adminFormer Kaizer Chiefs forward Luke Petros-Jukulile has revealed the muti experiences and discrimination that he encountered at Naturena.
Jukulile arrived at Chiefs in the year 2000 from Zimbabwean club Lancashire Steel with a reputation of scoring having also top scored at the 1999 COSAFA Castle Cup, but struggled through his two years with AmaKhosi scoring.
With Chiefs, he scored five goals in 24 games, including the famous strike in the 2001 CAF Cup Winners Cup first-leg against Angolan club Inter Clube.
“I didn’t train the first day because of rituals,” discloses Jukulile of what happened upon his arrival at Naturena in a recent interview with an online programme named ‘In Touch with a Legend’ hosted by retired footballer Alois Bunjira.
“When I arrived, Chiefs were struggling to play football so on the first day of training we were all taken to some river in Soweto for rituals.
“We got there and did what we had to do as a team plus administration and for me, I was just a new player.
“In that team we had Brian (Baloyi), Doctor Khumalo, Siyabonga (Nomvete). Arthur Zwane, Robson Muchichwa, Thabo (Mooki), Cyril Nzama, Kenny Niemach, and Marco Mthembu.
“I was close to Patrick Mabedi.
“(Chiefs) is a team that believes in tradition.
“The rituals thing is what I saw there on the first day and training happened on another day,” he says adding on his experiences with Muhsin Ertugral and why he struggled.
“The coach was Muhsin Ertugral who had that Turkish aggression that Norman Mapeza (who played in Turkey for Galatasaray) also has.
“They are very aggressive in their demands as coaches.
“They are too much and worse if you are a foreigner, they exert their anger on small (things).
“To stamp his authority, he exerts his anger on foreigners in fear of fighting the locals.
“Muchichwa was there, but then left and then these boys Tinashe (Nengomasha) and Kelvin (Mushangazhike) joined in my second year.
“I stayed two years at Chiefs, and it was a hard stay for me because South African football is physical and needs you to adjust.
“What happened is that with me I was a centre striker and I need to be supplied and that comes with time.
“But then in South Africa, I had to generate instead of waiting to be supplied.
“Those guys there made sure that they manipulate the supply (to me) to protect their contracts.
“Nomvete could influence the other guys supplying not to give me, but that was football.
“I excelled in the Cup Winners Cup because it was more about working hard and the fighting spirit which is why I scored in that final.
“For all that was happening at Chiefs, I was still able to score goals in the national team.
“To make it as a striker at Chiefs you have to be extra gifted and be accepted by the system.
“The moment you are not accepted by any institution in South Africa it becomes a problem,” details Jukulile while adding on what happened with the contract that he signed.
“I was desperate, so I took what Chiefs offered after they argued about issues to do with my age,” he notes. – KickOff
Online Reporter