By Chris Totobela
Football lovers in Makhanda had a great Easter weekend for the first time in many years, thanks to the Superbowl Easter soccer tournament.
This event kicked off with a draw at the JD Dlepu stadium, where only the local teams were present. It emerged from the draw that XI Attackers would open the tournament against United Eleven from Bathurst, who later confirmed that they knew nothing about the fixture and were on their way to take part in a different elsewhere.
Attackers were awarded a walkover and marched on to the quarter-finals. On Good Friday Sophia Stars were supposed to play Soul Buddies, who did not pitch up, but Joza Callies stepped in for them and beat Sophia Stars to progress to the next round of the competition. Sophia Stars’s director of sport, Thulani Msipha, shared his dissatisfaction with Grocott’s Mail: “I was not happy at all with how the tournament was run; we were knocked out by Joza Callies, which was never part of this tournament in the first place.”
“When I approached the organiser to ask about this, he responded to me as if he was talking to a young boy and told us that he is in charge and we will play the game. We thought of withdrawing from the tournament, but after consulting with our players, we decided to play. I honestly think that this tournament was poorly organised, and I was surprised to see it played to finish.”
Abantwana FC coach Bongani Lombo echoed the same sentiments: “I think there were a lot of things that were not done right in this tournament. During the draw, the organiser said a lot of things that never really happened. He promised to have a meeting with the last eight teams and the last 4 teams, but that never happened. He chopped and changed fixtures as he pleased without consulting us as coaches and team managers. I think the tournament was not run properly, and everyone saw how he did things on his own.”
After an embarrassment of no show from the outside teams, except for Real Madrid from Fort Beaufort, who started the game with only 9 players, the tournament pulled through to the last day. Another noticeable absentee from the tournament was the local football governing body Makana LFA, and the chairman explained to GM why they did not take part in this event: “My decision was informed by the LFA executive committee that we will just go and watch football just for the love of it nothing else. We have also resolved that we will not discuss critical issues of importance via WhatsApp or telephonically as there is no register on such engagements.”
He further told GM that there were meetings scheduled to take place in order to iron out these burning issues with the organisers, but those meetings never took place. Teams knocked each other out until there were only two teams left to contest the cup final of the inaugural Superbowl Easter soccer tournament. Maru FC took on the in-form XI Attackers side in a pulsating encounter.
After absorbing pressure for the most part of the first half, Maru came back stronger in the second half and took the lead after a spot kick that was slotted home by Vuyani Skeyi, with Saxola Mdambatya doubling the lead a while later with a thunderous shot. Attackers reduced the deficit with a deflected shot to make the final score 2-1.
Maru were crowned Superbowl easter soccer tournament champions and took home R50 000, with runners-up XI Attackers taking home R15 000. Maru coach Siya Dumiso was pleased with his boys’ performance.
“Both teams played very well, and it showed the great talent that we have here in Makhanda and if we can work together, we can go very far instead of pulling in different directions.”
Attackers’ coach congratulated Maru. “I think my boys played well, and it is just that it was not our day but well done to our opponents.”
New Year’s Cup CEO and Superbowl organiser Luyanda Papu was pleased with the tournament: “This tournament was a success, and we saw the dominance of local teams. This is a springboard for local players to be seen by international scouts who were here for the entire duration of the tournament.”
He also responded to the issue of outside teams who did not arrive: “We had to call the outside teams not to come as we experienced problems with accommodation as there were a few challenges at the Army base where the teams were going to be accommodated.”
Bronze medalists Makana Tigers coach and MCF PR councillor Thandisizwe Matebese was pleased with his charges achievement: “I’m happy with the third place and this means we are doing things right with these young boys. I think the organisers need to consider the local clubs first in the next edition just to avoid the embarrassment that we witnessed in this one.”
This was a great initiative by the organisers, especially considering that there had been no action in Makhanda over this period for almost a decade now, but the powers that be must make sure that they involve people who know these things and include them in their local organising committee. Most of the local football fans were not impressed with how the tournament was run, and they believed that things could have been handled differently.
Papu also thanked the never-disappointing Dlepu crowd who packed the stadium from day one and appealed to the Makana municipality to sort out the floodlights issue at the stadium.
I think it was also embarrassing for our municipality to have people sitting in the scorching sun watching football with no shelter.
On the final day, it was raining heavily, and there was no shelter to protect the fans from the rain JD Dlepu Stadium is an iconic home of football and the only precious football venue with have in Makhanda with a lot of history and to see it in that state it was really a disgrace. With all said and done, football was the winner at the end of the day.
