Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has explained what led to his altercation with Orlando Pirates striker Kermit Erasmus during the Carling Black Label Cup final at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

The duo clashed after Pirates defender Tapelo Xoki was sent off for a career ending tackle on Haashim Domingo in the first half. Mokwena was upset by the tackle and had an exchange of words with Erasmus who was on the bench.

Speaking to Robert Marawa on Marawa Sport Worldwide, Mokwena said he and Erasmus spoke about it after the game on Saturday and made peace.

“I think I’m going to speak about it for the very last time, because one of the reasons I’m going to do that is because Kermit sent me a message just after 10pm and we exchanged texts and I think it ended right there,” Mokwena said.

“What I will say about it, if I look at the sequence of events, him scoring a fantastic goal in Polokwane against us [MTN8 semifinal second leg where Pirates won 3-0], but I look at the celebration and how borderline it was in terms of possibly even lacking respect towards Sundowns and maybe even going to our supporters and wave.

“I then listened to some of the interviews he’s done and some of the things he’s said, which were completely incorrect and maybe even borderline, again borderline disrespectful not just the clubs, the fans but also the Motsepe Family for what the club has done for him.

“The, of course, the event on the touchline, because one the tackle that was made on someone who I thought was a very close friend of his while they were teammates. Haashim Domingo and Kermit, for me while they were together on the pitch, in the squad they looked quite close to each other.

“And my reaction to the tackle was not actually even to the tackle, was towards Zakhele Lepasa who started clapping towards the red card and clapping towards Xoki as if to encourage that type of behaviour. Funny enough, Zakhele Lepasa came to me after the match and apologised and said ‘coach I’m also a victim of a career-threatening injury’.

“Kermit then remonstrated and said things towards me that I felt I did not deserve, especially from Kermit, particularly with what we had been through, there are a lot of things.”

Mokwena added that the incident is behind them after they exchanged texts late the same day.

“But to end it all, we exchanged texts yesterday, we spoke about and I think for me it’s not just an isolated incident. There does seem to be a bit more from the goal celebration to the interview and now to this. And then of course like I said to him even at the end of our conversation ‘love and light! I wish you love and light,” he said.

“Because we should also never forget that at times we dehumanise athletes and we dehumanise coaches and we look at people and we think they don’t have emotions, they don’t have heart, they don’t have things that are troubling them.

“And Kermit to be fair has gone through a lot over the last year or so and things shouldn’t really be blown out of proportion and we should look to assist these players, because at times they act out of themselves but only because maybe they have certain emotional traumas, if you want to call it that, that they themselves are also still struggling with.

“When you look at the sequence of events that I’ve just spoken about they lead to telling you it’s not even personal for me, it’s not a Kermit vs Rulani issue. I just happened to be a coach that got very upset on behalf of his player because nowhere I’m going to be on the touchline and I’m going to get one of my players [injured].