JOHANNESBURG - Happy Jele gave Orlando Pirates what they have been lacking for the better part of what has been a miserable season for the club; a courageous leader, spirited performance and a solid goalkeeper.
Even though the Buccaneers lost 2-1 to Bidvest Wits at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday, the Ghost saw a silver lining in their performance and chanted Jele’s name after the match.
By then Jele was wearing Jackson Mabokgwane’s jersey after the 'keeper was sent off for handling the ball outside the box with 12 minutes
remaining.
Jele confidently took over the goalkeeping responsibilities, pulling off a fine save to deny Gabadinho Mhango a hat-trick. Before that, Jele had scored Pirates’ only goal after the club went more than five hours without finding the back of the net.
“I told myself that I needed to go to the posts as we had used up all our substitutions,” Jele said. “Sometimes at training, I play as a 'keeper. That helped me, along with the confidence my teammates had in me.”
Pirates interim coach Augusto Palacios said Jele, Tendai Ndoro and Thabo Matlaba are some of the infield players who normally play in goal at training. Even when Jele doesn’t have the armband, he has been an inspirational leader for the Sea Robbers as their ship finds itself in rough seas.
A new coach will be announced on Monday, taking over from Palacios, who has been leading the club since November.
Palacios accused the players of lacking passion after the 2-1 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic last year. Before then he hinted that there might be issues of ill-discipline at the club, stating that he won’t allow the players to do as they pleased.
He promised to implement a strict regime that includes banning cellphones in camp. Those statements led to accusations that the players are divided into cliques. But Jele, one of the club’s longest-serving players, denied that.
“There is nothing like that, that there are divisions at the team,” Jele said. “We don’t know about divisions, because we are united as a team.”
That unity will be put to the test on Saturday in the Mother City against a Cape Town City led by Eric Tinkler. The former Pirates coach knows a lot about the goings on at the club, having been there for four years.
Tinkler had some highs and lows with the Buccaneers. The highlight was leading the club to the final of the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup. Since relocating to Cape Town, he has only hit high notes with the Citizens who are among the leading pack in the Absa Premiership race. They are also the Telkom Knockout champions.
The Buccaneers would love to be in that situation, especially since this is their 80th anniversary. But the club have had to put out one fire after the next in a season that has seen them suffer two big defeats, a 6-1 thumping by SuperSport United and a 6-0 drubbing by Mamelodi Sundowns a week ago. Fans invaded the pitch to voice their frustration after the loss to Sundowns.
Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza called an urgent press conference to condemn the supporters’ behaviour before meeting the players and the technical team to get to the bottom of the club’s problems.
“The chairman motivated us,” Jele said. “He told us that these things happen. If it’s not your day, it’s not your day. But you need to lift your head. That’s what we did.”