The late Senzo Meyiwa (Photo by Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images)
An exhibition match organised to honour the late Bafana Banana captain and Orlando Pirates goalie almost didn’t go ahead when retired football legends who were promised payment for playing refused to take to the field after being told they could not yet be remunerated because the sponsors had not yet paid, Sunday Sun has reported.
Senzo Meyiwa’s dad Sam had to plead with the legends to play regardless of the payment problems.
The footballers said that they could not go on for free as they had cancelled prior commitments to take part in the football match, for which they were promised payment.
Organiser Ntokozo Sikhakhane confirmed that while a fee of around R10 000 is usually paid for such appearances, the Durban municipality who had agreed to fund the event had pulled out.
But some of the players denied that there had been a problem.
“I’ll speak for myself. I wasn’t paid and I wasn’t promised any payment. But it didn’t worry me because this wasn’t about money. I played to honour Senzo, said retired Orlando Pirates footballer Lucky Lekgwathi.
Another legend, Siyabonga Sagweni, said “Usually when legends are asked to come and play in games of this nature, they get a small amount of money. But with Senzo’s games there was no problem.
Knowing Senzo as my homeboy, what happened didn’t worry me because money wasn’t a priority anyway. All I wanted to do was show support”, Sagweni continued.