Sebetwane Secondary School retain North West Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Provincial title

Sebetwane Secondary School of Vryburg successfully defended their North West provincial title in the U-19 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup soccer tournament when they finished top of the log in a four school playoff on Saturday at the Monakato Sports Stadium.

Sebetwane won all their games, with Matlaisane finishing in second place. Both schools now go through to the national finals of the competition at the Giant Stadium, Soshanguve, Tswane from 5^th to the 9^th October.

The Sebetwane coach, Ike Lebatle, said he was a bit surprised that they qualified again because this is a new team and the school is in a building phase. “Many of last year’s players have completed Grade 12 and no longer at the school,” he explained. “In schools football, unlike the PSL, teams change every year and although you might have played the same schools over and over, a new squad can make a marked difference and suddenly you are faced with a school that is exceptionally good this year but was average last year.”

Sebetwane’s first game, against Reabona, was their most difficult. The team had not settled down and didn’t play well, but still managed to win 1-0.

“JM Legetla was also a difficult opponent,” Lebatle said. “We had been warned before we got here that the team was good as they beat seasoned participants in this tournament, Sol Plaatjie, to get into the provincial finals. They are experienced and technically and tactically good. They gave us a run for our money, but there again we managed to get the ball into the net to beat them 1-0.”

Lebatle is reluctant to single out any individual player in his team – they all played well as a cohesive unit. “I am extremely happy that we have once again won money for the school,” he said. “We brought along our supporters who cheered us on and that was really motivating to the boys”

Now it’s time to focus on the national finals and Lebatle knows that they will be up against academy teams there. “I am going to beef up my technical team by bringing in Dutch experienced coach, Klaas-Jan Topp.  He has all the international coaching qualifications and lives in Vryheid, right next door to our village.”

How the R100 000 in legacy funding that the school received will be spent is to be decided by the School Governing Body, but Lebatle hopes it will be put to good use in the sport department. “We don’t have our own field and our equipment is very poor,” he said. “The boys don’t have decent soccer boots, as most of their parents cannot afford them. The education department has assisted on the educational side with computers and laptops for the school, but we get no help from them on the sport side.”

RESULTS:

Sebetwane 2 vs Reabona  0

Goals:  Itumeleng Mosikare, Tebogo Serima

Matlaisane 0 vs JM Lekgetha 0

Reabone 0  vs Matlaisane 4

Goals:  Lebogang Monama, Chally Matlou (2), Olifile Malesa

JM Lekgetha 0  vs Sebetwane 1

Goal:  Tebogo Serima

Matlaisane 1 vs Sebetwane 2

Goals:  Mat: Archibald Modiba

                Seb:  Zinzile Kamanyane (2)

Reabona 1 vs JM Lekgetha 0

Goal:  Petrus Mothobi

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.