Former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana defender, Gavin Lane has urged the Soweto powerhouse to continue using "Muthi" in the CAF Champions League.
Muthi is derived from the Zulu/Xhosa/Northern Ndebele word "umuthi," meaning "tree" or "medicine. In certain African countries, particularly in Southern Africa, some footballers and fans believe in the power of "muthi" to improve their team's chances of winning or to bring good fortune.
The Buccaneers have been exceptional in the prestigious continental inter-club competition and are the only side that have not suffered defeat so far.
However, Lane, who was in the team that won the 1995 CAF Champions League title, believes superstition is the order of the day in every country and that his former team should continue using it.
“Every country, every team wants to use muti, but the problem is, the strength is not equal; the North African players they've got their superstitions; you hear of one player believing in putting the left sock on before the right one and this kind of nonsense,” he told Kick-Off.
“It might not be muti but you are still doing something. And I'm sure all the African countries all use muthi.”
Lane remembers some occurrences practicing or acting in a superstitious way: “I remember when we were in Nigeria with Pirates, they threw some stuff on the back of Helman Mkhalele, and his body was itching almost the whole second half,” he continued.
“The way he was scratching himself at some point, the game stopped, and they had to wash his back and put on a new Pirates shirt on him because he couldn't play. You go to Gabon, you go to Ghana, there's plenty of muti and I don't think it's ever gonna stop. It's an African thing. I remember at one stage I almost bliksem a Pirates muti man for hitting me with his horse tail during a muthi session. Yeah, it was painful.
“At Swallows there was muti, at AmaZulu there was also muti. In 1995, I believed in it because I wanted the club to win. We all did it. Years earlier there was once this Pirates striker, Etienne Nsunda; he and John Moeti didn't want to hear a thing about Muti; they hated the stuff. As their teammates, we had to convince them to play along. I don't think they were very happy with it, but they ended up taking part.”
Orlando Pirates will face MC Alger in the second leg of the CAF Champions League quarter-final game to be staged at the Orlando Stadium this afternoon (Wednesday) with Kickoff scheduled at 16:00 GMT.
The South African club won the first leg by 1-0, and Lane demands they must do whatever it takes for them to advance.
“So ja Pirates, they should continue using their muti. They must not stop. They must carry on, and if everybody else in Algeria thinks it's working, then why stop it? Use that to your advantage.
“Let's go win the match on Wednesday [today] against the North Africans; they must chill out and stop throwing things and flares at people,” he concluded.
By: Pascal Amoah
