How Watermelon Muthi Ritual Once "Saved" AmaZulu From Relegation

• It isn't a South African football story without the subject of muthi being brought up
• Former Orlando Pirates player Gerald Modabi told an amusing story of his experiences with pre-match rituals
• The highly colourful administrator Sinki Mnisi also added his take to the anecdote

The programme 'Sitting With Stan' on SuperSport continues to provide gold nuggets when it comes to anecdotes.

This time, it was the turn of former player Gerald Modabi and colourful but respected administrator Sinky Mnisi to tell their tales to host Robert Marawa and the eponymous Stanley 'Screamer' Tshabalala.

Speaking about a pre-match ritual while playing for AmaZulu, Modabi said:

"I've never had to play a game itching that much. We bathed in watermelon. I don't know what that bath full of watermelon was mixed with. I was itching all over. I'm sure I even appeared on TV just scratching myself during that game. It was hard to play. Next match... I refused. We were going to play Free State Stars in Phuthaditjhaba.

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"The ritual had now changed - we moved away from the bath tub to bathing inside a river at 5am."

Mnisi, who was a bigwig inside Usuthu at the time, corroborated the story by adding that Modabi had to face a club disciplinary committee for his insubordination.

He said:

"It had nothing, the jersey. We would just "work" it, only. Actually, that watermelon saved us (from relegation). If you look it, we were losing most of our games up until we conducted that ritual."

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Former Premier Soccer League football player, Gerald Modabi told an anecdote for the ages.

The ex-Orlando Pirates and Dynamos midfielder added humour to the dark aspects of 'alcohol culture', which affects many current and former players in South Africa and beyond. In the middle of a discussion on SuperSport's absorbing talk show 'Sitting With Stan', Robert Marawa asked Modabi if he once played under the influence.

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Modabi explained he dared not approach the referee despite being the target of numerous fouls during the game.