Did you know that the king of the rugby jungle is a Brakpan resident?
The Herald recently entered the Rand Colleries den of the Lions Rugby Union’s mascot, Mufasa, to speak to and find out more about the man in the suit, Lukas Fouche.
The Lions Rugby Union was the first to have a mascot, back in 1996.
“A mate of mine was playing the mascot role at the time and asked me to help him out as he had a function to attend on the Saturday, when the then Transvaal team was playing the Bulls at Ellis Park,” he said.
“I was initially unaware that he was the mascot and when he told me that it was him I just laughed, because at that stage the mascot looked virtually the same as the lion on the Simba chips packets.
“Eventually I said that I would do it [wear the suit] and after a good few beers I got onto the Ellis Park field and entertained the crowd with a couple of one-arm push ups and flick flacks that made them go crazy.
“On the Monday after the game I went with my mate to meet Louis Luyt Junior, who was in charge of the mascot at the time.
“He thanked me for a job well done and asked me if I wanted the job and informed my friend that his duties were no longer required and offered me the position.”
Since then Fouche has been the man in the lion suit and, as expected, he has some incredibly interesting tales to tell.
The stand-out game for him was in 2011, when the Lions won the Currie Cup against the Sharks, at Ellis Park.
“To see 62 000 people wearing red on that day was unbelievable,”Fouche said.
“To me, it was even better than the 1995 World Cup final, because the Lions team were coming out of a really bad patch.”
He has been to every major rugby stadium in the country in his Lions outfit, apart from Newlands, in Cape Town, where they have a no mascot policy.
A funny inciden that happened to Fouche was at Loftus, where they had a Jacuzzi next to the field, with some good looking fans inside watching the game.
“Every time I walked past they would call me to jump in, so I did, Lion suit and all,” Fouche said.
He told the Herald that it does get extremely hot inside the suit and that he easily loses two to three kilograms every game.
“If it wasn’t for the suit I think I would be very overweight,” he joked.
On the recent 19-16 loss to Western Province, at Newlands, in the Currie Cup final, the mascot commented: “We lost at a stadium that is difficult to kick at.
“We cannot blame Marnitz Boshoff [Lions fly-half] for the defeat.
“Perhaps the kickers should have gone down to Cape Town earlier in the week to practise kicking in that swirling wind.”
When asked why he continues to don the Lions mascot outfit, Fouche replied: “I do it for the children and the enjoyment that they get out of Mufasa.
“During the tough period when the Lions were not winning a lot of games, many people told me that they only go to Ellis Park to watch Mufasa and that’s what has kept me going.”
n With Brakpan’s children in mind, Mufasa has offered to spend a few hours in late November/early December (a date still to be decided) handing out toys and sweets to the children of the town.
This offer follows the recent passing of Brakpan’s Father Christmas, Thys van Vuuren, who handed out sweets, food parcels and gifts to the town’s children for the last 21 years.
The Lions mascot would like to do something similar in Brakpan,o help fill the void left by van Vuuren’s death.
If you can urgently assist with donations of sweets and toys to help him with this endeavour contact Werner and Lilene Grobelaar on 082 821 7874.
