Komphela spent half a season at Naturena in 1993 playing 15 games during his time as a composed centre-back. But he then left for Gaziantepspor in Turkey without having a taste of the country’s flagship football fixture, and will on Saturday open his mouth for his first bite following his recent appointment as the head coach of Chiefs.
While this is a pre-season contest dished out on a Carling Black Label plate at FNB Stadium – it remains a sold-out affair that will keep the rivalry between the two clubs boiling.
“I have never experienced a derby as a player because I immediately left for Turkey,” confirms Komphela, who also briefly spent time as an assistant under Muhsin Ertugral at Chiefs during the 2000-01 season.
“But from outside you feel the intensity. Based on what I go through on the streets, when you go out of your gate as you leave the house the guys at the gate will say he baba sizonishaya or sizobashaya [we will beat you or we will beat them]. Immediately you can feel it and come Friday you will feel it and on Saturday morning you will feel it. Even the country itself embraces the energy. It is a different environment and it is more like when a great statesman passes on you feel the cloud. The atmosphere gets sombre and the energy on match day, you feel it. So whether you like it or not you cannot ignore it because it gets to you. It is a fever,” says Komphela.
However, the philosophical tactician maintains that despite being an infant in this fixture he is aware of what is required of him as a coach.
“You just have to focus on the job at hand and accept the fact that you are no longer a player but a coach so you need to help the players understand and go through the environment.
“Those who are experienced, you solicit influence more of influence to the ones who had not been experienced through that. And those who haven’t experienced it, you tell them that there it is, go for it and when you make mistakes no-one will blame you as it is for the first time. After the first experience people expect that with that experience you will get better results,” he explains.
On the other hand Orlando Pirates head coach Eric Tinkler has already led from the bench twice in this fixture, with his first match in charge having been against Chiefs last year after he took over from Vladimir Vermezovic.
Kick-off for Saturday’s fixture is at 15h30.