Big interview: Former Hibs keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay on experiencing a dressing-room shooting, racial profiling and abuse, and 'stalking' his former club

The former Hibs goalkeeper looks back on his time in the Capital and his career in football since leaving Easter Road ten years ago
Yves Ma-Kalambay during his time at Wycombe Wanderers with his team-mate and friend Adebayo Akinfenwa. Picture: GettyYves Ma-Kalambay during his time at Wycombe Wanderers with his team-mate and friend Adebayo Akinfenwa. Picture: Getty
Yves Ma-Kalambay during his time at Wycombe Wanderers with his team-mate and friend Adebayo Akinfenwa. Picture: Getty

Smashing the ball off a striker's head from close range and watching helplessly as it loops in the air and drops into the back of the net behind you isn't an entirely pleasant experience for a goalkeeper. But when compared with the horror of real-life trauma, being the butt of jokes over a hilarious football gaffe can hardly compare.

Former Hibs keeper Yves Makabu-Ma-Kalambay thought he'd struck gold when he was offered a lucrative deal to start his career over again in Romania with Oțelul Galați in 2015. Going to a club who just four years earlier had played Manchester United in the Champions League represented an exciting new chapter for a footballer who always welcomed the challenge of moving to a different country with an unfamiliar culture. Instead, it would become a living nightmare.

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Ma-Kalambay told all about the horrendous experience he faced in a short 2019 documentary filmed during his final season with Wycombe Wanderers, a club he joined after taking 18 months out of the game, such had the distress sapped his enthusiasm for football.

The video is still available on YouTube. In the 16-minute film, Ma-Kalambay tells of having his passport confiscated by the club, ultras threatening him if he didn't agree to throw a game by conceding three times in the first half (he refused and was threatened again) and, most horrifically of all, seeing a team-mate shot in the leg for failing to meet the demands of these criminals; an act of violence he says was covered up by the club.

Opening up about his experience allowed Ma-Kalambay to exorcise the demons, but it was a rough year and a half while it continuously played on his mind.

"It was a chapter in my life that really branded me," he admitted in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with the Evening News. "After that experience I didn't want to play football if it was going to go that badly and jeopardize my life, so I retired and took myself out of the football circus.

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"It impacted me massively. It's not the kind of thing you think about when you're a young kid trying to play football. It was in my head for those 18 months, but once I was back in the UK, I knew I was safe and I started getting into a rhythm again. As I started to get back more of my personality the hunger for football started again and thankfully I was able to bounce back and have great years after all that trauma."

Ma-Kalambay was brought to Hibs in the summer of 2007 by John Collins. Picture: SNSMa-Kalambay was brought to Hibs in the summer of 2007 by John Collins. Picture: SNS
Ma-Kalambay was brought to Hibs in the summer of 2007 by John Collins. Picture: SNS

Profiling of black players

For much of 2020, something else has been playing on his mind. The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has firmly shone a spotlight on racial injustices across the world following the murder by George Floyd. As a former black footballer, who coaches young aspiring black footballers as an under-13s to under-15s goalkeeping coach at Chelsea, it's a subject that's obviously close to his heart.

During his time at Easter Road, Ma-Kalambay was known as being a bit eccentric, a term often used to describe black goalkeepers. He would come for every cross going, regardless of how little chance he had of making it, while he would often hold the ball, palm down, with one hand.

Racial profiling extends beyond stop-and-search police procedures. It extends to every part of life, including football. Black players are stereotyped as powerful, fast attackers. In defence they're not viewed to be as trustworthy. Ma-Kalambay concedes that he did come for far too many crosses than he should have, and holding the ball in such an unusual manner was an act of showboating, but insists he was programmed to behave like this from an early age.

Ma-Kalambay himself admits he came for too many crosses during his first year at Easter Road. Picture: SNSMa-Kalambay himself admits he came for too many crosses during his first year at Easter Road. Picture: SNS
Ma-Kalambay himself admits he came for too many crosses during his first year at Easter Road. Picture: SNS
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"This has been the story of my career," he admits. "Being black and tall, I was expected to be a powerhouse. I was expected to go for every type of cross, even crosses that shouldn't be taken. At Hibs, before I matured and realised I shouldn't let the stereotype define me, I used to go up for a stupid number of crosses. Because I was tall and black and physical, and the way that I looked, I felt people expected me to go for it. This happened every single training session and every single match. And even the defenders in front of me would hold a very high line because they expected me to do that.

"If you see a line-up and you see a black striker. Even before he takes one step you think, 'wow, that guy must be fast, powerful and jump super high'. It's so prevalent that this kind of stereotype becomes normal. And it's the same with young kids. Unfortunately I don't see that changing. It's something that's imprinted in the minds of fans and players. It weighs very heavily on black players because it's an expectation that, if they don't live up to, they can be treated unfairly."

Edinburgh abuse

Unfortunately, regrettably, disgracefully, it wasn't just subconscious racism that the Belgian experienced during his time in Edinburgh.

Ma-Kalambay made his debut for Hibs in a 1-0 victory at Tynecastle. It was his first competitive first-team match in football. Picture: SNSMa-Kalambay made his debut for Hibs in a 1-0 victory at Tynecastle. It was his first competitive first-team match in football. Picture: SNS
Ma-Kalambay made his debut for Hibs in a 1-0 victory at Tynecastle. It was his first competitive first-team match in football. Picture: SNS

"I don't want to talk badly about the Hearts fans," he says with a sigh, "but the worst abuse I got through my time at Hibs was my first game at Tynecastle. Looking back, they were probably just trying to put me off my game. As soon as I got off the bus going to the changing room it was, 'go back to your own country'. John Collins took me to a corner and told me to try and not listen to the crowd.

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"I was very young. I was only 21. And because the Tynecastle game was the first game of the season, it was all I heard about or was talked about after I signed at Hibs. So when I finally get to Tynecastle and the first thing I get is face to face racial abuse. It took me aback. I managed to switch it off during the game, but in the walk off at half-time it's impossible not to hear the crowd, and I heard a lot of racial abuse. It was painful.

"Looking back, I don't think they were actual racists, or I hope they weren't, I think they just wanted me to continue to make a mistake in the 'Hibs graveyard'.

"I really hope we see change, especially now that I'm coaching and see young black kids and their love for the game. I want them to enjoy all of the happiness that can come with realising your dream of becoming a professional footballer without having to suffer any type of racial abuse.

He adds: "Something I saw recently really struck with me. I was doing a PT session with one of my clients. We were in her garden and her kid, just nine years old, was playing football. He heard a siren of a police car going past and he stood still out of fear. He was scared they were coming for him. He relates the police with fear, not safety. As a nine-year-old he should feel secure when he sees a police car. That really hit me deep."

Fond memories

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Despite the racial abuse and a career in Edinburgh which didn't reach initial expectations, ending ignominiously with Ma-Kalamby making just five appearances in his final year, a time where the keeper admits he didn't fully have his mind on the game after the death of his father back in Belgium, he still views his time at Hibs as a happy experience.

Even to this day he raves about the coaching methods of the manager who brought him north from Chelsea and believes if Collins hadn't left abruptly in December 2007 then his time in the Capital, and his subsequent career, would have gone very differently.

"I really liked his philosophy," he said of the former Scotland international. "He's a very well spoken man who knew how to stimulate us on the pitch. He really had a good way of getting through to players. Also, because he was a very fit man off the pitch, he was someone we could relate to. Because he was so enthusiastic and into the training himself, it made it really easy for the group to bond. It was a massive rupture, not just for me but for the rest of the squad, when he left. As a group we felt a massive detachment."

He had respect, also, for Collins' successor Mixu Paatelainen, but didn't think he suited the Finn's style of play as much and knew his new manager was searching for another goalkeeper. As for the next boss, John Hughes: "We had a few confrontations because I didn't agree with the way he handled me. I felt unfairly treated and I voiced it. He knew I was a big character inside the training ground and he believed I was causing friction and questioning his method of coaching. So he used to keep me to the side. We couldn't really see eye to eye on anything."

Time For Heroes

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Today, the 34-year-old is a self-confessed "stalker" of his old club. He follows them on Instagram and has it set up so he gets notifications from every post, so he's fully aware of the current squad and their fortunes on the park, even if he doesn't get the time to watch as many live games as he'd like thanks to his commitments at Chelsea and as a personal trainer - a hectic schedule that's still an improvement on the days when he balanced both roles while playing for Wycombe, meaning he'd get up at 5.30am and not sleep until midnight most of the week. And though he wasn't able to see the 2016 Scottish Cup final and David Gray scoring that famous header as it happened, he proudly owns a Time For Heroes DVD, which he bought because he wanted to immerse himself in the whole experience, from the pre-match build-up to the trophy parade. After being reminded of that day, he insists he'll take the time to watch it again this weekend.

He sees the funny side in the aforementioned incident at Aberdeen, where he concedes “I lost my cool” after Lee Miller had been winding him up all game so pelted the ball right at him. He also marvels at both Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon for remaining at the club all this time. "I'll need to give them a call soon and pick their brains, find out how they did it," he laughs.

By contrast, Ma-Kalambay's football experience has been rather nomadic. It's a shame that Hibs represented his peak from a playing perspective as he didn't really get many other opportunities elsewhere, often featuring as a back-up or third-choice goalkeeper at each of the five clubs he represented following his 2010 exit.

"As a player you just want to play, but as I tell the young kids, every club needs a No.2 and a No.3. Ideally, you'll make a career as a No.1, but it won't always work that way," he concludes. "You'll still be fortunate enough to make a living and look after your loved ones. I always wanted to be a No.1 but it didn't work out for me. It's a regret but I've had a full career in terms of experiences. I've been on teams who've won trophies, I've represented Belgium, I've represented Congo, I've been in all four English leagues, I've played in the Scottish league. The path that I had was the path that was drawn for me and now I'm in a position where I can give back the knowledge, the hurt, the good, and do it at one of the best clubs in the world."

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