By Chris Totobela
A handful of football supporters made their way to the Rhodes prospect fields on 13 and 14 May. On show was the Sarah Baartman district SAB regional league play-offs where the leaders of all four different streams battled out for the top spot. On 13 May in the first game, Alicedale-based Friendly City squandered a two-goal cushion and allowed Camdeboo Academy back into the game. City took the lead once more but poor communication at the back allowed Camdeboo back in the game again and they played out to a three-all draw.
In the second game, Paterson-based Really Chiefs thrashed Wits by four goals to one. Wits dominated the game but failed to convert the chances they created while Chiefs absorbed pressure and hit them when and where it mattered most. On 14 May, Really Chiefs cemented their top spot by defeating Camdeboo Academy by two goals to one in their thrill-a-minute encounter. In another game, Wits bounced back and redeemed themselves when they beat Friendly City by four unanswered goals.
In the last games of the day, Camdeboo came back from their early morning defeat to narrowly beat Wits by two goals to one while in the other match, Really Chiefs were crowned champions after beating their neighbours, Friendly City by two goals to nil. Chiefs seemed like the only team who came to these games prepared – they knew what to do and when to do it, while others exhausted their energy on fighting with match officials.
The standard of refereeing was not as good as it was supposed to be as there were a couple of game-changing moments that the match officials missed. There was a lot at stake and that put officials under a lot of pressure.They took a lot of verbal abuse from the travelling fans who lacked discipline and were very unruly at times. Really Chiefs will now – as part of their winning accolade – represent Sarah Baartman District in the provincial play-offs that will be held in Bizana in the Alfred Nzo district from 16-18 June.
