No stopping EC spirited homegirls
THE Eastern Cape province has qualified for the finals after beating defending champions Gauteng 40-26 at the 2017 South African Police Service (SAPS) national netball championships held at Grens High School in East London.
The provincial team has won all four of their matches this week. They beat Northern Cape 69-17, demolished Free State 57-25, beat the Headquarters team 58-21 and yesterday they comfortably beat defending champs Gauteng 40-26.
Eastern Cape is most likely to meet Gauteng again in the finals as Gauteng has only lost one game, to the hosts, and are odds on favourites to finish in the top two, which will see them qualify for the final.
Gauteng have also beaten Mpumalanga 32-25, outplayed Western Cape 40-34 and cruised past Limpopo 47-17.
Mpumalanga was a tough cookie to crack but in the end they could not contend with the power of Gauteng. However, they made a statement when they beat Northern Cape 41-31 and then beat the Western Cape side 40-35.
Lieutenant-Colonel Vanetia Maxwell from the Western Cape, who is part of the organising team, said they will select a national team from the members taking part in the championships.
“Members who don’t make their provincial teams will still have the opportunity to make the squad in the national team.
“We are affiliated to Netball South Africa, so when match dates don’t clash with the Spar Open Championships we then participate in the games.”
Maxwell said the tournament is a good platform for SAPS members to showcase their skills and to network.
“We meet once a month to interact and to build that family relationship so that we can be a solid unit.
“Our ladies are supposed to be fit and to be operational ready and this has a positive input in our daily operational duties.”
Another tournament organiser from the Free State, LieutenantColonel Carona Visser, said the SAPS members come from communities for the communities.
“We had the Bhisho recruits here yesterday to see what was happening, because being a SAPS member is more than fighting crime.
“We need to be able to socialise in order to work better. Friendships are built here. For instance if a colleague needs something in the Free State they can be able to call someone and that will make their jobs much easier.”
At the end of August a game in Cape Town will be used to select a team that will participate in the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (Sarpcco) games, where all the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will be playing. It takes place every two years.
Said Visser: “This is an international event. However, we don’t have dates as yet. We want cross-border relations so we can make cross border policing that much easier.”
East London Cluster spokeswoman, Warrant Officer Hazel Mqala, said they were delighted to host the games this year.
“Our team ... are still topping up and we are hoping the trophy will come back because it was in Gauteng.”
There will be a gala dinner and prize-giving ceremony this evening at the East London Golf Club.