North End faithful braced for another exciting season
THE highly anticipated 2018 East London Central Local Football Association Sixth Edition Premier League Championship officially kicks off this weekend at the North End Stadium.
With CC Lloyd-based Seagulls’ sublime performances in winning the Premier Top 8 championship two weeks ago, the focus has for once been taken away from Riverside, who were surprisingly dumped out of the Top 8 in the semifinals by the unheralded Di Roma FC.
Seagulls have assembled a squad of exceptionally talented players and a wave of confidence is now flooding through this team that can rightly think of itself as a strong contender to emulate the 2013 Seagulls Dream Team that won four senior trophies including the Premier League championship.
They open their Premier League campaign on Sunday at 3.30pm against Newlands-based Napoli FC, perennial strugglers who survived the Premier League relegation playoffs two seasons in a row.
Seagulls are now potential league champions under the mentorship of former Seagulls stalwarts Julian Jagers and Leon Nieveldt.
Napoli’s club chairman Lybo Poyo refuses to believe that Napoli’s calamities over the past two seasons have made them extra vulnerable to relegation this season.
And he refuted any suggestion that it was a good time to be coming up against the champions-elect so early in the season.
“No, normally when you come up against a team who are having the best of times, that can be very dangerous.
“All I can hope for is that we can somehow produce a performance that our side is capable of and set aside the relegation tag. We have made some good signings during the off-season and hopefully these players will bring the best out of the senior members of the squad,” said Poyo.
Herman Jones’ newly established Di Roma FC (previously known as Buffalo City Sports Academy) has hit the ground running. Their attacking flair earned them a place in the 2018 Premier Top 8 final before they ran out of gas against Seagulls.
Under the mentorship of the highly experienced Jones and Antoraz Gamiet, the Vergenoeg-based outfit will be a threat to the other title contenders. They entertain near neighbours Atlantic Spurs in a Vergenoeg derby at 2pm.
“Spirit and aggression are vital for Atlantic Spurs’ hopes of turning their fortunes around,” club manager Kevin Woodington said.
“The spirit of the team and the attitude of the team is everything,” said Woodington. “You can have good players, but without spirit and personality it is really difficult to compete.”
2016 Premier League champions Swaraj square off against league debutantes Millan at 12.30pm and Brothers of Peace host Star of India at 11am. On Saturday the defending champions Riverside lock horns with Conquerors at noon and old foes Parkside United and Prides cross swords at 5pm after the crunch Vodacom League tie between Tornado and EC Bees.
● Chippa United MDC hosted the East London Central U21 representative side in Port Elizabeth this past weekend in two goodwill friendly encounters. Having already signed Rynaldo Benny from Riverside FC this season the professional outfit had another opportunity to uncover new talent which they certainly did.
Glen Minnie’s entourage were highly impressed with the talent on display. Seagulls’ dynamic 22-yearold flying wing Markhum Meyers, who was voted 2018 Premier Top 8 Player of the Tournament, caught the eye as well as last season’s East London Central U18 Youth Player of the Year, Samkelo Dick, a superb young defender playing for newly promoted Millan FC.
East London Central technical director Darian Hendricks was extremely pleased with the excellent relationship the Association has now forged with Chippa United. ‘The future certainly looks bright for our youth,” said Hendricks. —