'Punter' Barker swaps soccer for gee-gees

A right Royal Affair was the theme at this year's Durban July. Mzansi's finest, charlatans, groupies, kansvatters, fashionistas and former Bafana coach Clive Barker also graced the event.

Fuddy-duddy Barker was not looking so majestic in his dour grey jacket and black polo-neck. While his fashion sense is in the lower leagues, he left a huge impression on Tsamaya with the way he seemed to know his way around a race course. Now we know how "Grandpa Clive" spends his free time these days.

WE had our funny bones tickled with a newspaper report on Monday about a Jomo Sono press conference last Friday. While "Bra J" paraded his many off-season signings, we noticed only one newspaper was alerted to the presser. At first we laughed that maybe it was Sono's paper, The Jomo Herald and Advertiser, that covered the event, but then we realised it was The Sowetan. The reason we thought Sono was perhaps covering his own press conference was that he does everything else at the club. He coaches, picks players, sells players. Hell, he wears so many hats maybe he's a milliner too.

MAMELODI Sundowns' antique PRO and walking jewellery shop Alex "American Swiss" Shakoane was recently redeployed to supporter-relations manger. The Tsamaya crew are still undecided if this is a promotion or demotion. The "hands-on" Shakoane has done just about everything at the club. The only gig he hasn't tried his hand at is to paint the fading walls of Chloorkop.

STAYING with the "Millionaires of Pretoria", some Sundowns supporters were overheard saying that now Punch "3Points" Masenamela has joined the club, they have upgrade his scruffy Limpopo mohawk to be on par with those of stylish players Teko Modise and Katlego "Killer" Mphela.

TSAMAYA rolled on the floor laughing this week after reading about Chiefs' new signing from AmaZulu, Lehlohonolo Majoro, who was interviewed on the club website. The interview on the website was an "exclusive". Oh, yeah? That presumably means they beat off the attentions of the Orlando Pirates website and the websites at Kickoff and the SuperSportzone, which all wanted interviews but could not get them. Of course they weren't, but there's no way his interview can be called an "exclusive" then, now can it?

LIKE a character in a horror movie who won't give up the ghost, former Orlando Pirates midfielder Steve Lekoelea has resurfaced at relegated Mpumalanga Black Aces. Lekoela spent six months at Mbabane Highlanders in Swaziland and journalists in randy Mswati's kingdom didn't spare the whip: "Lekoelea played four games, one full game and the rest as a substitute. He was fired for an interview in the Swazi Mirror, in which he made fun of his teammates, saying they are lazy and cannot play one-touch football with him. Yet he was slower than a crippled tortoise and ran like a pregnant rhinoceros."