Khorixas
It has been close to more than two decades now since the //Haosemab terrible twins unexpectedly took a silent bow from the beautiful game, but their legacy would always remain intact in the minds of those who have been following the game, back in the day.
Born in Mariental on the 7th of February in 1966, Peter and his family were in reality roaming residents, who hobbled from one town to another as his old man, Dawid //Haosemab, a devoted evangelist, would be posted to various missions to spread the Word of God.
The twins spent a significant chunk of their infant years in Otjimbingwe, near Karibib in the Erongo Region, after arriving from Aranos and Rehoboth before relocating to Arandis via Swakopmund in 1973.
After settling in the newly built mining town of Arandis, in the Namib Desert, the twins were enrolled at the Festus Gonteb Primary School in the town.
Like many other boys their age, the //Haosemab twins were football mad and would chase an inflated plastic bag in spherical form whenever the opportunity arose.
Their arrival in the desert mining town coincided with the influx of many other young talented footballers descending on it in search of employment at the nearby Rössing uranium mine.
Peter, alongside his twin brother Paul, was a founder member of a local football club, going by the name of United Brothers.
However, the permanently smiling identical twins moved to Khorixas to further their academic aspirations at the revered Khorixas Secondary School, aka Welwitschias.
After spending a season with the school’s third strings, the twins were both promoted to the school’s first team the following year.
“We were very lucky in the sense that we had this white bloke of European descent in our midst going by the name of Gold Gate. He was an English teacher and also taught mathematics. Eish, the brother was blessed with an amazing football brain and he taught us the required basics of the game at an early stage in our football careers,” reveals Peter.
The Haosemab twins rose to prominence when they moved to the Cornelius Goraseb Secondary School in 1982. True to their potential, the terrible twins walked straight into the school’s star-studded first team and established themselves as a much sought-after commodity in football from that neck of the woods.
“To be quite honest, football was more entertaining in those days as opposed to the modern game. Players were allowed the freedom to express themselves on the ball and unleash their full potential without any restrictions from coaches, because most of the teams conducted their business without coaches anyway.”
He adds: “We assembled a very good squad that became unbeatable. Without an iota of doubt, our school dominated football at secondary school level and always brushed aside schools such as Okakarara Secondary School, including established clubs in the area.”Any representative team from the area would be considered incomplete without the names of Paul and Peter //Hoasemab on its team sheet. In the meantime, the twins’ exploits on the football field caught the attention of a talent scout from the exciting Nau-Aib outfit Battle Boys FC (Okahandja).
It was at Battle Boys where they set tongues wagging with their breathtaking telepathic understanding and unorthodox playing style – confusing bewildered defenders, leaving them swimming in a pool of confusion not knowing whom to mark as the pair would exchange positions at regular intervals.
As time wore on, local club Robber Chanties came knocking and managed to persuade the pair to join their stable, where they were to form a deadly combination with the sharp-shooting Ben ‘Kleintjie’ Gaseb, fast as lightning winger Patrick Basson and the intelligent play of Jomo Khaiseb, in the blue and gold outfit’s firing line.
In the intervening years, their equally dangerous younger brother Eddie also joined the fray with the Khorixas outfit, bringing the //Haosemab clan’s tally in the squad to three.
The //Haosemab trio’s presence immediately bore fruit as Robber Chanties gained promotion to the country’s elite league. Chanties became a major force to be reckoned with, winning knockout tourneys in towns such as Otavi, Otjiwarongo, Outjo and Uis.
Such was the team’s dominance that many teams dreaded the day they had to travel to Khorixas for league assignments against the hosts. The notorious Khorixas stadium became the ‘House of Pain’ for visiting teams, with very few teams leaving the place with a positive result.
Nevertheless, that stronghold would finally come to a premature end when coastal outfit Blue Waters, with Angolan import Armando Pedro leading their attack, tore them apart.
With the visitors leading by a narrow margin, the referee for some strange reason would make it his sole province to alter time, hoping the home team would fashion an unlikely equalizer. This was not to be as the slippery Pedro had different ideas, rattling the opposition’s net at will until the clearly outplayed and out-thought hosts’ players begged the biased match official to abbreviate proceedings in order to spare them further embarrassment.
Shockingly and out of the blue, the likeable //Haosemab twins suddenly jammed on the brakes, calling it quits after one of them suffered a career threatening injury.
Sadly, this unfortunate incident left the other half with no other option than to take a bow from the beautiful game. Talk about loyalty and the old adage that blood is thicker than water, the brother could not see his way through going about his football unhindered without the presence of his trusted companion, thus bringing closure to an astonishing football journey. Nowadays a schoolteacher at Fransfontein Primary School, Peter, looking much more older than the 49 summers behind his back, is still very much involved in the game, coaching the school’s football team – though he is not entirely impressed with the current crop of players.
“Football has become less entertaining compared to our time because modern football seriously lacks players with genuine charisma.”
Peter adds that he is yet to witness a local footballer that plays the game in the same vein as former African Stars’ midfielder Oscar ‘Silver Fox’ Mengo.
“In all honesty, Mengo was one hell of a player. He could transform the entire complex of the game with individual brilliance – he really inspired many of us during our formative years,” concludes the married father of four children – two sons and two daughters.