At first glance, Aaron Mokoena appears as tough as his reputation. A heavily scarred right cheek, a gold tooth with his initial engraved on it, a childhood in Boipatong where he lived through the 1992 massacre and, of course, the nickname: M’bazo — ”the Axe”.
But when the South African captain turns out for Blackburn Rovers, he’s generally thinking of one person: his mum.
Even tough guys love their mums. Mokoena says: ”My dad died when I was young. I had four brothers and two sisters and it was during apartheid. But my mum is a tough woman, that’s probably where I get it from. She nannied for a family in Vanderbijlpark, near our home in Boipatong.
”She was always trying, trying, trying — she did all she could for us. She always worked so hard. So when I joined Ajax, I bought a house for her and she cried. It’s in a safe [what would once have been called white] area near where she works. I told her to stop working but she wants to be busy, she doesn’t like to relax. She still works for the same family after all these years. They treat her as a friend.”
So the childhood was tough — no bullet wounds like Lucas Radebe picked up in Soweto, but that scar? ”Oh, I ran into a fence when I was 12. It was dark and I didn’t see it — we were just playing around.”
The massacre in 1992, when 42 people died in an anti-African National Congress raid launched by police and Inkatha members, leaves more vivid though less visible scars. He told the Daily Mail: ”It was terrible. There were pregnant woman and small children killed.”
Luckily, Mokoena’s feet provided a way out of Boipatong for ”the Axe” and his family. He tackled his way into the Jomo Cosmos first team and found himself wanted by both Ajax Amsterdam, the Dutch academy famous for finding young African stars, and German giants Bayer Leverkusen, who were offering more money.
Mokoena managed to sign for both teams and he spent six months unable to play while world governing body Fifa investigated. ”It was a disaster. I was only allowed to train, not play. It was terrible. I wanted to go home and do something else, not football. I was 17 and my heart wasn’t at Leverkusen. I just wanted to play for Ajax.”
He did, but not for long. Germinal Beerschot, from just over the border in Belgium, grabbed him on loan, then rivals Genk stepped in and, though he picked up a fractured shin, he did enough to persuade no-nonsense Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes to pay £300 000 for the tough-tackling defender.
Though Mokoena made it clear he had always dreamed of playing in the English premiership — ”I watched it all the time on television as a youngster, listening to Gary Bailey and Terry Paine” — he soon found himself the subject of unwanted attention.
When table-topping Chelsea went to Ewood Park, Blackburn did their damndest to stop the rising blue tide — and one slightly late Mokoena tackle broke two bones in the foot of Chelsea’s Dutch ace, Arjen Robben.
Up to that point, Robben had been the sensation among the Chelsea millionaires, and was on course for Footballer of the Year. His injury has been the subject of all sorts of debate and has led to the departure of Chelsea’s team doctor as boss Jose Mourinho desperately tries to get his man back in action before the team loses too much momentum.
And, of course, Mokoena has taken some flak. He says of the tackle: ”We went out to play to win the ball and give our best. But not to end anybody’s career. I would never deliberately go out and injure a player.
”Robben is a fantastic player. He is so quick and I was committed to the tackle — I couldn’t pull out. I apologised to him straight away. It might have been a yellow card, but it wasn’t.
”When I heard about the broken bones I felt really sad. I wouldn’t feel great if somebody had done that to me but bruises are a part of the game; I expect everyone to compete. I think I got the ball and we all shook hands after the game — there was no problem.”
Not until Mourinho started spouting off about Blackburn’s tactics afterwards. But Mokoena is unfazed, ready to resume battle.
And here’s the quote that sums up the man: ”None of the Chelsea players have said anything to me about the tackle. Maybe they could see that if I was really there to injure Chelsea players, why would I stop at just one?”
With that in mind, future opponents had best hope Hughes does not ask him to do his worst.