By Steven Harrison.
| Mtutuzeli Hlomela Player Profile |
It was Mtutuzeli Hlomela’s Aunt that got his Australian Football career started when she sent in his application for a one year football scholarship in Australia, a joint initiative of the South Australian Department of Sport and Recreation and the Western Cape Department of Recreation and Sport.
Mtutu, who has a strong soccer background, welcomed an interview for the scholarship as a possible opportunity to play soccer overseas – a boyhood dream.
His interview took place in January 1998 in Cape Town. One of the early questions was “Do you know what Aussie Rules is?”, to which he could only reply “no”. As the panel started describing the game to him, something was stirring in the back of his mind…. ‘ah yeah’, he thought. ‘THAT game!’ He was able to tell the panel that he had seen it once or twice before on Gillette World Sport on South Africa’s SABC1 channel and that he would be able to pick it up in no time.
Mtutu played soccer in the South African National League with Wits University (Johannesburg) in the reserve side in 2000-2001. He also captained the Wits University senior student team at intervarsity level whilst studying there. Despite a love for Soccer, he says his heart didn’t sink when he discovered the traineeship was for Australian Football. “It was still an opportunity to go overseas – something I had never done before, and I saw it as a challenge.”
He was told at the interview that 200 people had applied for the position, but no more than three hours later he was made an offer. Three weeks later he was in Adelaide at a pre season training session.
“I turned up at Sturt (Football Club) in the middle of summer wearing my brand new shiny football boots – something I assumed everyone would be wearing, only to find everyone training in sandshoes. This, and the fact that I looked and sounded different, made me a bit nervous.” Then came swimming practice, and Mtutu said “I couldn’t swim properly!”
It turned out that Mtutu could play the new code well. He played for the Sturt Football Club Under 19 team, a club based in Adelaide and playing in the South Australian Football League. He did this whilst studying Sports Administration at Adelaide TAFE and doing part time clerical work at the South Australian Department of Sport and Recreation.
Whilst he says Adelaide is place where he could easily live, Mtutu admits to initially having a fair degree of culture shock. You could imagine the adjustments he must have made, not only dealing with living in a new country, but also coping with footy club culture. “The club culture is very strong in Australia, and also very different to soccer clubs at home, but I love it.” The widely practiced after game drinks “acts as a legitimate mechanism for relationship building and team building. Win or lose, everyone would do it ….and its great the way the older guys really looked after the younger guys and got to know them”.
He also met with many a famous face whilst living in Adelaide. He had a cup of tea with the Governor General, got to know Adelaide Football Club’s Andrew Mcloed quite well, met Hawthorn’s Shane Crawford on a plane, and introduced himself to a topless Kylie Minogue on an Adelaide beach! (The writer would like to note that Mtutu has in fact met two of the greatest Australians ever – Shane Crawford and Kylie Minogue).
“Me and a few friends were on a break from TAFE, and we were just hanging out on the beach. Then someone spotted her – topless and by herself.” After a few moments of daring one another, it was Mtutu that approached her and introduced himself. However, it wasn’t long before an unknown male companion re-joined the pop goddess. “My friends still said I was a legend”.
It was 2002 when Mtutu revisited Australia, this time as a representative for the South African national team, competing in the International Cup of Australian Football in Melbourne. He considers the highlight of that tournament as being able to stand there in a South African Jumper and sing the national anthem. “Fighting for that jumper was such a great incentive.” The team was unable to win a game, and Mtutu believes the competition, especially from the top few teams was strong. Despite this, he believes a top four finish in the 2005 International Cup is possible. “We’ll work on a more tactical game and be better prepared next time”.
At the conclusion of this tournament, Mtutu had the honor bestowed upon his of being selected in the Australian Football World Team 2002, made up of representatives of each competing country.
These days, Mtutu has recently started his own Australian Football Club in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg. He trains every fortnight with Senior, under 16 and under 12 players.
Mtutu’s story makes one wonder what other untapped talent lies out there in South Africa – a question Footy South Africa wants to answer.
At the age of seventeen, Phindile Khambule is leading the way as a Footy South Africa senior field umpire, and is team manager for her club, the Ramatlabama ‘Top Dogs’.
It was 2000 when Australian Football started in Mafikeng. It was a school team and I saw some guys playing after school with a red ball shaped like a rugby ball. I went to the ground and was asked to play by my geography teacher who was the coach. I joined them and it was my first time.
