The cold weather on Friday night did not stop players and supporters from turning up with both sanitary pads and spirit for the #FillUpTheField football event at King Field.
The cold weather on Friday night did not stop players and supporters from turning up with both sanitary pads and spirit for the #FillUpTheField football event at King Field.
The event was hosted by Hilltop FC in collaboration with sponsors Lesotho Society, Malawi Society, East Africa Society, The President’s Award Society, Rhodes Football, Saints Bistro, and Campus Vibes.
Those in attendance donated a total of 400 sanitary towels and pads in aid of the #PledgeAPad initiative. Both matches at the event were preceded by moments of silence for the late Sam Sidloyi, who played for KDFC in the Rhodes Internal League.
On the football field, African Connection started the night by drubbing fellow Grahamstown side Rhodes women 3-0.
The first goal, scored by Zimkita Donyeli, came amid controversial circumstances. Linesman Robert Jordan flagged for offside, but was overruled by the referee, event organiser and Hilltop FC player Koaile Monaheng.
African Connection soon added another goal through Sindiswa Skade, and went into half-time with a comfortable two-goal cushion.
Their lead never looked under threat in the second half, and with full-time approaching, Anam Nqweniso added a third and final goal on the break.
Rhodes captain Happiness Mtolo was left disappointed by her side’s display which she said was a slip in standards from their performance at Intervarsity.
However, Chris Totobela, who coaches both Rhodes and African Connection, insisted that the two teams were more evenly-matched this time around than in their previous encounter last month, which ended 5-0 to African Connection.
He said: “Rhodes is making huge progress. They are coming on much better. Even at Intervarsity, they played well. You can see they are slowly improving, so with time, they will be better.
Next up came a testimonial match in honour of departing Hilltop FC captain Lizo Msululu, which saw his hand-picked Hilltop side edge Monaheng’s Internal League All Stars on penalties after a fiercely fought 1-1 draw.
Both sides featured players from various Internal League sides, with Msululu picking several players for his side who would usually be rivals to Hilltop.
Msululu scored the only goal of the first half, and until deep into the second, it appeared he had netted the winner on his big day. However, Philasande Joyi equalised with a penalty to send the game to a shootout.
The first nine penalties went in and sudden death appeared imminent. However, Internal League All Stars’ Tatenda Ndoma skied his spot-kick, gifting victory to Hilltop.
After the match, Msululu paid tribute to his side. He said: “Hilltop FC means a lot to me. Ever since I came to Rhodes, me and my friends started this team, and I feel like it’s my family at Rhodes.”
Msululu, who is in his final year of a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Environmental Science, admitted that he particularly enjoyed getting a win over Monaheng – his friend, team-mate, and fellow Arsenal fan.
However, Monaheng insisted his disappointment at the result was overweighed by joy at how the event had panned out.
“I wasn’t disappointed at all to lose on penalties. It was never about the result. We made a cause. We ticked our objectives,” he said.
“Lizo got his farewell, so that was something very nice for us that we wanted to achieve and we got that done, so I’m actually happy that we got so many guys at Rhodes to play in this game.
More than that, as a club, we are tackling boundaries. We are tackling women in sport. We are tackling things that people don’t realise.”
However, Monaheng pulled no punches when asked if Msululu would cut him some slack for what happened on the pitch.
“Lizo is going to kick my a*s. It’s fines now, so we’ll see what happens, but Lizo is definitely going to be on my case.”
