Farewell to a Spurs Legend: Ikamva and Cape football will never forget dedicated Mr ‘A’
Remembered: Albert ‘Mr A’ Hendricks
It’s a week of mixed feelings for Cape Town Spurs since the announcement of the passing of former long-serving servant of the club Albert “Mr A” Hendricks was announced last week.
Spurs returned to action with a 1-0 morale-boosting victory in the Nedbank Cup preliminary round against the University of Pretoria at Athlone Stadium.
The winning cup goal was scored by a man who needed a goal just as much as the promotion-chasing Urban Warriors, none other than highly-rated Orlando Pirates loanee Boitumelo Radiopane.
The Spurs forward came off the bench to net the winner in extra-time to book Spurs a spot in the last 32 and set the stage for another blockbuster story of a rising football giant awakening in South Africa’s association cup tournament.
Radiopane's first goal for Cape Town Spurs! 💪
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) January 9, 2023
WHAT A CRACKER!!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mQEUQCCrAP
They had to dig deep for the win, which is a good habit to get into early as matches will get tougher and the officiating not being at its best. They’ll have to be prepared to grind out some wins, especially on the road.
The Warriors return to league action on Friday the 13th against Hungry Lions, but are also anticipating the news of the proceedings to bid farewell to “Mr A”.
Two people who spent the most time with Mr A in his memorable career from Thornton to Ikamva, and journeyed with him and the Urban Warriors from their birth as a merger between Cape Town Spurs and Seven Stars to form Ajax Cape Town and now back again to Spurs following a split with Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam are Alton Mnduzulwana and Khayalethu “KK” Molongwe.
Mnduzulwana, kit manager of the youth teams at Spurs remembers “Mr A” for being a practical joker.
Mnduzulwana says: “Once he even played dead and caused me to panic and I called security. He woke up he’d get me because ‘I know you Xhosa guys are scared of the dead and snakes’.”
He adds that he appreciated him for his fatherly advice, saying: “He was very protective over me. He’ll tell you he has travelled the world without paying a cent because of football.
“He was a guy even when the chips are down he was able to uplift you. We had many years together and I will never forget him.”
Groundsman Molongwe says he got his nickname from “Mr A” because it was shorter than his first name when they met back in ’98 when the merger between Cape Town Spurs and Seven Stars was starting to happening.
He explains: “I can talk a lot about Mr A, he was even doing the physio on the players in the beginning. We used to even take the kit by bicycle to the laundry with him. He always made a plan to make sure the job is done.”
THIS WEEK’S NFD FIXTURES
Today: All Stars v NB La Masia (3.30pm)
Friday: CT Spurs v Hungry Lions, JDR Stars v Pretoria Caillies (both matches at 3.30pm)
Saturday: All Stars v TTM, AmaTuks v Baroka, Black Leopards v Venda, Casric Stars v Platinum City Rovers (all matches at 3.30pm).