After a long stop and go 2014/15 season, Makana Pillars are finally crowned as Makana LFA champions. Pillars took the crown this past weekend after their opponents, Pioneers, did not show up for their final league fixture thus giving the team three of the easiest points of the season.
After a long stop and go 2014/15 season, Makana Pillars are finally crowned as Makana LFA champions. Pillars took the crown this past weekend after their opponents, Pioneers, did not show up for their final league fixture thus giving the team three of the easiest points of the season.
It means that Pillars finish the league with 78 points, five ahead their nearest rivals, Santos.
It took the club five long years finally to claim league top honours, having been runners up in four straight seasons before this campaign.
Club captain, Bulelani Papu, says it’s been a long and painful journey for the club – especially having come very close in so many occasions.
He says this season there was only one thing on their mind – to remove their second best tag and give their all to claim the number one position.
“Me and the guys are very happy, we have been trying for a very long time. “This season we just told ourselves that we wanted nothing short of a win every time we went out there to play,” said Papu.
Papu adds that team work is the key to their success and that everyone in the team believed that “we can go all the way”. However, he admits that it was not all smooth sailing, as poor match officiating nearly cost them the title.
“Refereeing was very bad this season, that is one thing I thing that nearly destroyed our game,” he said.
For the majority of the season, Pillars sat at the top of the league table, while the chasing pack made sure that battle for the title went right down to the final day of the season.
It took Pillars longer than anticipated, though, as Makana LFA saw a number of matches either postponed or where teams did not pitch for their fixtures.
LFA president, Andile Kota, confirmed that Makana Pillars have been crowned as champions of Makana.
This after the LFA held numerous meetings involving cases of clubs complaining about suspended and cancelled matches.
This meant some teams finish the season with fewer matches than the others.
Though they have the crown, the journey is far from over for Pillars as the real work begins in the next couple of weeks.
As Makana champions they will now attempt to make it to the SAB regional league – South Africa’s third division.
Popu says they are working hard to realise that dream and believes nothing will stand in their way.
He adds that the only thing they need more of is home support.
The players will do the rest “We believe we can do it, everyone in the club is up for the challenge.”
Should Pillars manage to get through the daunting task of the playoffs, they would be Grahamstown’s fourth club in the SAB regional league after MARU, City Pirates and Eleven Attackers.
