Matric 89

We were sixteen and still played soccer. Short and on the heavy side, Nhlanhla did not have a single athletic bone in him. He saw this and stopped playing. But he stayed involved in the game.

No one knew how at sixteen he became part of the coaching setup at Meteors FC. Stranger still – for some time no one knew exactly what his role was in the most successful amateur soccer team in the township of Umlazi.

It remained a township mystery for a month until we played against the Meteors. I can’t call his role motivational but rather he was: the one who delivers the war cry.

I saw their team coach give the team talk and leave the circle of players. Then Nhlanhla got his turn. His short frame gestured, he reached crescendo and shouted. Meteor players got hyped. It progressed to a frenzied sound much like a scream.

I kicked the ball close to their circle in the warm up and heard the final part of it.

“You are prepared for the task at hand. You will win this game! You can do it! You can kill them! Remember what the coach said. From first whistle until the end you press them. Don’t give them room. Don’t let them breathe. You get out there and kill them!”

And kill us the Meteors did: 5-0.

I had a terrible game out on the wing. To this day I can clearly hear Nhlanhla’s chuckles from the sideline while they mauled us. He greeted every goal with a fist in the air and shouts of, “Another one!”

I played on the right wing in the first half. Then our bumbling idiot of a coach switched me to the left wing after the interval. I was close to the Meteor bench for the whole game.

I heard Nhlanhla scream, “Hustle, pass, pressure, away, safety first, kill them!” for 90 minutes. He applauded every move and sympathised with every Meteor mistake. Shouted, “That’s your ball, take it from them,” every time our team had possession.

We noticed he had a way with words when he was picked for the national school debates. After single-handedly winning the provincial title for his school, recognition was only natural. You know Nhlanhla, the crazy guy from Meteors FC? He’s in the debating team for the Nationals, I heard from school mates who didn’t make the cut.

Our province won the national debating competition that year, thanks to a major contribution from our man.

When he came to our school to do matric in the beginning of 1989, he carried with him a reputation. And not just for screaming killing orders in the war cry for Meteors FC or for the many spoils of his debating exploits. When he arrived at our school his reputation was controversial. You see, around that time he was Nhlanhla: the revolutionary youth. I will never call it a stunt, what he did that day outside Hlabelela High School. It was something more than that.

What do you think Nhlanhla the revolutionary did ‘that day’ outside Hlabelela High School?