Sebetwane Secondary School surprise winner of the North West Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Provincial Finals

Success at last! It has taken Sebetwane Secondary School five years to finally win the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup North West provincial finals.  The win means R 100 000 in prize money for the school, and a place at next month’s national finals. Sebetwane Secondary beat Freedom Park High School in the final match of the day.

Ike Lebatle, the team coach, says the school, and the entire village they are located in are celebrating their victory and the principal gave the team an hour off to go around the school and celebrate with their school mates. “Last Saturday we even went out to the village to celebrate with the community because they have been showing us support all the time,” he said.

Lebatle says it has not been decided what the prize money will be spend on. “The school will have to sit with the School Governing Body and they will decide,” he said, “but I’m sure the money will go into sports projects. The school does not have a proper soccer field, we need to build one from scratch.”

Sol Plaatje Secondary School, the defending Champions, was the schools toughest opponents said Lebatle.  “Before the tournament we spoke about defeating Sol Plaatje and it was our ultimate goal and we were happy that we did that.”

The team has begun preparations of the national finals. “The celebrations are over and the hard work has begun,” Lebatle said. “We train 4 times a week and play a friendly match every Saturday. I am working hand in hand with other coaches, to help me with developing our technique. We know that there will be tough competition, so we are covering all bases.”

Lebatle is motivating his players with the thought of winning the R1 million first prize; “The boys must leave the school for the national finals knowing that a soccer field is being built and that they were the ones that made it happen. Their names will be forever remembered in the school. ”

Provincial Final Results

Sebetwane (4)    VS Maitemogelo (2)

Freedom Park (1) VS Sol Plaatje (3)

Sol Plaatje (3) VS Sebetwane (4)

Maitemogelo (2) VS Freedom Park (1)

Freedom Park (1) VS Sebetwane (4)

Sol Plaatje (3) VS Maitemogelo (2)

Final Log Positions

 Sebetwane Secondary School

Freedom Park Secondary School

Maitemogelo Secondary School

Sol Plaatje Secondary School

Ends.

About the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup:

·       The tournament is run under the auspices of the South Africa Football Association (SASFA)

   Named after prominent businessman Patrice Motsepe’s late mother, the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup offers the biggest prize money at school level in Africa (R3.4 million in total). 

·       The sponsors are:  Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu-Botho Community Development Trust.

·       The primary objective of the tournament is to revive the culture of school football amongst students between the age of 16 and 19 years old.

·       The tournament also gives players the opportunity to showcase their skills to soccer scouts with the talented players being recruited into development structures to be nurtured and shaped into professional players.