A Tribute to Moesang Jan Sillo August 20, 2009 We have heard how the condolences have rolled in, all expressing the love, goodwill, free spiritedness and friendliness that Jan 'Lombo' Sillo shared with those he shared his life with. The people of his hometown Botshabelo do not mourn alone as the fall of this warrior will not go unrecorded in the memories of this great club that is AmaZulu FC. * Please note funeral details at the bottom of this article

Members of the 'Usuthu' family have equally expressed their fond memories of their teammate as the squad readies itself for the crunch MTN 8 semi-final encounter against Golden Arrows on Sunday.

Technical Head Clive Barker, who mentored Sillo at his time as Head Coach when he first arrived as an inexperienced right-back from Bloemfontein Young Tigers, said:

"Jan was a player who ran like a 'nyamazane'. I thought he was the kind of player that was destined for Bafana Bafana", said Barker.

His teammates and some of the staff of Usuthu join hands in thanking Jan for his contribution to shaping the dream of making the club the name it has come to be today.

Team Manager James Dlamini remembers Sillo's particular love for food.

"Every time he would say ke batla dijo ('I want food') before he would want to do anything. Then this other player, Sechaba Mogaledi would translate and tell me that Sillo wanted food. A lot of the time he would say this just to wind me up.

"That was the kind of man Sillo was, an easy going and funny guy."

His teammates remain with lots of fond memories of him.

They recall how he used to sing in his native Sesotho at training camps.

Another close friend, Bafo 'King' Biyela, said: "Lombo will be sorely missed. He is the type of guy who loved his family but it was unfortunate he never got to visit them regularly enough as he was playing his football away from them.

He was a good friend to everyone in the team. His speaking of Sesotho when I first met him was a bit of a funny situation. He used to get along with everyone even Benni (Siyabonga Mkwanazi), when we were still together.

"I would tease them about it because Benni's Zulu was a problem at first for Sillo. Sillo would call me 'Zulu boy' all the time," said Biyela.

"We will go into Sunday's match to play for him"

+ Selected photos courtesy of Steve/ Bacpage Sport