Former Orlando Pirates winger Patrick Maswanganyi has revealed that the widespread “don’t compare an ant with elephant” comments from Jomo Sono did not affect him, but his family were hurt by backlash on social media.
Maswanganyi, 28, left the Buccaneers in the beginning of the season, revealing that he left the country because of social media criticism from fans directed at him which had affected his family.
When asked whether comments like the infamous “ant vs elephant” comparison from Pirates legend Sono also affected him, Maswanganyi stated that he personally wasn’t influenced by his critics.
However, he reiterated his family were really hurt by some backlash from social media and even wanted him to quit football.
“I would say no,” Tito stated when asked by iDiski Times whether he was affected by Sono’s comments.
“I think I’ve gotten bad comments a lot from the start of my debut for Orlando Pirates, but those comments were never things that affected me.
“I would say when my family got involved, it was something whereby I couldn’t feel ok also. But if it was only about me, I was still at Pirates – even today, playing and working.
“But my family was very hurt about the comments, they didn’t even want me to go to training sometimes or go back to Orlando Pirates. They’ve always felt, even if you don’t play and you quit it would be better because no one would say anything about you.
“But I’ve always tried to explain to them ‘in football these things can happen, these people don’t mean harm, they just want me to be better’. But with them, it didn’t sit well with them, because it kept on happening and happening.
“Even yourself, if you have kids you wouldn’t want them to be in a situation that I was at Orlando Pirates.”