Although Pretoria Callies, a club conceived in the early 1930s, is now defunct, they played a major role in breaking the chains of Apartheid thanks to their 'colour blind' manager Trevor McMillan, who made history during the weekend of 19-20th November 1977 - when he signed five white players.
This was significantly, the first time that a black-owned South African club had ventured into the white market and Callies' acting chairman, Mr. Louis Charles Tshauke, was all smiles when Dave Evans, Derick Klugkist,
Harold Teague, Kim Sinovich and Rory Jones made front page headlines in the conservative city of Pretoria.
"Although every placard in central Pretoria made mention of the fact that I had signed the five men, I didn't initially realise the magnitude of what I had done," Englishman McMillan explains.
"It was just football. I had the game on my mind, nothing else. It had nothing to do with people's colour, it took time for the whole thing to sink in, and it was only later that it dawned on me that Callies had made history.
"In fact, when Pik Botha, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, phoned me to ask if I knew what I had done, I then saw the magnitude of my actions." Callies, also known as 'The Romans', warmed up for the new multi-racial 1978 season with a convincing 4-1 victory over Kaizer Chiefs in a friendly match.
And with the bit between their teeth, the Atteridgeville-based team got off to a flying start in the league, remaining unbeaten for a long stretch and eventually finishing in seventh spot.
They were unquestionably the most mixed team in the league - with McMillan managing 'to blend white discipline with black ball artistry' as he called it.
"Blending a truly skilful team together based on merit and a total disregard of colour was the highlight. When my black players were winning they were not difficult to discipline but as soon as results were not going their way I did have some problems with them," he adds. Other team members around the time included Don Mboweni, Nicky Howe, Patrick Dibetla, Don Lucas, Ace Nkomo, Dave Bukowski, Gerald Julius, Lucas 'Masterpieces' Moripe, Pro Ramohan, Maurice Nkwi, Abel Sono and Louis Kewiet.
However, sadly there was a faction of Callies' supporters who didn't want white players and in 1980 one was threatened by a knife-wielding man while showering in the change rooms.
The club was relegated from the top flight that year and although they returned in 1985, again fell from grace and eventually went out of business.
But before they died a natural death, there were more controversial incidents involving Romans' so-called fanatical fans with the late Roy Bailey and his son Gary, who were once joint owners together with a consortium - also experiencing problems. "After my dad was threatened, we decided to get out and sold the club to Ricky and Derek Flynn," recalls the former Manchester United and
Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper.
"In the process, we warned them of the dangers but shortly afterwards Ricky was badly stabbed."
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