By Chris Totobela
All roads led to Bathurst in the Ndlambe Municipality this past Saturday for the Sarah Baartman District Regional Women Football Festival.
Teams came from all over the district to participate in the event, hosted by the Ndlambe Municipality.
African Connection and Jacaranda Aces football clubs represented Makana Municipality in the tournament.
Both teams started on the wrong foot as they lost their opening group-stage games to hosts Killers and Bathurst City Tigers respectively.
Aces seemed overwhelmed by the occasion as they played in front of a large, hostile crowd, while Connection was guilty of not converting the many scoring chances they created.
In the semi finals, Bathurst City Tigers narrowly beat fellow Ndlambe Municipality representatives, Killers, on penalties after both teams were locked in a goalless stalemate.
Makana’s African Connection were made to pay for failing to make use of their opportunities once again in their semi-final game, going down to Sunday’s River Municipality’s Gora Pioneers.
In the final, Bathurst City Tigers edged Gora Pioneers by a single goal in a closely contested game that produced fireworks from the word go.
The host team went on to win the competition, taking home a trophy, a soccer ball and gold medals, while Gora Pioneers won a trophy, silver medals and a soccer ball as runners-up.
Makana’s African Connection walked away with bronze medals for their third-place finish.
According to Amakonokono’s (African Connection) executive member, Nwabisa Tyelbooi, who travelled with the team, the local sides’ performances were not too bad. “Our girls lacked fitness as they are busy with exams and did not train properly, but that is not an excuse as players need to always be ready for games,” Tyelbooi said.
She said the team did well considering the fitness factor and that some key players were missing. “Congratulations to Jacaranda Aces as well for their brave effort and this shows that our coaches in Makhanda are doing a good job with these girls and all they need is support, and with the local football league in the pipeline, things can only get better for our local female footballers.”
Tyelbooi went on to thank the organisers and congratulated the champions. “I would like to thank DSRAC and the Ndlambe LFA for this wonderful event and congratulations to BC Tigers as they really deserved to win. Well done to Gora Pioneers as well for the great effort.”
It was a good outing for Sarah Baartman regional teams who hardly play any games.
