Sports: Barnes Shares Memories Of Kaizer Chiefs’ Clash And Encounter With Nelson Mandela

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:47 pm

Liverpool FC legend, John Barnes shared some of his memories about facing Kaizer Chiefs back in 1994.

Liverpool and Amakhosi played to a 0-0 draw in a United Bank Festival match, which took place at Ellis Park back in 1994.

Speaking on Chiefs’ official website, Barnes, who captained the English giants at the time, shared some of his fond memories of the encounter as well as his meeting with the late Nelson Mandela.

“A lot of the Liverpool players were a little nervous before the game, because of the fires and firecrackers going off in the stands, and because of the noise of the crowd.

I had played against African teams before and being from Jamaica I was used to it. So I knew what to expect and I got what I expected, the passion, humour and love of the fans, their support for Liverpool and of course for their club Kaizer Chiefs,” he said.

“Being in South Africa at the time of such great change in the country was much bigger than football.

On this trip I was also doing a programme for Granada television on the change in South Africa and my director asked me if we could try and get an interview with Nelson Mandela.

So, as Liverpool captain, I introduced Madiba to the Liverpool team and just before the game kicked off I said to him I am doing a documentary and asked him if it was possible to do an interview with him.

Right then and there, he wrote down his address in Houghton on a piece of paper and said I could come around tomorrow, and I ended up sitting down with him for three hours,” Barnes added.

(Soccerladuma)