Former Rhenish Herero School and Tigers Football Club acrobatic goalkeeper, Gustav ‘Bollie’ Kandonga, must have felt he was trapped between a rock and a hard place when bullying members of Tigers played the tribal-card on him with their jiggery-pokery approach in the hope to convince the young shot-stopper to change allegiance on the eve of an important cup final against traditional rivals African Stars.
Young Bollie came under a barrage of heavy criticism and was insulted and had his loyalty questioned, while he was also branded a traitor by disgruntled Tigers supporters, including players who believed he should have been playing for Tigers instead of African Stars, a club made up of predominantly Otjiherero speaking footballers. His inevitable arrival at Tigers was initially meant to be a stop-gap measure to find a replacement for the legendary Nandos ‘The Cat’ Mbako, whose absence from the match squad on that particular day resulted from a brush he had with the trigger-happy Bowkers (municipal police) after he banged the lights out of a troublesome white fellow, courtesy of a spade. Bollie was literally thrown into the lion’s den, but he acquitted himself extremely well under trying circumstances, as he kept a clean sheet consecutively in the two goalless draws against the formidable Reds before Tigers emerged the 1-0 victors on their 3rd attempt. However, his fairytale run guarding the sticks for the star-studded Tigers outfit was to be short-lived as he was limited to jiffy cameo roles for a considerable period of time, living in the shadow of the seemingly irreplaceable Nandos. In this interview with New Era Sports, Bollie (61) reveals how football taught him the real values of life and camaraderie.
WINDHOEK – Born in the small and dusty town of Usakos in the vast Erongo Region in 1952, Bollie relocated to the harbour town of Walvis Bay with his mother at the age of seven. Upon arrival in the coastal town, Bollie immediately hooked up with other young boys in the neigbourhood and would play football at the slightest provocation. He mingled with other talented boys led by former Namibian motor racing icon Lukas Hipondoka, Ranga Lucas, Zondi Amadhila, Maleagi Tobias, Mathew Amadhila, Simon Mwandingi, Pari Shekupe and his hometown boy Bonnettie Neilenge.
The boys formed a small football team going by the name of System Brothers and would usually compete in small stake games in the dusty streets of Kuisebmund. In 1963 he moved to the city of lights, Windhoek, where he went to further his schooling at the famous Rhenish Herero School in Windhoek’s old location. Here, Bollie found himself surrounded by established young footballers led by the legendary Kapuii Angula, Kaika Kuzee, Grey Umati, Kaparoro Kandjii, Kido Mbako, Katjitata Kazombiaze, Nobby Hambira, Shaka Mbako, Usiel Muruko and Kometundnu Tjituka to mention but a few. Bollie was between the sticks when the Rhenish Herero School swept their opponents aside displaying football virtuosity never seen in that neck of the woods to win the inaugural edition of the historic knockout youth tourney, featuring so-called Bantu schools around Windhoek. The tournament was the brainchild of former school principal Theo Katjimune, who bought the trophy from his own pocket for the competition in both the football and netball disciplines.
Participating schools included hosts Rhenish Herero School, Mandume, Saint Barnabas, Rhenish Nama School and M. H. Greef, a Roman Catholic school for so-called coloureds, basters and a few learners from well-to-do black families during the height of apartheid. “We had a great squad of not only talented athletes, but dedicated footballers with the late Kapuii on fire that weekend. Our school came out of the 2-day tourney unscathed after we defeated Mandume (2-1) in our opening match before we saw off St Barnabas (3-0) en route to the final where we beat the pre-tournament favourites, the Rhenish Nama School by 3 goals to 1 with the late Sisingi Hiskia officiating in the final at the municipal stadium in Katutura,” reveals Bollie. His exploits between the sticks did not go unnoticed with African Stars keeping tabs on the upcoming young net-guard as the team badly needed to replace the butterfingered Ripuree Hoveka. The football crazy Bollie was left with no other choice, but to join the Reds after he was deemed too small and inexperienced to dislodge the great Nandos Mbako from the number one spot at Tigers. “I was persuaded by the late George Hoveka to join forces with Stars and could not belief it when I got my first break in topflight football in the company of greats such as Theo Ndisiro, Mike Pack, Cleophas Siririka, Amos Tjombe, Cosky Ngaizuvare and Seth Kaimu. I played a couple of matches for Stars, but was forced to cross the floor shortly before a crucial cup final match against Tigers at the municipal stadium in Katutura.”
Tigers were facing the prospect of confronting their traditional rivals without the services of acrobatic shot-stopper Nandos ‘The Cat’ Mbako between the sticks as he had issues to sort out with the police after he floored a mischievous white fellow. In his own words, Tigers players and some supporters surrounded him and told him in no uncertain terms that he should be playing for Tigers since blood was thicker than water. He was reminded in plain township language and questioned whether he has ever seen any Otjiherero-speaking footballer turning out for Tigers and why he should sell his soul by featuring for a team mainly composed of non-Oshiwambo-speaking footballers. Bollie eventually bowed to the tribally motivated pressure and found himself on the opposite end of the field when the teams trotted onto the pitch to confront each other. He played a blinder during his enforced debut for Ingweinyama, keeping a clean sheet as the two teams played out a goalless draw with the subsequent replay culminating in similar fashion, before Tigers eventually won the match (1-0) through the late Honnie Ochurub’s lone strike on their 3rd attempt.
In the meantime, Bollie and some of his fellow students from the Augustineum High School in Windhoek, would make it their main preoccupation to sneak out of the city boarding the train to Walvis Bay during the school holidays in search of temporary work in the fish factories. Alongside his old boyhood buddy Grey Umati, Bollie would feature as a guest player for Blue Waters during the school holidays.
He finally rose to prominence when the legendary Nandos skipped the country to go into exile, escaping the indignities and injustices of apartheid. He was stationed between the sticks when a fired up Tigers outfit defeated Blue Waters in the Daves Knockout Cup final at the old Katutura Stadium by 4 goals to 2. However, his promising goalkeeping career was to be derailed by a career threatening knee injury inflicted by his own teammate during a match against Explorer Eleven. A Jack-of-all-trades in the real sense of the word, Bollie was deployed on the rightwing on that particular day when he unintentionally collided with ‘Oom’ Paul Hiskia in a tussle with Explorer’s tough man Katlab Tsauseb. The incident left him with a fractured knee and he never recovered fully to reclaim his former glory days between the sticks.
Nevertheless, he went onto oversee several generations of footballers at his beloved Tigers before he called it quits, because he failed to recover sufficiently from what turned out to be a career ending knee injury. Bollie regards former Black Africa sharpshooter Pius Eigowab as the deadliest striker during his generation and also holds former Jungle Boys dribbling wizard /Nerab Gariseb and Black Africa speedy winger Xarab Gariseb in high esteem. He also dreaded his countless confrontations with the late Namib Woestyn’s notorious defender Lukas Araeb. “That guy was a tough nut to crack and used to instill fear in his opponents before a ball was even kicked, because he always carried a knife in his socks.”
By Carlos Kambaekwa