FOR THE SAKE OF THE NATION: Roger and Gordon get their heads together to solve club v country row

No walking the plank: Gordon Igesund and Roger de Sa

DESASTER! CLUBBED v COUNTRY! BAFANA WALK PIRATES PLANK! Well, BOLLOCKZ! to all the lurid headlines. Gordon Igesund and Roger de Sa did the right thing today, getting their heads together to sort out the thorny club v country row which threatened to overshadow Madiba's footballing birthday celebrations.

The first hint of peace came early this morning when Orlando Pirates coach De Sa told me: "Gordon is one of the good guys. He is a reasonable person - we talked nicely. My players won't be playing for South Africa in the friendly against Nigeria. Hats off to Gordon for agreeing on that.

“We are doing this for the sake of the nation"

Then the call from Igesund: "Roger and I talked sensibly. I felt I couldn't pick a squad without any Pirates after their historic 3-0 win over Al Ahly. I knew this situation could arise, but once we'd talked about what South Africa needs, we agreed to go without the Buccaneers.

 “We have a friendly against Nigeria. For Pirates, the home game against Zamalek is the game of their lives. But Roger didn’t demand their release, he requested it. I thank him for that.

“There are times when you have to put the best interests of the nation first."

And there it was. Sorted. For the good of the game. And all on my radio show BOLLOCKZ an hour before the official announcement. Pirates, fresh from that historic 3-0 win over the African champions in Egypt, will save their players on the 14th for their clash with Zamalek on the 17th at the Orlando Stadium.

A second successive win over the Pharoahs will all but secure their place in the top half of Group A. Senzo Meyiwa, Thabo Matlaba, Andile Jali, Oupa Manyisa, Thandani Ntshumayelo and Daine Klate will NOT run the risk of injury which could derail the quest for a second star to follow the now-legendary 1995 success.

Igesund, meanwhile, will have to put Jali's international comeback on hold for Nigeria at the Moses Mabhida in Durban on the 14th. He already knew Mandela Day - which sees the rugby Springboks play Argentina too - would be staged against Burkina Faso on the 17th at Soccer City without Roger’s Sea Robbers.

Having already picked a squad of 28 – Gordon knew he would also have to do without his overseas contingent for the second game – Igesund has called up SuperSport United’s pair of former Swallows Bennett Chenene and David Mathebula as reinforcements following the Pirates announcement.

What’s refreshing about this situation is that there was no war of words as their might have been when club and country fall out in Europe. No Sir Alex Ferguson declaring Manchester United players with mysterious injuries, no aggrieved England coach crying foul.

That two men under such huge pressure can come to an amicable agreement is a real boost for South African football – especially when you consider Igesund MUST win his final World Cup qualifier against Botswana in Durban on September 7 to stand any chance of qualifying for Brazil 2014.

Igesund, who is relying on Ethiopia to drop points against the Central African Republic in Bangui, said: “Look Neal, I had to pick the best squad I could. That’s my job. I always knew I would lose nine players after the Nigeria game. Now I’m only losing three – with Chenene and Mathebula coming in.

“I did call  (goalkeeper) Darren Keet’s agent in Belgium and asked if he’d be available for the Mandela Sports day game on  the 17^th but it’s not a FIFA date and his club (KV Kortrijk) are in action that weekend. But to be honest, I was going to start with Itumeleng Khune for both games anyway.”

Speaking on my www.ballz.co.zashow BOLLOCKZ! (see video below), Roger said: “Gordon understood where I was coming from. We have a good working relationship. Common sense prevailed.”

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 10am-noon. You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za. A shorter version of THIS story will be published in The New Age on Tuesday.

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice!

UNFORGIVABLE: the Nelson Mandela tweet I should NEVER have sent

Fighting on: Nelson Mandela

THIS is a tough blog to write. I’ve blundered. Got it wrong. Disrespected a great statesman. Messed-up unforgivably. For the nearly 10,000 followers on twitter and 2,000 friends on Facebook, utter apologies. To everyone I offended, including the great man and his family, I have no words other than SORRY.

On Thursday at 1pm I tweeted: “Nelson Mandela’s passing will be announced at a press conference just after 7pm tonight. Good source. #madiba #rip.” IT WAS RUBBISH. UTTER BOLLOCKS.

Within minutes, over 50 retweets. Dozens of replies. Then the phone started ringing. Then President Jacob Zuma emerged from the hospital in Pretoria to tell us Madiba was “critical but stable” and was showing signs of improvement. And his family had a go at the foreign media. I started to fidget.

I tried to get in to my tweets on the blackberry. eNCAnews demanded I remove any mention of their station from my site. I did. Then they called to say I would never appear on their station again. I made a couple of calls. Panic. And as soon as I bloody well could, I deleted the offending tweet.

Unforgivable. I couldn’t go near my twitter account. I felt nauseous. Sickened by my own actions. I didn’t emerge from the pits all day on Friday. The madness circled in my head. No sleep, mental self-flagellation. I still haven’t read the avalanche of condemnation which, rightly, came down on my stupid head.

This morning, I will try to explain my actions, but this in no way explains THAT tweet. I don’t expect a tweet like that to be forgiven, or forgotten.

But for what it’s worth, here’s how it happened.

It was just after I went live with the second edition of my new show “BOLLOCKZ” on www.ballz.co.za, my phone had been ringing during the show. I was on a high. Good show. The phone rang again, about 1pm. It was a producer from a global 24-hour news station who had asked me to go on air on Saturday morning to talk my usual bollockz about sport.

He referred to the email below, which I quote, mistakes and all, word-for-word:

“I am a producer with Arise TV and is producing the show you have been invited to as a guest on Saturday.

“I need to get in contact with you to talk through some questions. At this point we believe that most of the discussion will be around Nelson Mandela and the impact he has had on the sporting scene in South Africa.

“There is a news conference later this evening and we are expecting that it will be an briefing on the passing away of Mr. Mandela. It that is the case, our Saturday interview will be a look back and a reflection and the sport interview will be very important.

“I tried calling earlier. If you get this message, please call back or answer in an e-mail and I will call you back.”

The producer almost glossed over the actual press conference. We talked through how to deal with the situation on the Saturday morning, how I would talk about Madiba’s extraordinary actions – portrayed in the Hollywood film “Invictus” – during the 1995 World Cup. We agreed I would take the story on, talk about Nelson Mandela’s belief in the unifying power of sport and how, perhaps, current president Zuma could use a bit of the same.

And as I came off the phone. Another email from… let’s just say a foreign journalist. Saying the same thing. Press conference 7pm. And another call soon after. “We’ve got all the programming ready, we’ll push the button as soon as the announcement is made.”

Of course, that morning, there was a sombre feel to the day. President Obama’s visit was called into question, rumours were flying. I sent the tweet. There was no way to check it's veracity. I don't blame the people mentioned above, they were just keeping me informed. I don't know how I could have gone public with it.

Within an hour, President Zuma was telling us Madiba was improving and the family were having a go at people JUST like me.

In a matter of seconds, I had turned in to a vulture. One of those unfortunate news reporters assigned to hospital watch. Only I went a step further. After largely staying away from the saga outside the hospital in Pretoria, I was knee deep. And I’d twisted a knife I really should have stayed well away from. I'm a sports journalist not a bloody newsman. Unforgivable.

As we all know, deleting tweets is no good when twitter.com offers a retweet button. There is no escape. I hold my hands up. Idiot. Unfollow by all means. Never read my stuff again. I understand. I know I would.

I am deeply, deeply sorry.