Central young bucks fired to showcase their skills

EAST London Central Local Football Association will be celebrating its fifth anniversary and Youth Day with the Peter Smith Memorial Youth and Senior Knockout Football Tournament this week at North End Stadium, Parkside Grounds and the Showgrounds.

The tournament is in honour of Smith, a founding member of Cloud Nine FC who died in 1997.

The Association’s vice-president Shane Benny said the tournament was in its fifth year and going strong. “We are fully committed to continue promoting and fostering football at grassroot level,” said Benny.

The Deolin Willemse U18 knockout quarterfinals took place on Wednesday and yesterday at North End.

All other youth knockout quarterfinals fixtures (Clayton/Brendan De Kock-sponsored U10, Calvin Brown-sponsored U12, Impala ElectricalU14 and Joe Hendricks Memorial U16 KO) are scheduled to take place today, with the semifinals taking place tomorrow.

The 16-team Senior Cup knockout gets under way today at North End. The first round winners will qualify for the Championship trophy while the first round losers will battle it out for the Senior Plate title.

Seagulls FC were the inaugural 2013 senior cup winners and Pride of India annexed the championship trophy in 2014. Star of India captured the senior tournament two years in a row – 2015 and 2016. The tournament draw has been kind to the Braelynbased defending champions and knockout specialists as they face the 2014 Anniversary Cup runners-up Brothers of Peace in the first round and will either encounter Duncan Village-based Black Aces or Buffalo City Sports Academy (who clash in the first round), 2013 and 2015 Anniversary Plate winners Atlantic Spurs or 2014 Cup champions Pride of India in their half of the draw.

In the other half of the draw, Premier league table-toppers Riverside cross swords with 2013 Anniversary Cup champions Seagulls in a first round cup tie and the winner will face premier league champions and 2016 Anniversary Cup runners-up Swaraj in the cup quarterfinals.

Parkside United are also in this half of the draw but should safely secure their passage to the semis. However, don’t rule out the likes of 2015 Anniversary Plate runners-up Conquerors, first division log leaders Central United, Napoli and F C East London, who have all beefed up their squads recently.

All the cup finals are scheduled to take place on Sunday at North End, including the senior championship cup semifinals.