Kaizer Chiefs has learnt with great sadness of the passing of one of the Club’s stalwarts, Jerry Sadike.
On March 16, 1971, Sadike participated in and scored in Chiefs’ inaugural league game against African Wanderers, a 10-1 victory.
Sadike, a winger and highly skilled attacker who was a lethal finisher, made an enduring impression on South African football.
Sadike was born and raised in Orlando East, just as Kaizer Chiefs Chairman Kaizer Motaung.
In addition to playing for both Soweto giants and Pimville United Brothers (PUBS), Sadike also played for Swaraj in the Federation Professional League (FPL).
In addition, he made history as the first player of colour to play for Highlands Park in the National Professional Soccer League.
One of Sadike’s most significant performances for Chiefs occurred on November 16, 1974, at Orlando Stadium, when his brace and a goal from Patrick ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe gave Amakhosi a comfortable 3-0 Soweto Derby victory over Orlando Pirates in the season’s final game, clinching Chiefs’ first-ever National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) title.
Amakhosi finished nine points ahead of the league’s runner-up, Moroka Swallows, with an incredible 106 goals in 30 games during that league-record NPSL season.
In that campaign, Sadike scored 11 goals, four of them came in a 9-0 league victory over Real Katlehong City on November 10, 1974.
Sadike was one of many stars of that 1974 squad, including Patrick ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe, Herman ‘Pele’ Blashcke, Michael ‘Bizzah’ Dlamini, Abednigo ‘Shaka’ Ngcobo, Vusi ‘Computer’ Lamola, Kaizer ‘Chincha Guluva’ Motaung and Johannes ‘Big Boy’ Kholoane.
“That team could have been the national team, we were so good. We could score and score and score,” Sadike, a straight shooter on and off the pitch and a snappy dresser, had previously told kaizerchiefs.com.
The Kaizer Chiefs Chairman and the entire Amakhosi family extend their heartfelt sympathies on the death of one of the club’s most popular and charismatic players.