DURING the cash strapped days of the Federation Professional League (FPL), one manager's secret to signing up players was a neatly gift-wrapped package containing a soap dish and towel set.
Mike Royeppen revealed this, and his other shenanigans as a professional soccer club manager, to POST last week.
Mike who was big in size and walked on to the field with an imposing gait is nowadays wheelchair-bound following the amputation of his right leg in January last year, due to his high blood sugar condition.
He turned 65 on Monday, and spends his retirement days in a flat he recently bought in Paradise Valley absorbing the breathtaking views and playing with his grandson Jiaan, 2, whom he describes as being 'my life'.
Born in Mayville, Mike played soccer as a central defender for amateur clubs and also excelled in swimming and water polo. He joined South African Breweries where his job was to promote the company's products.
Mike takes up the story: 'Theatre personality Ronnie Govender also worked at SAB. During those days he served on the executive of the FPL and was a soccer reporter for the Leader newspaper.
'In 1979 Ronnie introduced me to Zazi Khuzwayo who was the owner of NPSL team African Wanderers and encouraged me to get involved with soccer administration. My job at SAB required me to be public-friendly and I decided taking up the position as manager would assist me in my work.
'I worked with coach Jim-my Kerr, who was an England and Durban United player. My first change room session with the club was literally a baptism for me. We were all made to stand in line and a bucket of water with a concoction of green herbs was used to brush us down. As the muti man approached me, I attempted to move back when Jimmy quickly shoved me and made me stand straight to accept the brushing. He later told me that if I did not accept the blessing, I would have been kicked out of the club.
'Zazi was heavily involved in the ANC and he was assassinated at the end of my first year with the club. FPL executive member Jasper Vurden then approached me and asked me to take up the managerial post at Manning Rangers.'
Rangers were going through a rough patch and had finished the previous season rock bottom. One of Mike's stipulations before taking on the job was that there would be no interference from club directors while he was the manager.
Mike was a strict disciplinarian regarding punctuality and fitness training, and he managed to change the fortunes of the club within a few months, taking Rangers to a second-on-the-log finish that season.
'If I found that a player was lagging behind in training, I would call him aside and make him run 20 times up and down the Currie's stadium stands. If he failed to accomplish this, I would not hesitate to tell him to pack his bags and leave the team.
'The secret to a winning team is to get the right players for the job and this was where Don (Mudaly, Berea's manager) and I almost came to blows on many occasions. There was a fierce rivalry between us to sign on players.
'The clubs in the Fed did not have money to throw around and I resorted to giving a cellophane gift-wrapped soap dish and towel set, a few hundred rands from my own pocket and a pair of boots to tie up the deal.
'Once both Don and I were after a player from Wentworth I only remember as China. As I approached the player's house, I saw Don's car parked in the yard. I then drove further down the road and kept watch until he left the house. I then drove in and my gift worked like a charm. I got China.
'Another time Don got the upper hand on me. We were both after the signatures of the dynamic Cape duo of Keith America and Calvin Petersen. Don must have heard that I was booked to fly to Cape Town on a Saturday. He flew down on that Friday, and beat me to the draw.
'Then I beat him to sign on brothers Mark and Tony Buckley (uncles to Bafana Bafana's Delron) and the battle between us continued. Walking through the Currie's tunnel before we played each other would always draw menacing glares between the two of us.
'Sometimes our battles ended up in the boardroom. Don once protested a match result citing late registration of players. I always used Merewent FA official Sammy Sayed as my negotiator. He was brilliant at getting out of tight situations and I often won my cases.'
After a two-year stay with Rangers, Mike resigned to take up the post of PRO for the Federation Professional League where he said he was privileged to have worked with 'great administrators' like Ashwin Trikamjee, Sithia 'SK' Chetty and Gaff Osman.
After a two-year stint with the FPL executive, he was enticed to manage the Tongaat Crusaders team, but that did not last long because the 'strictly off limits' deal he always insisted he had with club directors was breached and he moved to Berea where he took over from Don, who had moved to Rangers - and the battle resumed.
Mike, who would smoke a packet of cigarettes during the 90-minute course of the game was so passionate about his soccer that he was admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack after his team lost to Cape Town Spurs in 1981.
He enjoyed a healthy and productive relationship with the press, singling out current POST Editor Brijlall Ram-guthee, who was a sports reporter then, for keeping public interest in the game alive.
Brij said of Mike whom he had nicknamed 'Sir Alf' after England supremo Sir Alf Ramsay: 'He was one of those managers who brought a lot of razor sharp tension to the game. He had the ability to spring surprises and one could feel the passion oozing out of his frame.'
Through his work Mike also secured a R15 000 Hansa Pilsener Cup sponsorship and said: 'My bosses who were big on sponsoring different codes of sport were shocked when I showed them the breakdown of the money, saying that this was the first time they saw only 10% of the amount going towards administrative costs with the winning teams sharing the balance.'
Mike was an extrovert and he then turned his attention toward running nightclubs and was co-owner of the once popular Club Lipstick.
He said he was responsible for introducing the supper club concept to Durban when, together with Cape Town singer Vivienne Kinsley, he hosted the province's first Sunday supper club at the Himalaya Hotel in 1975.
Today both he and Don are the best of chums who hug each other whenever they meet.
Mike, who was twice named manager of the season with Manning Rangers (1981) and with Tongaat Crusaders (1988) said his prosthetic limb had arrived and he would want to start walking again as his doctors warned that he was in danger of losing the second limb.
'I want to walk one last time before I lose the other leg,' said Mike.
He lives with his wife Needha and has two daughters Yolisha and Srenika and son Shaun, who is currently the PRO of amateur club Savells. Mike has three grandchildren whom he dotes over.
n THE SA Fed Legends will hold a fund-raising dinner and dance at the Coastlands Convention Centre on September 8. Monies raised will go to the Legends' various projects they intend undertaking to improve the lives of all former players, administrators and officials of the FPL and its predecessor, the SASL.
Members of the Legends are already involved with coaching clinics for school children. After a classy launch held in April this year, high standards have been set and to book your place at this event will cost you R250 per couple. Call PRO Jasper Vurden on 083 298 1757.
n The 'indaba' originally planned by the Legends to take place at the eThekwini College, previously known as the Springfield College of Education, on July 21 has been postponed until August 4. The Legends intend throwing open for discussion its nominated projects and invites those involved in professional soccer under the FPL and the SASL to join and be a part of the organisation's movement forward. Contact secretary Vincent Pillay on 084 592 6600 for further information.
