Part 1: The Teko Interview

Teko Modise opens up about football, family & criticism.

[NOTE: I sat down with Teko Modise back in August ‘09 for this interview and it was obviously soon after the Confed Cup so that is why you won’t find any questions about his recent

“loss of form” (as y’all call it) but he does discuss how he handled the criticism dished out to him during the tournament so I hope that will do.]

I had met Teko prior to this interview but we didn’t really get to talk beyond hello so I had no idea what to expect from him on the one on one. I had also heard murmurs here and there that he is arrogant so I walked into this one with absolutely no idea whether I’d leave with a smile or a frown.

What I knew for sure is that I wanted to get to know this Teko Modise who had just come from nowhere and became the talk of SA football. If SA was Twitter then Teko woulda been a Trending topic! Lol.

There were great players before Teko but the hype that followed his success was just way too amazing for anyone to ignore & even people who do not follow soccer know who the man is how could I not wanna chat to him?

FACE OFF

I hooked up with this two time PSL Footballer of The Year at his business manager’s house and he was accompanied by his cute-&-he-knows-it friend, Bareng. Ladies… I got u.

Eish, this intro is getting too long neh? Sorry ke, here’s the down lown on the interview :

I’m already sitting down when Teko comes to join me so he notices my phone on the table and goes….

Teko: Ao Blackberry, di wele kae?

(I’m thinking this sounds exactly like something I would say so I conclude, I like him already!)

Brown Shuga: Hahah leave my phone alone.

Teko: I don’t have hore ke bue sekgowa akere? (I don’t have to speak English, do I? )

BS: No u don’t have to, be free.. (he starts singing Boom Shaka’s “Free” )

Heheh So what’s the one question you know I’m gonna ask you?

Teko: “Who’s the real Teko Modise?” That’s the most common question I get and I hope you’re not gonna go common!

BS: (I’m thinking Tjo! Looks like I have a wild one on my hands) Hahaha okay, my question is slightly different, What does it mean to be Teko Modise in 2009?

Teko: What does it mean?

BS: Yes.

Teko: What kind of a question is that?

BS: (Bingo! Cim’iyibani) hahah akere you said I shouldn’t go common? It’s the kind u don’t expect.

Teko: Joe, question o mpotsang yona, o e ngotse mo fatshe or did u just make it up?

BS: hahah It’s written here… so what comes to ur head when you hear that question?

Teko: (He hesitates for a minute and then) Achieve more… I just wanna achieve more than I’ve already achieved, not that I’m a paper chaser but I’m just saying….

BS: (I interrrupt) Well, there’s nothing wrong with being a paper chaser!

Teko: No, no, no, I don’t want people to think that I’m a paper chaser, of course we all work to get paid but I really just want to achieve more. Especially in terms of my football y’know!  I want to win a whole lot of other stuff that i’ve never won before.

BS: Speaking of being a paper chaser, why have all these endorsements if you aren’t into the money… (I’m allowed to ask silly questions)

Teko: Let’s face it, these endorsements came to me.

They saw me as someone who could be a good ambassador to endorse their products  and if they want you to endorse their products then obviously money will be in the mix coz we all work for money, akere?

BS: For sure

Teko: So that’s why…but if I was a paper chaser I would be endorsing every product that is in the market right now and it wouldn’t make sense.

BEING TEKO MODISE

BS: What are the highs and the lows of being the person that you are today ?

Teko: I’ll tell you about the lows. The lows are felt when you don’t deliver. More especially because your job is being in the public eye & people expect a lot from you. They judge you, put their own expectations forward, and le wena on the other hand you have your own expectations coz you don’t want to fail. When you do fail , the criticism doesn’t stop & that’s a low.

The high is that I always get what I want….(he quickly adds) I’m joking!?

BS: It’s true… haah

Teko: No, I don’t always get what I want.

BS: What is the one thing that you want right now that you can’t get?

Teko: (whispers) Ke Bonang…

BS: Hahah u do know this is on the record right…

Teko: I’m just joking shem…

BS: And I heard she’s single right now! Arrgh mara le wena u went and got married…eish, ho phapha

Teko: No, ha se ho phapha, ke choice! E re ke o chaele (lemme tell u), ho nyala ke choice.

When you are married there are some things you don’t negotiate (he jokes). On a serious note, If you’re in the public eye like I am, you need stability in your life.

I don’t wanna follow in everybody’s footsteps, I need to be different and for me to be different I need to get married. (I’m a lil confused by this but anyway…)

Not that I got married because somebody told me to do so, I just needed to get married to have stability in my life. I don’t wanna just go around ke spenda chelete ya ka all over.

(He then goes on to say some stuff…and insists they’re off the record! Tjo this boy!)

BS: On that point of getting married for stability. Benson Mhlongo was on radio the other day saying that he got married so that he can be an example.

Teko: To?

BS: LOL I want to know what it is with soccer players, thinking that getting married makes them seem more serious and focussed when some of y’all still get up to crazy stuff even when married?

Teko: Nna I’ll speak for myself. I never grew up in the kind of family where there’s a mom and dad so I don’t want my kids to grow up like that. Being a soccer player and being exposed to everything that we’re exposed to, the chances of kids growing up in broken families are very high.

People get tempted & make mistakes so even though marriage might not work or last forever, you just want your kids to grow up in a great environment and have things that you didn’t have as a child. Everybody wishes for that so le nna I want bana ba ka ba hole in a stable family environment

BS:  You know what you’ve just told me?

Teko: What??

BS: You’ve just told me you got married because there’s a child involved.

Teko: No. I didn’t tell you that. Wena you misinterpret what I’m saying coz you’re a journalist and you want me to tell you what you wanna hear.

BS: heheh not at all mara it’s okay, let’s move on.

CONFED CUP PERFOMANCE

BS: Let’s talk more about how you deal with the criticism you spoke of earlier? Ever since the Confed Cup people have been going on about “Teko is overrated” etc. How do you handle that?

Teko: E re ke o chaele joe, I think that is one of the things that people have always wanted to say but didnt’ have the platform.

You must know that not everybody likes the team I play for and a lot of south africans who support soccer love Kaizer chiefs. Pirates is not the most liked team out there and its even worse coz I won Footballer of The Year twice & people didn’t understand why I won that when Pirates hadn’t won anything huge.

Politics are in there, so you find that they’ve always wanted to say things but didn’t have the chance  so my Confed perfomance gave them the opportunity. But then after saying what they’ve said about me, there’s nothing more to say. It’s all they wanted to say, they’ve said it and that’s it, there’s nothing else left to say. It’s cool, I’m not bothered.

BS: What I find interesting is that the same people who are saying you are overrated, are the same people who hailed you as the best. You aren’t the one who stood up and said I’m the best, it was always the people. (yeah yeah so I’m biased, shoot me)

Teko: Yeah and they start assessing you, not as a player but as “Teko the hero” and expect miracles from you.  They start unfairly comparing me to all the best players in the world when in fact ke dlala local joe?

Really now, how can I be compared with people who play in the Champions League every season when I haven’t even played in Africa with my team? But anyway, ke batho, they’ll always talk and I guess I gave them the platform with my Confed perfomance. I’m glad that this happened this early in my career as it will also give me room to improve on a lot of things.

BS: And I don’t really think your confed perfomance was THAT bad…

Teko: It was not. I was just average

BS: So is there any lesson you have learnt from that whole Confed experience?

Teko: There’s a lot. I’ve realised that as a player, I have my own weaknesses, I’m human and I make mistakes. I have learnt lessons. It’s just that my mindset was not okay during that time. When my mind is not okay, when I’m not happy, then obviously I’m not gonna play well.

But again, I wasn’t bad because I checked the stats and found out that I was actually one of the fittest players in the team. I can’t complain about fitness coz I, Pienaar and Dikgacoi were running bo ma 12 km per game so I was fit, it was all just mental coz there were a lot of other things that happened before I went to the Confed and they were on my mind.

BS: Things in your career or your personal life?

Teko: In my career, more especially the overseas move and there was just uncertainty about a lot of things.

At times I felt like people were chasing me away with that whole “Teko should go overseas” thing.

BS: hahahah so that they could benefit from your absence?

Teko: Yeah, look I agree I’m not the best player in South africa, there’s so much talent out there but there’ll never be another Teko Modise, and to be honest, I’m proud of my achievements so far.

BS: (okay, I get a little nervous…) You should be

Teko: I just think that if I change teams now and go play for a team like Chiefs, you’d hear how opinions will change! People will start loving me all over again, just coz I’m playing for Chiefs.

BS: But I don’t think they dont love u as such.

Let’s talk about the nationnal team. Bafana Bafana is being criticised from all corners, what do you think is missing?

Teko: I’m not gonna lie, nothing is missing in the team.

BS: No, but you can’t say that about a team that’s not winning stuff.

Teko: Let me tell you, people compare our generation with the generation that won the African Cup of Nations. They won it, they played, that’s fine ra ba lebohisa but nako eo e fetile.

BS: That’s why I’m not even talking about them…

Teko: Ja, football changes and there are better players, better exposure and in our team, we’ve got all the ingredients. We’ve got good players who play locally and exceptional players who play overseas so we still make a good team but we don’t have that body structure, we’re African.

BS: Yes you’re all so all so tiny… but it’s not an African thing coz there are huge African players up in the west/north

Teko: But South Africans, we’re very small and with the coaches that we get, eish!

When they won in 1996, they had a South African coach who understood how we play and I’m not saying Santana doesn’t understand how we play. (remember this was pre-Parreira & Benni’s return)

I’m just saying rona, all our good players, bo Benni and Nasief, we’re taking things that are happening outside football and re di kenya mo bolong and we want ho politika ka bona (include politics in football) but the truth is those are the people that we need.

In football, if someone does great work in the pitch, what he does outside the pitch is none of your effin business.

Benni is our best striker in South Africa ever, Ever! There’s no one who comes close to his achievements and we needed Benni ka Confed but because of politics we never got him.

For us to have another Bennie, we need all these youngsters to see Benni play with them so that they can learn from him directly. I don’t think there’s a chain or some structure to have groomed a similar player, should Benni go or retire.

BS: Wow, that makes perfect sense.

Teko: Of course.

BS: Hahahah wa phapha shem… so tell me, with all that talk of you going overseas, if you were to choose a team anywhere in the world, which team would you choose?

Teko: Arsenal. I love Arsenal

BS: Why?

Teko: Just the way they play, they play like a South African team. Ke makgowa a dlalang bolo and I’m one of those players who enjoy bolo so I’d go to a team where I know my style would be suitable, which is Arsenal.

BS: Mmm and your all time favourite player?

Teko: It was Zidane. He retired and there won’t be another Zidane again. Another one I liked was Ronaldinho but he had his era and it ended.

BS:  What’s happening with him by the way?

Teko: That’s how football is. You can’t be hot for 10 years, you can be hot for 2 years. I can be pap this season and be hot the next. So Ronaldihno was hot for like 7 years or so and then  his era passed. Now it’s my era till I decide it’s time to move.

BS: (I’m speechless..)

Teko: (Laughs) hahahah I’ve always wanted to say that but never got a chance

BS: hahah so what happens after football when that era is over?

Teko: Tjo, I always want to be associated with football so I’m gonna be a scout and have my own businesses on the side, maybe events.

BS: Tjo, Radi-Party!

FAMILY

BS: The decision to disclose & publicly speak about your mother’s HIV status, how did that come about?

Teko: It’s something that was bugging me from the first day I found out. I know there are a lot of people who are in my situation but they are scared to talk about it because they’re scared of being judged by other people. I didn’t say that because I wanted to prove anything to anyone, I just said that because I had never told anyone about it before and it was something that was eating me inside.

It was also driving me to be successful and want to be what I am now so I could provide for her and give her a bit of happiness in her life coz she has never had that.

What she has, is something that woke me up. I was relaxed before, played soccer just to be able to buy clothes but after finding out I needed to change my mind set and in a way, it was a driver. So I needed to share that with people, I know there are those who are in the same boat, it is no shame joe, everybody dies eventually , we’re all gonna die, it just depends how.

I’ve always wanted to talk about it, rona who are in the public eye, we should teach bana babanyane about where we come from. Look, I don’t have a perfect background, I come from the poor of the poorest but just coz today I can do tattoos all over, people think I had it all.

There was nothing like that… ke kguzukile joe, if you can look at how my feet look like coz of di-corns and walking barefoot, yho, but now at least we can put on shoes.

Anyway, to answer your question, there are many people in my position so I just felt that I needed to talk about it.

BS: Did she know that you were gonna publicly speak about it?

Teko: Yeah, I spoke to her first. I told her that I didn’t want someone to come out of nowhere and use it against me “Like he heheh Teko’s all that but…” so I told my mom we needed to talk about it before someone used it in a negative way so she said, it’s fine so I spoke about it. Afterwards afterwards I told her what I had said, she bought the paper, read it and she’s cool. As we speak right now, she’s at my house. I think she enjoys my house more than hers. (Laughs)

BS: Wow, that’s an amazing story man.

Phew! On that note, lemme interrupt myself and say this concludes Part 1 of the Teko Modise Interview. Catch a much more fun and relaxed Part 2 tomorrow! Teko talks about his obsession with Heat Magazine, his views on Kim Kardashian, websites that he frequents & more.

His view on big white weddings??

“What’s the point of spending big money , getting people to come and eat your bloody food but tomorrow they won’t be there when there are problems?  & Anyway most of these big big weddings, di fela hampe maan. I’m not gonna be doing step joe”

Hilarious!!!

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