By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Kaizer Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung has paid tribute to the late Frank ‘Jingles’ Pereira who sadly passed away at the age of 77 on Sunday.
Pereira was part of the 1981 quadruple-winning Chiefs in a career for Amakhosi that spanned 1979 to 1984.
Before signing for Chiefs he turned out for clubs including Vaal United, Highlands Park, Jewish Guild and Cape Town City in a 20-year playing career.
“I must tell you that this is one of the saddest moments in our history of football because Jingles made a very, very great impact in terms of a player,” Motaung told the club’s media team.
“When we recruited him from Cape Town City, he was still then playing as a striker. And of course, when he came to Chiefs was converted to be to play as a central defender, in fact, as a sweeper, at the time.
“Jingles had such a personality. I mean, all his teammates and those that played with and against him, always had so much respect for him because he had something special about him in his face, he always had a smile every time.
“I don’t remember seeing Jingles in a very so sad mood when he was here, because every time you see him, he had such a sparkle in his eyes. He was that kind of player who always was wanted to make other players happy and laugh and, and so forth and so on.”
“So he was a great asset for the team. And obviously when he came here, they renamed him “Mama KaSibongile”. So that’s how he was known here at Chiefs.
“He was one of those players, obviously, like I said, you’d never forget.”
Kaizer Motaung Snr. also send his condolences to the family of the fallen giant.
A profile on Chiefs’ website published at the time of the club’s 50th birthday in 2020 reads: “Pereira joined Amakhosi in late 1979, recruited by then coach Mario Tuani. He was a ripe 34-year-old at the time.
“The striker already had an illustrious career behind him, scoring 223 league and cup goals, before becoming a Glamour Boy for, among others, Cape Town City, winning the Double in 1973 and 1976, Highlands Park, Powerlines and Vaal United.
“He won, for example, the Golden Boot in 1976 thanks to scoring 20 league goals. Pereira was, like Cristiano Ronaldo, born on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The former Chiefs star’s birth was on November 2 1945. Both were (and is, in Ronaldo’s case) phenomenal goal scorers.
“Pereira, however, wasn’t an attacker for long at Amakhosi being moved to a defensive position by coach Tuani in 1980. Jackie Masike had one of his rare under-par performances and the Chilean coach decided to move ‘Jingles’ to the back.”