Kaizer Chiefs have paid tribute to South African football great Chris ‘Rollaway’ Ndlovu, who passed away over the weekend.

Ndlovu was born in Pimville, Soweto and started his career playing for Pimville United Brothers (PUBS), where the defender made a name for himself.

Due to PUBS’ financial problems back in 1974 most of the players opted to part ways with the club to join Orlando Pirates. However, Ndlovu did the opposite and joined Amakhosi in 1975, where he donned the black and gold for four seasons.

The Glamour Boys have released the following tribute:

‘Our manager Ewert Nene convinced him to join Chiefs.

‘We actually thought that Chris would join Pirates, like the others. But Ewert was amazing, he got things done and convinced Chris to join Chiefs instead.’

Meanwhile, Jerry Sadike and Johannes Kholoane also paid their respects to former teammate Ndlovu.

‘Chris was incredibly fast,’ confirmed Sadike. ‘He wasn’t the most skillful, like some other Chiefs players, like Ace Ntsoelengoe or Kaizer Motaung. But he was like a machine, he could run the whole day.’

Kholoane added: ‘Chris was as strong as an ox. He played to the whistle … he would outrun opponents, be found joining the attack and, accordingly, being back in defence when needed. He only stopped running when the referee blew the whistle at the end of 90 minutes.’