and squaed on he soccer field.

l's duress, Warder Gelpor.

Proes, Warder Gelpor.

You know abou proesing and wha

you believe in is due o you, no so?

You can' do ha here!

Freddie, Anhony, how long are you

going o lie here?

For as long as i akes o ge jusice.

Miser Makaleni.

This man belongs o your club.

Please, alk o him.

Yes.

This man belongs o my club, Manong.

...bu, he has forgoen his.

Now he hinks he is anoher kind of animal.

And now, gens, why such long faces?

A vulure mus fly high from ime o ime.

Tha is a poin of principle.

No, l do no see any vulure,

bu l see somehing

ha's lying fla on his belly on he ground.

Please, Anhony.

Your chairman is asking you.

No, no, no, Chairman.

l'm sorry, bu l'm drunk wih rebellion.

l is no proper. This hing is no proper!

Your moher raised a disgusing

screw-up of a child, or wha Duze?

Gon' you go any manners?

Uncivilised.

Tha's wha you are.

No respec for age.

No respec for spor.

Uncivilised.

This is your mess.

Play or cha, you have 45 minues.

No.

-And now?

-And now, we wai for jusice.

We were serious.

We were willing o push his proes.

To hell wih he consequences.

l's he principle. lf you're playing o FlFA

sandards, you canno jus suddenly say...

Wha abou he principle of comradeship?

Wha abou ha, Maxabane?

You guys have become

so obsessed wih winning.

l'm no obsessed wih anyhing.

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