I am HAPPY it happened but UNHAPPY not my way
If you have followed what I wrote previously on the ‘2023 December: A long awaited dream exceeds expectations’ you will understand why I ended up unhappy. I explained how I missed out chances to play football week in and out because I had to further my studies in Johannesburg. In my mind, I thought that 2024 was going to be a year to give me the best local football memories as a player but it ended with sorrows.
I am grateful for the opportunity given by the team Fundudzi Freedom Fighters and its coaching staff though it was not what I was looking forward to. When the season began on the second week of March, I was positive and ambitious. I scored a winning goal on the last five minutes of our first league game that saw us walking away with a 1-0 victory. Even now as of November, my uncle who is Musengeli’s father still talks about how important that goal was and I was extremely surprised that I was hearing it from him during the preparations of Phumudzo Mugo’s funeral. That was a dream start for me and the rest of the team. Just like any other unprofessional team, we started with a fewer players and playing regularly was almost guaranteed.
 |
| Nyandano getting ready for the 2nd match against Green Mamba FC. (Photo: Chester Khorommbi) |
 |
| Brimming with confidence. |
 |
| Uncle07, FFF's top goal scorer & player of the season with Stillo9. (Photo: Chester Khorommbi) |
 |
The attacking-duo that was destined for great but the long story was cut short, Uncle09 and Stillor9. (Photo: Chester Khorommbi) |
Going into the second game of the season, I was brimming with confidence. Guess what, I scored a stunning first-half-goal that with a fair judgement, it can be amongst the top five goals of the season. I scored two goals in the two opening games and honestly, the future looked exciting until a dark cloud occurred. Just after scoring my second goal in succession, Thompho Phaswana who is famously known as Uncle07 assisted me with a through pass that had so much power. The ball was going out of the ground but there was still a chance to keep it in a play, I ran as faster as I could to keep it alive but it crossed the line before I touched it. Unfortunately, I was running too fast that I ended up flying off the field and there was a hole and bumpy surface at the direction that I was running to.
My left foot bent extremely awful as I landed on a bumpy ground with outside of the foot. If what happened could be replayed in a slow motion, many people would not wish to see it more than once. There were young ladies where I flew off, I remember one of them saying that I cannot continue to play after seeing how I got injured. Being passionate and committed, I was that guy who wanted to play and be in the score-sheet, so I insisted to play just to finish the first half. The only treatment you get when you are injured in our local football is an ice bottle, I quickly rubbed my ankle with it and went back to the ground.
In all honesty, the pain did not hesitate to make me suffer, I was unable to run, make passes and call for the ball. The team’s chairman Rudzani Tshiswaise was watching the game from the touchline, he shouted ‘Stillo ari litshe u kombetshedza!’ which means that let’s not force things. He could see that I was never the same after being injured and truly speaking, the pain was just too much to hide. An early substitution took place in the first half, Nemutshili ‘Tshigi’ Vhutshilo was subbed on as I went off with a broken heart and painful ankle. When I took off the soccer boot, my left foot had already changed its normal shape, the ankle and on top of the foot was bigger and shiny. I remember the pain like it was yesterday, it was very difficult to step on the clutch pedal when I was driving back home from the Green Mamba FC’s ground at Tshivhilidulu.
The pain reached its peak when I got home, I was balancing myself with the walls inside the house because I could barely walk. In addition, I did not have enough sleep at night, it was my first time experiencing such an injury to an extent whereby I found myself crying. The most heartbreaking part was that I got injured exactly a week before Vhuthu Annual Tournament that was held in the village of Thononda, a day after the Good Friday holiday. Truthfully, I wanted to play and compete but the situation was very bad, not in my favour. The foot was still painful, I remember how we started at the church funeral before attending the tournament. It was still difficult to walk, I was taking off my sneaker whenever I got a chance. We arrived late at the funeral but I could not wait until the funeral was over so that we could go back to the car where taking off my left sneaker was a must.
 |
| The day after I got injured, my left foot was bigger and painful than the right foot. |
 |
| The difference is unquestionable. |
 |
| I could barely see the bone of an ankle, this foot was filled with blood. The most painful injury ever. |
My right foot was okay, not big - not shiny, just a normal shape free from pain.
 |
 |
| I was given many solutions to deal with my foot and one of them was to cut small holes using a razor. This was to allow the blood out of the foot, many believed that the pain is caused by the blood that failed to come out of the body when I got injured. I did exactly that hoping that I will get much better the next day. |
 |
| It was painful to cut myself, but I had no choice because I really wanted to recover and play on the Vhuthu Annual Tournament. Time was not on my side. |
 |
| On Wednesday 27 March, I went to Uncle07 who had told me that he had the very same situation where he also had to cut small holes on his foot and apply the small pieces of a battery on the bleeding foot. It was very painful to do this, I felt much better after that but Saturday was just around the corner. |
At the end of the day, I got injured from the disadvantages of the ground because it was not a foul or career ending tackle. Being injured at that time of the season broke my heart because I missed to play in the tournament that was highly anticipated by many and well-known football enthusiasts. It was a chance for me to play in front of my brothers, the likes of Vicky and Nicholas Khaphathe but instead of watching me play and go back to Johannesburg proud, they were watching those games with me. I remember how my big brother Vicky was keen to watch me play but there was nothing I could do about that severe injury. I felt so disappointed in myself and I had to create some Tik Tok content to avoid the pain of not playing the beautiful game that I was eager to be part of. (https://www.tiktok.com/@nyandano122/video/7355674853074013446_r=1&u_code=e08ad17d0a3c56&preview_pb=0&sharer_language=en&_d=ef285i10kfc42i&share_item_id=7355674853074013446&source=h5_m) and (https://www.tiktok.com/@nyandano122/video/7356067306797141254_r=1&u_code=e08ad17d0a3c56&preview_pb=0&sharer_language=en&_d=ef285i10kfc42i&share_item_id=7356067306797141254&source=h5_m×tamp=1731768877&utm_source=copy&tt_from=copy&enable_checksum=1&utm_medium=ios&share_link_id=9C90BB1F-F88B-499F-8571-756C530BE78D&user_id=7064569329342661634&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAZCVxaIVNlipFsxY3MVf7o8ctcQGUjYwz9ZoeY4aLXOLKWTz_3Acu5A1ozWhbcGf-&social_share_type=0&ug_btm=b8727,b2878&utm_campaign=client_share&link_reflow_popup_iteration_sharer=%7B%22follow_to_play_duration%22:-1,%22click_empty_to_play%22:1,%22profile_clickable%22:1,%22dynamic_cover%22:1%7D&share_app_id=1233)
To be specific, I was ruled out for exactly three weeks and looking at the league, there were still plenty of games to be played. Precisely, I got injured on the second game but I was back for a squad selection on the fifth game of the season. I only missed two league games because I was injured on the 23rd of March but I was back in the starting eleven against Sheshe Bush Bucks on the 13th of April. Regardless of coming back from an injury I was playing as a right winger, a position that has more to do with forward runs and going back to cover for the right back, playing for ninety minutes in that game proved that I was ready to play again. However, I knew that I was not completely fine but I could at least have an impact in the game and I was getting my confidence back. We won that game with two goals to nil (0-2).
At this point, one can believe that my injury was the dark cloud that occurred but the answer is no, injuries are part of the football game and I know that. I think it would be fair to say that the dark cloud was entirely caused by the injury if I had missed ten games because I was injured. Look, I was never given enough chance to play and showcase what I could do for the team as a player. It breaks my heart that I played for ninety minutes in only two games, in the first game against Fondwe and the fifth game against Sheshe Bush Bucks on what was a tough away game.
Coming back from the injury on the fifth game increased my chances to play in the biggest game of the season, Tshiheni Derby. When Fundudzi Freedom Fighters play against Fundudzi United Brothers, the game provokes all the emotions, football history in the village and people who do not follow football can go to the ground only for this game. To be specific, my mother could not come and watch us play against any team but she never missed a derby. It came as our seventh game that I was looking forward to play in her presence, she was my biggest fan because I used to ask her for the transport money whenever we play away games. I do not remember a day that she did not gave me. It was going to be a great feeling for her to watch me play but unfortunately, I was not in the starting line-up. However, I was still hoping that I could be subbed on in the second half of the game but I never saw that happening.
From a fair and personal point of view, Tshiheni Derby could be more entertaining if majority of players from both teams are players who were born and raised in the village. Imagine fans and villagers coming out in numbers to see familiar faces entertaining them but unfortunately, you come across fans asking for the names of players in the field because they had never seen their faces before, or in the streets of Tshiheni. It makes it look like there are no exceptional players in the village which is completely not true. For instance, our starting line-up had only five players from the village and the other six were foreign players if I can put it that way. We lost that game with two goals to one and it proved that you can utilize foreign players who you highly rate and still lose a game. Believe you me, the first goal that we conceded was a silly mistake from our goalkeeper who was fetched only for that game because it was a huge and anticipated derby. Since that mistake, he was never called for any important game until the end of the 2023/24 season.
Due to my great understanding of football, I had told myself that I would never be frustrated by the fact that I was being sidelined more often but it was slowly getting me frustrated. However, I was not only contributing to the team as a player because I became a player and an admin for the team’s Facebook page. In fact, chances are that I could be the very first player in the history of the club to do what I was tasked to do and I am proud of myself. My duty was to keep fans on Facebook updated with the full time score of each game and it was in my power to ensure that the page was active by sharing the latest pictures and short videos of our players. We gained more followers and helped the team grow through the power of exposure. I knew it was something that I would do in a creative way because manipulating social media platforms is one of my qualities
Unfortunately, many people went on to take me more as a social media guy than as a player for the team. It happened one day when I was taking a video clip of our goalkeeper Khathutshelo Bravo (https://www.facebook.com/share/v/JgXCtqxhPJ4CFiDU/), coach Ndivho Jubai said that I know my job as in “Hoyu munna u a divha mushumo wawe.” After that statement, I then realised that my chances to play were slim because the coach was already praising me for the things that I did as an admin not as a player. In addition, our coach was not always available for matches and to be honest, I never got to play more often during his presence, I still wonder why or if we had a beef because my exclusion from the team were starting to raise eyebrows. Even now as of November, the great Legend of the game Mr. Nesane Pro asked me why I was not being played, he went on to say that I am a very good player, he said this in the presence of Uncle07, Roli Sugar, Austin Media, Ramuhulu Thomas and many more guys who I was chilling with.
One day I noticed that I played more games when Mphumudzeni Tshiswaise was around or if he interfered in the starting line-up selection. He has been in the leadership of the club and I did not hesitate to try and find out from him if what I had noticed was true. Fortunately, he told me that he always wanted me to play because the role of exposing the team on social media had taken the team into another level but not only that, he also believed that I was a good player. Look, I was doing a great job but he knew that I wanted to play which was only going to make me more happier but unfortunately the poor guy was not a coach. If he was the coach, my story would have been entirely different, I am sure he could not bench me three games in a row like how the guys in charge were doing to me.
I was part of the team because of him, he is the one who convinced me to register as a player when I was still in Johannesburg. The previous 2023 season ended before I could come back and play because I was only hoping that I could get a time and come back but it did not happen that way, I became a player with zero appearances. In our conversations on WhatsApp, there are plenty of texts from last year of him telling me to come back and play. The team was really struggling by the time and I could make the situation much better because I used to score goals for fun during the days of Cabinet FC, playing alongside my late brother Agreement Khorommbi but gone are those days.
I appreciate Mphumudzeni for always being a caring person to me, because even the idea of making me one of the media specialists for the club came from him. I think he is the only one who can reveal and explain what he sees in me. In all honesty, we could talk into details about everything that was going on in the team to a point whereby I could forget that I was just a player. I used to know about issues before many people do, if whether we have a court case that we have won or lost, he was the first person to tell me immediately. We shared plenty of ideas to make everything work out but I only wanted to play not to get along with the team’s managing director.
However, I cannot deny that our team had a great quality of players but I feel like the coach and his assistants never took me serious as a player. I started to ask myself whether I was good enough but without bragging and giving myself credit, I have a couple of qualities that make me a better player. In fact, we play in the lowest football league in the country and I was never supposed to be Cristiano Ronaldo to get more game time. In a fewer games that I was given a chance to play, I don’t remember making silly mistakes or miss a chance to score in an open net. Out of twenty eight games, I was given a chance to play in seven games and remember I played for a full match in only two games, imagine. I was subbed on in two games and subbed off in three games.
Football is a game of substitutions for the coaches to bring on fresh legs, change game plans and take off injured players. With that being said, a player must not get angry when he gets subbed off but I found myself offended one day when I was subbed off. It was an away game against Tshifume Self Defense that we went to the half-time break leading 1-0 from Uncle07’s goal. Unfortunately, his nose was bleeding and you could tell that our goal machine was experiencing a serious pain together with headache.
There is a bone that is part of the nose between a human’s eyes, he was injured right there. He did not hesitate to tell the coaching staff that he cannot continue to play because his nose was in pain, then Vhutshilo ‘Tshigi’ Nemutshili was asked to get ready. Going into the second half, we all knew that Uncle07 was going to be subbed off because he was injured and he said that he cannot continue to play. Surprisingly, it was me who got subbed off with just less than five minutes into the second half. We were still leading and attacking to get more goals, how on earth I was the one to be subbed off if I was not injured? To be fair, if the idea of replacing Uncle07 had changed, then Tshigi could at least wait for fifteen minutes to sub me off because I was not injured to be subbed off at that time of the game. In my opinion, I think that Tshigi had to wait for a few minutes to replace me as he would still have enough minutes to make the difference that he was brought in for but what did he do? Nothing.
It did not sit well with me because I was not having a bad game, and it could be much better to be replaced at the break than to let me play for unfair time (3mins) in the second half. I took off the jersey and my soccer boots on the touchline where I was subbed off and sat there until full time. I watched forty minutes of that game and never got to understand why I was subbed off, we only scored a goal when I was still in the ground because it ended as a 1-0 victory. It happened on our nineteenth game of the season and little did I know that was my last game to play in the league. I have a cool personality and there is no one who got to see how I was pissed off by what happened that day but deep down in my heart, I felt a sense of a great exclusion.
It is obvious that I expected to play whenever I carried my soccer boots during match days. Unfortunately, there is an unpleasant feeling of going to a match with your boots and go back home with them unused. It was happening to me most of the time and I started to think of leaving my soccer boots at home because there was no use any more. I was only hoping that I could play but my hopes were nowhere near the possibilities.
Going into the twentieth game, I wanted to leave my soccer boots at home but luckily, Mukundi Mushamula who is a relative but a friend of mine told me that we will use his car to go to the ground so carrying them was never a burden. We arrived in time and I availed myself for a selection but I was benched and I knew that my chances to play were always slim that is why I had left my soccer boots in the car. Even the games that looked simple, games that needed at least players who were not playing regularly, I was excluded like someone who cannot trap and pass the ball. However, I am capable of enjoying football matches as a fan because it is my favourite sport and I do not necessarily have to play to enjoy the beautiful game.
In all honesty, the team was doing extremely well without me and it would still be at the level it reached with me as a player. I was just unfortunate that I got entirely excluded as if I did not deserve to be in the squad. I have certain players who I know for sure that they wanted me to play but it was not their responsibility to play me. Imagine a team-mate asking you why you do not get played, Cearphus Khedzi did it so many times because we used to train more often together and I cannot deny it if he says that I deserved to play because I always put an extra work at training. I remember on the twenty-first game that was played away against TRT at Khalavha when I told Tshanduko Budeli that I was not around. He was curious about my whereabouts and he asked whether I would make it to the match as if I was a regular player. It was the first ever game for me to be absent and it was all caused by the frustrations of not playing.
However, I did not spend the rest of the day at home because I went to watch the game between Fundudzi United Brothers and Tshigwada FC. Many people were asking me on why I did not go to Khalavha with my team and I had a bulk of different excuses. Look, I was sick and tired of being treated like I started to play football this year whereas I was part of the Makhado Local Football Association when I was 15 years of age. I have plenty of memories about football that I can share with you, from the primary school days when we used to host braai events of chicken’s feet after winning a huge amount of money, with the likes of Thompho ‘Uncle07’ Phaswana and Pfariso ‘Mavhoya’ Muthivhi to Ndivho Mkhize’s best team of all time, and the team that was managed like a professional team during the days of the late Thina Raphulu.
However, football is a game of home and away fixtures and our twenty-second match was a remarkable derby. As usual, my mother was in the attendance with her younger sister Sedzani and her brother who is a FUBS legend, John Khorommbi. The ground was packed more than the first derby that we lost, and it was going to be a rare feeling for me to play in front of my family but you already know, I did not play. Although I was always keen to play, I had already accepted the fact that I was no longer playing. We arrived at the ground right when the game was getting started by a touch of Uncle07. The first thing that I wanted to note when I was still inside Mukundi’s car was our starting eleven and I saw a new face that I had never seen before. Most painfully, he was wearing a jersey (9) that I used to wear every time I play. Despite showing up for a derby only, he is a good player and had played for the team in the previous season during my absence. In fact, I applauded myself for arriving late and leaving my soccer boots at home because I would still be on the bench.
To be honest, I noticed that I was only being professional to something really unprofessional. I am talking about a situation whereby a player will come for a single game out of twenty eight games and get to be played, and a player who comes each game but never get chances to play, is that football? Where players avail themselves like guests? The answer is no. It happened many times with players like Mulongoni Thuso from Thononda, who was playing for Thononda All Stars and FFF at the same time, unprofessionalism at its best. The boy used to come whenever he wanted to and fortunately for him, his chance to play was always guaranteed. Our coaching staff had this mentality of treating foreign players like superstars who cannot be sidelined because it costs the team to fetch them and take them back to their residential addresses. For instance, Ndala, Mobara, Figo, Marcelo and Tshanduko were players who were guaranteed 100% game time no matter how bad they performed sometimes.
Imagine how I was feeling about players like Thuso who only come and join us when they feel like, that was not a good personality for a footballer. If it was in my hands, players like Thuso would come and watch us play and never get a chance to play because a football team is not a shop where you only go when you want to buy something. One can say that I was jealous because it was not me who was getting numerous chances to play but come on, I know football and I was watching these guys play but their performances were average. I still remember asking Thuso from Facebook’s comment section on why he does not always come when we play and his response was a bulk of excuses.
However, I came back to my senses on the twenty-third game and I told myself that perhaps I could play because going into this game, there were still six games to be played. It was an away game against Khakhu Young Chiefs that we travelled comfortably with Mrs Mukwevho’s quantum. The seats were fully occupied at the back when I stepped in and I had to sit wherever there was a space. Funny enough, there was a girl sitting behind the driver’s seat and I had to sit next to her because I knew who she was. I did not hesitate to start talking to her but within a blink of an eye, our coach Ndivho Jubai told me to stop talking to her.
Traditionally, it is believed that the muti that we use in sports cannot work effectively if we associate ourselves with women. In my mind, I thought that the coach was going to give me a chance to play because he did not want me to associate myself with that young lady. However, it was another painful experience for me because I went back home with unused soccer boots after being sidelined by the very same coach who told me to stop talking and sitting closely next to a female on our way to the game. After that game, I was never interested in playing football with the team and that was my final heartbreaking decision. However, I cannot say that I was denied a chance to play in the last five games because my behaviour was showing that I no longer wanted to play and my exclusion from the squad was never a surprise.
Believe you me, chances to play were promising in the last five games but it was too late for a player like me who had already made up his mind. I remember after our twenty-fifth game when Mphumudzeni Tshiswaise asked me why I no longer wanted to play and I went around the bush. However, I ended up telling him that the opportunities for me to play were coming in a wrong way and I noticed that he knew what I meant by that. Imagine given a chance to play because certain faces are not available, it means that you will never get to play in their presence.
Look, players were no longer coming out in numbers, that is why our striker Tshigi played as a goalkeeper for the first time in our twenty-forth game because our first choice goalkeeper Mukhethwa was at church. It went from bad to worse on the following game as players from outside of the village arrived late for our home game against Green Mamba FC due to transport delays. The match official blew his whistle for the players to enter the field but we only had six players ready as our transport guy was letting us down. Just when we thought that we would play with a huge shortage of players, a Nissan NP 200 arrived like an ambulance rushing to save a life and the team was complete fortunately. My point here is that I would have played those two games because any registered player was getting a chance to play, the likes of Chester Khorombi who had never played since the season began.
Clearly, I was not buying the idea of being played because some players were not available. It was better to watch our five remaining games from the touchline than to play for the sake of filling the gaps of the absentees. Come match-day 26 against Mazunga Pride at our home ground, Vho-Ganndi asked me where was my ID card and I responded by asking the ID card to do what as in ‘Basa ya u ita mini’. It sounded disrespectful but I never meant to disrespect him because he was always available for matches and how on earth he was asking for my ID card at the end of the season. I went closely to him, took my head-wear off to show him that my response was nowhere near disrespect and I told him that I do not want to lose my ID card by coming to matches with it without playing.
I did not see myself playing for the team as I wanted to but I have peacefully accepted the fact that not everything I wish to do will happen my way. I still remember when my friend Tshanduko Budeli asked for my soccer boots in our last game and I never hesitated to give him. I was no longer going to matches with my boots and I guess he was fully aware of that. In fact, he wanted to play in a Puma Future that he ended up showing off his show-boating skills and then told me later on that my boots unleashed the type of skilful player that he is. Going home with him that day, Maname Young Tigers players were praising him for what he was doing in the field of play.
Ultimately, I had a great time with the team and I am grateful that it was a season that the team looked to be at its peak. We finished the season on the 2nd position regardless of the three points deduction of which if it was not for that, we would have been the champions of Thulfa Stream J. In my personal view, I believe that wherever I go there is a guarantee of success. I was fully committed to everything that was happening, that is why I had the Triple F’s journal where I was writing about all the statistics, memories and setbacks. Thankfully, I was awarded with an award and a certificate at the braai event that was hosted at the Elias Nefale Eco Estate during the year-end-function. I obtained the BEST SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR certificate and it and it revealed that I was not necessarily a player but a social media guy for the team, I did not want it to be that way honestly.
Believe you me, I have not held any grudges with anyone from the team, and life must go on fruitfully. Thank God for all the memories and experience, and may he bless everyone who was part of the 2023/24 season. The final decision that I have taken is to leave the Fundudzi Freedom Fighters team for good and I do not regret because my feelings were seriously hurt and no one cared. Bye-Bye!
THE END!!
Though being in the field of play is all that I wanted to do, there are a few pictures and video clips that my lectures from the Rosebank College who taught me the camera shots and angles can be proud of. I am grateful that I was doing some of the activities that align with my career. Watch and see the content below:
Comments
Post a Comment