VIDEO: 'Pity the fool'

BOOK REVIEW: To appropriate the BA Baracus catchphrase: ‘I pity the fool’.

BA, the actor Mr T from the 1980s television show The A-Team, was a terrifying sight for any would-be villain.

Now, imagine, being a young man knocking on the front door of a young girl he wishes to date and the man opening, her father, is Eben Etzebeth.

“It is not going to be a nice sight,” Etzebeth quipped, one of several anecdotes he delivered at the official launch of his book, Unlocked, in Goodwood this week.

And there will be additional ‘Etzebeth muscle’ waiting for the would-be suitor.

“I will make sure my brother and cousin are also at the door,” Etzebeth said to the roar of the huge crowd, hoping to obtain a signed copy of the biography of the most capped player in the game in South Africa.

“I probably won’t make it easy for him.

“We joke about it a lot in the team.

“We’ll have to wait and see, but I am not excited about that day,” he added.

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The book, Unlocked, a paperback by Jonathan Ball Publishers, is a frank and disarming account of the double World Cup winner’s life and sporting career.

However, by his own account, there are a few more chapters to be added.

From his humble beginnings in the Cape Town suburb of Goodwood, the reason for the venue of the book launch, it is truly a feel-good account of the legend.

Asked how he would like to be remembered, he said as someone who always gave his all on the field.

“I would also like to be remembered as a great family man,” he added.

* It is available online and in most major outlets!