By Chris Totobela
To close off Heritage Month, Grocott’s Mail takes a closer look at two local sporting legends.
First up is former United Royals Football Club’s Andile “Ace” Mphulani, one of the greatest centre backs Makhanda has ever produced.
Tall, strong, good both aerially and on the ground, cool, calm and collected, but hard tackling.
Mphulani joined Big Bafana, as Royals was known at that time in 1978, as an 11-year-old boy. “I joined Big Bafana at a very young age. Big Bafana was formed in 1975 after a number of Early Birds bench warmers decided to break away and form their own team. This team was formed mainly by players who resided in areas such as Kwa Loki, Kwa Mnqayi, Emazizini and Mission.”
Mphulani still remembers how competitive football was at that time. “I started in the C team as there was C, B and A teams in all the clubs at that time. I started as a left winger.”
In 1980, he relocated to Gqeberha where he joined Zwide-based Real Birds where he enjoyed his football. He returned to Makhanda and rejoined United Royals in 1985 and played as a centre back until 2001 when he decided to hang up his boots.
Mphulani remembers one of his greatest games as if it was yesterday. “I still remember how we beat Juventus, that was on form that year, by a single goal in the final of the Autumn Harvest Cup and how I single-handedly prevented their lethal strikers from scoring in a packed stadium. We played in many finals like Ohlsson’s Challenge, Mainstay Cup, and many more, but this one against Juventus stood out for me.”
He also shared one of his unpleasant memories in local football. “We were playing in the Ohlsson’s Challenge Cup where the top 4 teams were to get playing kit each and we picked up that even before we started kicking the ball, the kits were already bought for the top 4. We made it to the top 4 and only realised then that we were not budgeted for as the leaders of that time did not expect us to be among the top 4, we did not have our colours as kits were bought for Attackers, Early Birds, Juventus and Tigers. We ended up not getting our kit but we moved on and did not let that dampen our spirits.”
Mphulani also shared his views on the current standard of football compared to his time. “We played with great players and against very good players who could have easily walked into the starting line-up of any professional team. Football administrators of that time who were leading our football were mature and respected people like Mr Monaheng, the late Mr Ngoqo and many more and they were always on the field.
“They knew how to talk to people and as much as they loved football but they never acted as if they own it.” He said whenever the erstwhile leaders made a mistake, they were brave enough to apologize and would listen to people for advice. Mphulani said the then administrators had the interests of everyone who wanted to play football, “whether you have money or not”.
“Our football had lots of sponsors as we used to play four to five different tournaments in one season.”
Mphulani finally hung up his boots in 2001 as there were a number of upcoming young and talented players who came up from the junior ranks. His love for football led him to form his own football club, Black Stars, that burst onto the scene as giant killers in local football.
He mentioned a few things that he, as one of the wise men of local football, would like to change.
“I would like whoever is going to take over the reins from the current executive to try and stop age-cheating in our junior league. We pay the same amount of affiliation fee in the first division as the premier league clubs but our first division is not taken seriously. You will never see a single official in our games, there are no proper referees as anyone just grabs the whistle and officiate, which is not the case in the premier league.
“I would like to see them go out there and look for more sponsors, I think the first division should have their own tournament and take the top 4 to compete with the premier division’s top 4. It is always a disadvantage to have first division teams pitted against premier division’s teams and Hollywood Bets teams that are more likely to win every tournament due to their experience and quality of players they have compared to us. Our current executive is trying their best under the circumstances they are faced with and with our support they can achieve what we wish for.”
Mphulani thanked all those who helped him in his playing days and those still helping him today. “I can’t mention names as the list is endless.”
He also thanked Grocott’s Mail for providing a platform to raise issues of concern in sport. “I really appreciate this opportunity to share with the readers my football journey as many of them are still young and never saw us playing.”
