Months of grueling qualifiers
will culminate in eight teams competing in the first round of under-19 Sanlam
Kay Motsepe Schools Cup provincial finals taking place on Saturday, 2nd
August, at the Giant Stadium, Soshanguve, Tshwane. The action will
kick-off at 9am with the winners taking home R100 000 to be spent
Saturday’s winners and runners-up
will qualify to play for a whopping R1 million on offer to the ultimate winner
that emerges from the national finals taking place between the 6th
and 9th October.
The current champions, Clapham
High School of Pretoria, were given quite a scare by Boksburg’s Sunward Park
High in a thrilling inter-district final played last week. They finally managed
to beat them 5-3 in a penalty shootout.
As Gauteng and national champions
for 2013, Clapham won R1.1 million which they will be using to build a new Life
Orientation centre, a pavilion with a coaches room; and to buy white
boards, desks and chairs for learners, as well as staff tables and chairs,
cabinets and a boardroom table.
Johannes Petje, Clapham’s team
manager, was shaken after the Sunward encounters and admitted that while they
knew Sunward Park was a good team, they were taken by surprise and did not
expect such a hard game. “When you are the champions it’s not easy as everyone
wants to beat you and they prepare very well,” he said
“They played better than us and
deserved to win, but my guys showed guts and character and when it came to
penalties the boys kept a level head. We started the game well and should have
wrapped it up in the first 20 minutes but failed to capitalise on the chances
we got.”
Petje puts the scare down to the
boys only just returning to school after a month’s holiday. “Although we gave
them each a training regime to follow, it is obvious they didn’t stick to it,”
he said. “We have also not been able to schedule any practise games. We were
also playing without 2 of our key players who are currently with the SA
under-20 national team who are touring West Africa.”
So, for the Clapham technical
team, it’s back to the drawing board as they admit there is a lot of work to be
done before Saturday. “We need to re-group as the team is not playing like
defending champions. We have 8 new recruits and they are under a lot of
pressure to repeat last year’s success,” Petje said.
The provincial finals are not
going to be easy, the manager said. “Every school will be gunning for us and
it’s not going to be easy to remain at the top but we are determined to fight
for the title as we want to keep the trophy in our cabinet.”
The following schools have
qualified for the Gauteng Provincial Finals
Clapham High School (Tshwane
North)
Thaba Jabula Secondary School
(Johannesburg North)
East Bank High (Johannesburg
East)
Kgoroyathuto High School
(Sedibeng East)
Holy Trinity High School (Tshwane
South)
M.O.M Sebone Secondary School
(Gauteng East)
I.R Lesolang High School (Tshwane
West)
Waterstone College (Johannesburg South)
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.
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