Choose your words carefully, football star

What happened on 9/11 is important, but 9/12 is more significant.

It was bad what the terrorists did to the Twin Towers in the US in 2001.

Closer to home, it was horrible what the apartheid agents of death did to our hero Steve Biko, who died on 9/12/1977.

It is even more horrendous what some of our heroes - footballers in this instance - keep doing to themselves.

I should say that this is the unspeakable damage they do to the English language in pre- or post-match interviews.

It beats me why they chose to partake in self-hate by constantly choosing to converse in English when their command of the language is clearly not as silky as their soccer skills.

They tie themselves in knots when they mix the tenses: "We was under pressure when their striker scored."

They become buffoons when they bend the genders, "The coach, she telled at half time", and there I was, thinking there was no female coach in charge of a PSL side.

They leave you flabbergasted when they completely confuse words, as in "We concerned an early goal," instead of conceded.

They keep moering themselves black and blue even when an interviewer switches to the vernacular.

One famous player said this to an interviewer the other day - Question: What is the first thing you do in the morning?

Answer: I wake up and I run away. (read I go for a jog).

The same player was wished a happy birthday and he gleefully responded: "Same to you."

When his team was travelling further north in Africa, he told his family "bon appetit".

And when his team was having dinner at the hotel, he said to his teammates "bon voyage" before they partook of the culinary delights.

They will end up like the angry parent who takes umbrage at their child's teacher after the daughter brought home a lower mark.

"Dear Teasher,

"Please I not like how u gived my children 2 over 10 in the English ezam. I have look at the thing she write and everything correct well. So what is the why that u now gived her 2 over 10? I teash her English everyday and she has know it well. So please what is the why for little mark? What is the why Hee?

"Yourls, Hangry parent."

I never said the parent was a soccer star.

Of course, not all specialise in spewing gobbledygook.

Some are the epitome of eloquence, but they are few and far between.

There is nothing wrong with speaking your mother tongue. South Africa has 11 official languages. Plus September is Heritage month in South Africa.

And please, chuck the chewing gum when chatting to the nation.

Have you ever heard the greatest player of our lifetime, Lionel Messi, giving an interview in English?

Have Messi on the English guys and be proud of your lingo. It is who you are. Language is the entry point to culture. The beginning of the end of a people's culture is when people stop speaking their language.

The ultimate victory of the oppressor is to win over the mind of the oppressed. Not my words, just paraphrasing Steve Biko.