South African football idols gathered this week to stand up for responsible drinking at the launch of the Brandhouse DrinkIQ initiative in Johannesburg. It was, however, disappointing that not many current players - Lefa Tsutsulupa was one exception - bothered to attend. Liquid lovers Jabu Pule, Lerato Chabangu, Emille Baron, Jeffrey Ntuka, and Mbulelo "OJ" Mabizela snubbed the event. Perhaps the organisers were worried they might have played bottoms up.

WE spotted diminutive Banyana Banyana coach Joseph "Skheshekheshe" Mkhonza wearing a muscle-hugging Springbok shirt in support of the world champions ahead of their trip to New Zealand. Tsamaya thinks he would have been a perfect team mascot given his under-12 looks.

TSAMAYA'S sources have revealed that there was some excitement at the Star's offices in Sauer Street this week. The ANCYL protests in the city centre resulted in most staff not being able to get to work and the sports department had to cover the story from the office windows. We believe there was some confusion, though, over whether the protesters were employing a fluid, attacking 4-2-4 formation, and the police a defensive 6-3-1. They did manage, though, to identify the guy in a yellow shirt and red cap wielding a brick as the holding midfielder.

THE Youth League's star striker, the often outspoken Julius "Troublemaker" Malema, could not be fielded in his normal destructive centre-forward role because he was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. In fact, that's what we believe all the crowd trouble was about in the first place.

GOLDEN Arrows coach Ernst Middendorp is the favourite to become the first coach to walk the plank this season after three losses in as many matches. "I am very happy with the coach. You see, I am aware that things are not going well, but I'm not the kind who presses panic buttons. There's no pressure at all on the coach," Arrows boss Mato Madlala told Kick-Off. Having been long enough in the local game, Middendorp should start updating his CV.

WE want to welcome Orlando Pirates' new administrative manager, Senzo Mazingisa, to the wonderful world of Tsamaya. Running the Pirates office comes with a lot of responsibility - and gaffes. And like any other football person in the huge Tsamaya family, we hope you're not going to take things personally. Welcome aboard.

NEVER let it be said that Safa are economical with words when it comes to press releases. After last weekend's Indaba, some moegoe in their communications dept took the opportunity to get in touch with his lyrical side. "We have gathered in the cool shade and green pastures of our historic achievement ... ", the statement read in part, leaving us wondering if said moegoe hadn't dipped into the Bible on the way to the halfjack. By the way, the historic achievement to which they refer was last year's World Cup. We never realised it could be described in these terms.