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Teko’s book success a treat and inspiration

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big day Journalist Nikolaos Kirkinis and football star Teko ModisePHOTOs: Silver sibiya
big day Journalist Nikolaos Kirkinis and football star Teko ModisePHOTOs: Silver sibiya

It was a rare moment as soccer fans flooded a launch event for a book written about their hero, when a book about Teko Modise was launched this week in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

The General has joined cricket and rugby players who are popular for having books written about their lives.

Written by journalist Nikolaos Kirkinim, the book is aptly titled The Curse of Teko Modise.

Sports presenter and host for the day Robert Marawa joked, saying: “I guess many people here didn’t even know where Exclusive Books was until today.”

Fans did not only get their hands on the must-have book of the week, but also rubbed shoulders with some of the country’s greatest football legends.

Former football greats including Jomo Sono, Doctor Khumalo, Brian Baloyi, Mark Williams and Shakes Mashaba graced the occasion to witness this special moment.

Marawa could not resist taking a swipe at Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, declaring him the “future minister of sports”.

There was no dull moment as Marawa fired tough questions which forced the football darling, Modise, to concede they were difficult to answer.

This included a question about using muti in a bid to win games during his time at Orlando Pirates.

Sono asked Modise why the footballer had kept him waiting under trees when the club owner wanted to sign him to Jomo Cosmos FC from City Pillars, adding that he was still waiting.

“On the other corner, you were negotiating with Pitso Mosimane to join SuperSport United. I was going to give you jersey number 10, boy,” quipped the Cosmos boss, leaving the audience in stitches.

When Sono left Orlando Pirates, the jersey was retired and never given to anyone. He admitted that Modise deserved the jersey.

Modise might lead the current generation of players to consider writing their stories. The crowd showed that soccer fans are starved of stories from so many silent legends.

After some probing, Modise revealed for the first time that the monthly instalment for his luxurious Aston Martin DB9 cost him R22 000. He also claimed he bought it to cheer himself up because he was bored.

After all, he was a superstar at the prime of his career at Pirates with sponsors begging to be associated with his success.

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