Johannesburg’s Bree Primary School will always be remembered
as the school that won an under-12 Danone Nations Cup world title for South
Africa.
In 2010 they won the world finals at the Orlando Stadium in
Johannesburg, after the previous year’s tournament in Brazil was held over
because of the worldwide outbreak of H1N1 influenza (swine flu). So, they are
the official 2009 Danone Nations Cup world champions, and they represented
South Africa in the 2008 world finals in France as well.
They will be trying to relive those glory days this year and
the first step will be on Saturday 14th June at Reiger Park’s WJ
Clements Stadium when they play in the Gauteng provincial finals of the
competition. Games kick-off at 9am. Gauteng is the final province to host
their finals with the nine provincial winners going on to compete in the
national finals on 28 June to determine the school to represent South Africa at
the World Finals in Brazil.
Bree Primary School’s principal Devanand Kalicharran is also
the team’s manager. He recalls 2010 fondly. “We were happy that we won this
prestigious tournament at home with our supporters cheering us on. The Danone
Nations Cup changed the lives of the 2008 and 2009 players; travelling abroad,
being in newspapers, doing interviews, meeting our legendary past president, Mr
Nelson Mandela and meeting kids from all around the world showed them they can
achieve anything that they want to achieve in life,” he said.
Kalicharran puts the success of those teams
down to hard work. “You need to work hard in order to obtain maximum results
and that’s what the 2008 and 2009 teams did,” he said. “Both teams were made up
of determined individuals who wanted to bring change to the school and I guess
sharing the same goal made it possible for us to win even though it was not
easy.”
Kalicharran says he tries to keep in touch with
some of those players. Some are still studying at high school and others are at
university. “Our captain of the winning team in 2009 was Njabulo Magubane who
is currently studying and he plays for the South African under- 19 team.
He regularly comes to the school and helps us with coaching. He does
motivational talks with the students, especially with the aspiring soccer
players at the school,” Kalicharran said.
The current Bree Primary team has been groomed
since 2012 and have done well so far this year. “Playing in the districts was
tough but we managed to pull through all those games,” Kalicharran said. “We
need to focus on our strikers and mid fielders, they need to create more
chances and score goals. I believe that they are capable of repeating what the
2008 and 2009 teams did.”
Bafana Dlamini, who coached the 2009 world
champion team, is still in charge of the team. “The team’s progress has been
due to his excellent coaching skills and he strongly believes that this team
could well win the title for the school, ´ said Kalicharran. “We are both very
passionate about soccer and about making a difference in the lives of these
boys. That’s why we enter this tournament because we know that it will have a
huge impact in their lives and on their soccer careers.”
Kalicharran is reluctant to single out
individual players. “The entire team is brilliant; I can’t single out one
specific player as they play as a united front. I appreciate their dedication,
they are young but their attitude is that of professional players.”
The schools participating in the Gauteng provincial finals
are:
Bree Primary School-Johannesburg South region
Lotus Primary School- Tshwane West region
Sihluziwe Primary-Gauteng North region
Sonqoba Primary-Ekurhuleni South region
Faramere Primary-Ekurhuleni North region
Matlhasedi Primary-Gauteng West
Arcon Park Primary-Sedibeng East
Nationwide Primary-Johannesburg South
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