Is high school soccer dying a slow death in Grahamstown? No, says Mandla Gagayi, founder and coordinator of the Grahamstown High Schools Football League, the senior sports administrator at Rhodes University and a referee for the league.
Is high school soccer dying a slow death in Grahamstown? No, says Mandla Gagayi, founder and coordinator of the Grahamstown High Schools Football League, the senior sports administrator at Rhodes University and a referee for the league.
The second round of the football league has seen most games either postponed at the last minute with only one team present and claiming not to know about the postponement, or with both teams not showing up at all.
Out of a possible eight games only about three have been played so far, all involving Ntsika High School, who played three games and are in the lead by 7 points.
According to Gagayi the only punishment for the teams that have not honoured their league games is to have their points docked as they cannot be expected to pay a fine.
"As a league we are aware of the fact that some schools are not honouring their league games, and of course we are disappointed about such things," he said.
Referee Thembani Adams said: "It’s frustrating to officiate in this league because as an official it’s almost obvious even when I leave home that a game won’t take place."
Adams was talking from the JD Dlepu stadium where he was supposed to have officiated a match between Kutliso Secondary School and TEM Mrwetyana, again a match that didn’t take place.
On Friday Ntsika High beat TEM Mrwetyana 1-0. The next game is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) when Nombulelo play Kutliso at 3pm at JD Dlepu Stadium. If things stay the way they are it seems Ntsika will win the league without really having played much, and according to Gagayi thi sis right as the best team would have won fairly.
