He came, saw and bossed local football pitches with thunderous, breathtaking goals.

The brother went by the Christian name of Siegfried Hage Geingob, commonly known as ‘Khulu’ or ‘Legs of Thunder’.

Your typical old-fashioned centre forward, the highly competitive, strongly built attacker made it his soul beat to mesmerise and terrorise robust defenders with sheer strength, speed and shooting from tight angles.

Proudly peddling on the clan name of his famous uncle, the late Namibian commander-in-chief Dr Godfried Hage Geingob, Khulu was a beast on the football field.

Tellingly, whereas Hage Sir was a fearless, hard-tackling fullback who stopped marauding strikers in their tracks during his time as a no-nonsense defender for Etosha Lions, Khulu dealt decisively with robust markers on the opposing end of the field.

A fantastic goal-scoring machine, the speedy forward will be best remembered for his thunderous long-range pile drivers that left many a goalkeeper with fractured fingertips.

A hot potato to handle, the razor-sharp net-rattler instilled fear in opposing defenders with his never-say-die attitude and knack for scoring unexpected goals out of nothing.

Admittedly, in almost all spheres of life, we often discover blokes blessed with incredible promise, but for some strange reason never live to fulfil their God-given talent, let alone reach the promised land of milk and honey.

An immensely gifted baller, despite flashes of greatness, Khulu never really reached the skies.

Nonetheless, the dominant view amongst those who had the rare privilege of watching him bewitch the spherical object is that had Khulu stayed in the game a bit longer, we could be talking about one of the most accomplished strikers in the business.

Truth be told, Namibia has unearthed phenomenal goal poachers in the following order: Times Mwetuyela, Pius Eigowab, Ziggy Anderson. Hurob Goreseb, Ben Gaseb, Orlando Damaseb, Ellen van Harte, Bandi Namaseb, Selle Auchumeb, Dawid Snewe, Phello Muatunga, Jackson Meroro, Habasen Gurirab, Dahle Stephanus, Gerros Uri-khob, to name but a few.

Khulu should be in that conversation, period!

Although the free-scoring, speedy striker played competitive football at school level as the designated captain of Oshikoto Secondary School, Khulu only rose to prominence after his move to Rundu in 1985, where he was studying towards a Diploma in Education at the famous Rundu Teachers Training College (RTTC).

The bulky net-buster joined local giants Cuca Tops. He forged a deadly partnership with the club’s blue-eyed boy, Pau Kandere, in a flawless attacking line. Khulu announced his arrival on the big stage with an avalanche of well-taken goals, much to the delight of the black-and-white-stripe outfit’s diehards.

In the meantime, Khulu also turned out for his boyhood team, Chief Santos, in his native town, Tsumeb, during the school holidays, paired alongside the equally deadly sharpshooter Gerros Uri-khob under the mentorship of shrewd handler Max Johnson.

He blossomed into one of the most lethal attackers in the country’s top-flight league, the newly formed breakaway Namibia Soccer Super League (NSSL).

However, in the great Kavango region, attired in the black-and-white stripes of Tops, the serial net-buster came out of his shell.

He announced himself as the club’s main striker, scoring goals as if the art of goal-scoring was going out of fashion.

The new kid on the block singlehandedly destroyed Chelsea, making his debut on home turf.

Khulu netted an astonishing tally of five goals in the high-scoring 7-4 demolition of the out of sorts visiting Omulunga outfit.

Regrettably, the bulky net-buster returned home after just one fruitful season with the Cuca Tops, much to the chagrin of the club’s followers.

He continued from where he left off, having single-handedly destroyed the visiting Hungry Lions at the Oscar Norich Stadium in an NSSL match in 1986.

The Brave Lions of Judah were fresh from a surprising, hard-fought 2-1 victory over Chelsea the previous day and were outright favourites to walk away with maximum points.

However, Khulu had other ideas.

The hot-shot striker brutalised the visitors’ defence with his cannon-like shots and strong runs, which saw him add his name to the scoreboard in the ill-tempered 3-1 triumph.

His impressive performance at club level did not go unnoticed.

Subsequently, the free-scoring forward was duly selected for the NSSL Invitational Eleven to face the visiting Soweto giants, Marroko Swallows.

He registered his name on the score sheet against the Dube Birds.

Khulu featured for the TCL Mine football team.

The serial goal machine toured Cape Town, South Africa, with Santos in 1986 for a series of exhibition games against strong local clubs from that neck of the woods.

Not the kind of bloke to mess around with, he always stood his ground against robust, bullying defenders, but the ‘Copper Bullet’ had great respect for Orlando Pirates’ bone-crunching centre-back, the late Salathiel Ndjao.

Life after football

An upright man of strong principles, unlike many of his peers in the football space, the calculated fellow conformed to the old adage ‘even the best dancer knows when to leave the stage’.

The calculated man wisely embarked on another step in his life journey.

Khulu turned his back on the game that has made him a household name in the community to pursue a different career path far from the limelight.

He tried his hand at the dog-eat-dog world of property development.

He could not heap enough praise on his mentor Adios Auchumeb, the man who discovered his footballing ability.

‘Adios took me under his wing as a raw young boy and taught me the basics of life, emphasising the importance of hard work, dedication and commitment’, revealed Khulu during an exclusive interview with New Era Sport in 2018.

The post Tales of the Legends – ‘Legs of Thunder’ muted … RIP – Siegfried Hage ‘Khulu’ Geingob appeared first on New Era.