Groundwork laid for Central’s big one
EAST London Central Local Football Association will be hosting the Cliffie Brown-Leon Meyer 33rd anniversary football tournament draw tonight at the North End Stadium.
According to competitions director Ivan Booysen the tournament preparations are well on track. “We envisage that this year’s event which kicks off next week Thursday evening, will the biggest drawcard ever in terms of crowd support,” he said.
“An additional flavour to our annual event is the incorporation of an U18 football tournament into this year’s programme. As our core function as a football institution is the development of the sport at grassroot level it is imperative that we have a youth event which will also include our annual senior and masters football competitions.”
The senior tournament will consist of 16 club affiliates played on a knockout basis with the participants vying for the platinum, gold, bronze and bowl titles and the total amount of R45 000 that will be up for grabs.
Defending champs Seagulls will be up against strong opposition with the likes of PE-based Shamrocks, Cape Town’s Belstar, King Hellenic, last year’s runners-up Star of India, Swaraj and Riverside all eyeing the main prize.
The Masters competition will be a 13-team event (which includes defending champions Belstar) and the U18 tournament will include eight club participants with both events played on a round-robin basis and the top sides qualifying to the knockout stages.
A prominent figure in the Buffalo City Region, Gaster Sharpley, director-general of the Eastern Cape Human Settlements, will be the main guest speaker at the draw.
Leeds United and Central United have had a fairytale start to their First Division Promotional League campaign as they are the only sides with maximum points after three rounds of fixtures.
They are closely followed by Prides U20 and Millan who are also unbeaten but with a draw apiece.
This evening at North End, Leeds could extend their fine run when they face struggling Atlantic Spurs U20 while Millan have a tough nut to crack in ever-improving K-way at 8pm when the association hosts Week 4 of its league fixtures.
On Sunday, Prides U20 meet the unpredictable Imonti Christian Centre at 10am, London entertain Alphen Warriors at 11.30, BOP U20 tackle struggling East London United U20s at 1pm, Riverside U20 and Real Dukashe fight it out at 2.30pm, while Central United lock horns with Diaroma United at 4pm.
The long-awaited newly structured EL Central Youth League fixtures start tomorrow.
The Clayton/Brendon de Kocksponsored U10 and Calvin Brownsponsored U12 leagues will be played out at North End.
The Impale Electrical-sponsored U14 league takes place on the Parkside Grounds and the Joe Hendricks Memorial U16 and Deoline Willemse-sponsored U18 league fixtures will be at the Showgrounds. All matches are scheduled to kickoff at 9am.