In this edition of My Welcome to the League Moment, ex-Lamontville Golden Arrows goalkeeper Thulasizwe Khuzwayo reveals the hilarious nature of his introduction to professional football.
Khuzwayo says he will never forget what he had to go through in his first season in top-flight football.
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"I remember my first game at Golden Arrows against Bloemfontein Celtic at Petrus Molemela Stadium," he reflects, sitting down for an exclusive with KickOff.
"A cross came in and their striker headed the ball in my direction. Hey! Their supporters made a loud, deafening noise. They all shouted: 'Vhuuu!!' at the same time, and that frightened me big time. I ended up letting the ball go in [laughs]. Imagine a crowd of people shouting 'Vhuuu!' at you and all at once. I didn't expect that.
"The saddest part is that I had already had the ball in my hand when they did that, but because they frightened me, the ball ended up slipping through my hands and going into the net. It brought fear into my heart. We lost that game 1-0. The thing is, the stands were too close to the goalpost. I could even hear everything the supporters were saying to each other," says a still shaken Khuzwayo.
It was a league game, and the former net minder says soon thereafter a teammate came to give him words of affirmation.
"I remember my teammate Mzuvukile Tom coming to me, and he said: 'Welcome to the PSL!' Also, our head coach, Manqoba Mngqithi, said the same thing to me after the game, before saying: 'Get used to it, you are starting again against Platinum Stars.' But we won that one 6-0.
"I was still scared in that game though. I remember Phumudzo Manenzhe was leading the Platinum Stars attack," he says.
Then the unthinkable happened.
"The score was still 4-0 when a black cat walked past behind my goalposts, I almost collapsed with fear. I had to run away. That incident scared me off my goal area. The guys laughed at me.
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"Imagine all this is happening while the game is on. It didn't make sense to me, imagine a cat inside a stadium in a PSL match.
"Even today, the likes of Njabulo Manqana, Thanduyise Khuboni and [Philani] Shange are still telling me about that incident.
"Professional football is full of drama. Sometimes it's mind games."