Orlando Pirates – Did You Know?

In the 80's Orlando Pirates suffered a lot financially because of internal squabbles in management. John Mabaso was not so popular with the Ghost because of his leadership style and his mismanaging of the club funds. Players were not paid on time and we lost a lot of quality players because of that.

The Ghost will gather at DOCC and they will fill up 8 to 10 dustbins (the old round ones) with donations from R20 upwards. The objective was to assist the team financially in terms of buying players and paying their salaries, but Mabaso will always claim the club has no money and players will not attend training sessions some will not attend even games because of that.

In his committee there was Bra Sixty Mali who was a gintsa (car thief) from Molapo. Questions were asked as to how come a criminal like Bra Sixty is in Bucs management especially because he doesn't come from Orlando East. Mabaso himself was from Meadowlands.

Looking at today's soccer fans I would say some of them are very ungrateful. I sometimes hear them calling Irvin Khoza all sorts of names. I wonder what they were going to do in the times of Mabaso and his goons. The Ghost played a big role in making Pirates what it is today and we must be grateful to have a leader like our chairman Dr. Irvin Khoza. 

"Before claiming that you are a true supporter and saying others are fake supporters" do an introspection on what you have done for the club… since 1937.

By Philani Madonsela