In the latest edition of "My Locker Room Secrets," former Moroka Swallows player Albert Kometsi reminisces about what used to take place in the Dube Birds' change room.
Kometsi played for Swallows from 2003 until 2006.
Who was always late?
"Pitso Lekone was consistently tardy. He never arrived on time for training, and from what I heard, he often overslept.
"The late Conrad Hendricks was also a habitual latecomer; he used to commute daily from Vaal because that's where he used to reside."
Any interesting rituals before they played?
"Greg Etafia would never use a change room before a match or training session. I don't know his reasons, but he preferred to use his car as a changing room."
Who was the jokester?
"Samuel 'See' Ngobeni didn't care who you were; he could talk from Joburg to Limpopo. He once said to me, 'The way you are so dark, my friend, you could easily be mistaken for Wandi's meat.' Wandi is a restaurant in Soweto."
Was it a muti change room?
"Yooh! I've never seen so much Impepho burned as I did at Swallows. The change room was always filled with smoke. That would happen before every game.
"Sometimes they would soak our white kit in water, and it would change color, becoming brown (laughs)."
Who was the singer?
"Most of the time, it was Maimane Phiri and Goodman Mazibuko."
Who was the best dressed and the worst dressed?
"Gabriel 'Ninja' Mofokeng took the cake in that department. He loved fashion and had no competition.
"As for the worst dressed (laughs), I'll skip that one before they kill me. I don't want to get into trouble (laughs)."
Rate the coach's team talk
"Gavin Hunt was the best. He kept it short and simple, pointing out the opponent's weaknesses and strong points, and that's it.
"Unlike Zoran Pesic, who coached me at Hellenic (laughs), he would fill the exam pad pages with his team talk notes just for a day. He would read out all that he had written, and players would end up falling asleep. It would take him two hours to read the whole 100 pages."