Intense fare on cards for SA schools in tourney

SCHOOL soccer action kicks into high gear on Monday when the annual Umbro High Schools’ Soccer Tournament presented by SA Sports Tours gets under way at the Hamilton Sports Club.

Nineteen teams and around 250 players will be battling it out over three days in three different divisions to see who will come out on top.

“SA Sports Tours is excited to be working with our main sponsor, Umbro, for this year’s schools’ soccer tournament once again,” said SA Sports Tours owner Neil Lyon.

“We are looking forward to the event and meeting all the participating schools from around South Africa.

“We are glad to have our three local East London schools involved this year and hope to have more schools participating in the event next year.”

School teams from all over the country will be taking part in the tournament and the action should be fierce.

In the U16 division Delta Park, St Stithians, St Andrew’s College and local side Bushbucks will be the teams vying for the trophy. Last year’s champs Welkom High will not be attending, so we will see a new champion.

The girls U19 division sees seven teams up against each other in St Dominics, Rand Girls, Kimberley Girls High, Selly Park, Milnerton, Academy High and Lebone College.

Kimberley Girls are the defending champions and dominated last year’s tournament, winning all of their games, so they will be looked at as the team to beat.

Academy High will be the local hopes in this division and they will want to put in some top performances in their home tournament.

Eight teams, split into two groups of four, will then compete in the boys U19 division.

Selly Park, Hatfield Christian School, Victoria Park High, Pinelands, Lebone College, Milnerton, St Dominics and East London High will be battling it out, with Pinelands hoping to defend the title they picked up last year, while East London High will hope to impress on the local front.

At the end of the tournament trophies and medals will be handed out as well as awards for the best player and top goalscorer in each division, while an all-star team, also in each division will also be named.

The action gets under way on Monday morning at 8am, with the final games scheduled to kick-off at 5.20pm.

Tuesday will see play from 8am until around 6pm and the final day of knockout action kicks off on Wednesday at 8am, with the U16 final set for 1.50pm and both the boys and girls U19 finals kicking off at 4.10pm.