I never had mercy – Jerry Sikhosana

Legendary striker Jerry “Legs Of Thunder” Sikhosana says it would break his mother’s heart every time he scored a hat-trick against her favourite club Kaizer Chiefs. 

While fans would rejoice whenever Orlando Pirates beats Amakhosi in the Soweto derby matches, Sikhosana would already know he has to stay away from visiting his mother’s home, as she supported his career but had limits when it came to the ‘Glamour Boys’. 

Sikhosana, who has always and still hold Chiefs dear to his heart, grew up in a home that supported the team. 

“I really made sure I avoided going to see her or calling her because she was such a fan who didn’t like seeing his son and his team scoring against Chiefs which we had all favoured. I grew up in a footballing family. I remember I scored three hat-tricks and I didn’t go home for a while hoping to go at the time she had cooled down,” said Sikhosana. 

“But it was work for me, as much as I was playing against Chiefs, I was at work and had to do what I did best. Even the Bucs’ players would expect me to be lenient with our rival, but I never had mercy. I would make sure I scored as much as I possibly could,” he laughed as he revealed. 

Sikhosana had a point to prove to his opponent because he wished to join the Phefeni Boys, but he also had to prove to his Bucs’ team players that he was loyal to his club at the time. 

While growing up in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg, his uncle ran a team called Tembisa Santos.  

Some of his close relatives always remember how he showed signs of his love for the game from when he was just toddler. 

“As my mother’s late brother ran a local team, the football equipment was kept at home. Apparently as a baby, I would insist on sleeping on top of the kit every time. They tell me they didn’t realise at the time that I had started loving soccer,” said Sikhosana. 

“When I would, according to my mother, crawl around the house and hit the ball hard with my hands, it became clear that one day, I would use my legs.” 

Kicking the ball hard affectionately gained him the affectionate nickname ‘Legs Of Thunder’ in the football space, the name he says he was given by late Sowetan former reporter, Sibusiso Mseleku. 

“When I joined Pirates in 1995, I was just Jerry Sikhosana while everyone else had a nickname for me. But a few weeks later, I was reading the newspaper and there it was: “Jerry Legs Of Thunder Sikhosana”.

“I was shocked because there was a series on SABC back in the day, the horse in the series was called that. I don’t know why because that horse was always losing. Sbu, however, said my legs had thunder because I would kick the ball so hard,” he remembered. 

Sikhosana who feels grateful to have taken part in the 1998 Fifa World Cup in France, said it was one of his highlights.. 

But he said nothing could have prepared him for the way he joined the Buccaneers and the shock on his mother’s face. 

“I had joined Witbank Aces in 1993 so it happened that our team went head-to-head with Pirates in 1994 and we were playing in Tembisa. We drew 1-1. It was the last game of the season. After that game, I took a walk when Lawrence Ngubane followed me and asked to speak to me. I knew he was the manager at Pirates. I wondered why he wanted to talk to a boy who played for Aces and lived in Tembisa,” he recalled. 

He said Ngubane followed the orders of the then coach, Mike Makaab, and was told the club was interested in signing him. 

“Come January 1995, I was looking forward to returning to training in Witbank for the new season, waiting for transport to pick me up when my mom entered the house in confusion. He asked me why there was an Orlando Pirates branded car looking for me outside. I was just as confused,” he said.

“Get in the car, let’s go,” he was told. Without asking a lot of questions, Sikhosana was on the passenger seat, making his way to the club’s offices where Irvin Khoza was waiting with his contract ready to be signed on the dotted line. 

“The driver made a call to the chairman updating him that he had found me and he was bringing me over. My Aces chairman Veli Mahlangu was there with Khoza and he told me on the phone that it was a done deal that I am no longer part of his team. I kept thinking there was no way I would play for Pirates, but I had joined a giant team.”

Now a club owner of Tembisa Hollywood Thunder FC which competes in the ABC Motsepe League, Sikhosana hopes to see the team advancing to the Premier Soccer League. 

“I like giving the new players the platform to pursue their careers because a lot of coaches and talent scouts come to watch the team play so they can identify players.  

He became the Hollywood Bets ambassador in 2011 and continues to help in building a strong brand.