Bizana Pondo Chiefs relegated from second tier
Bizana Pondo Chiefs’ relegation from the Gladafrica Championship after one season has been confirmed following their 2-0 loss to Polokwane City on Sunday.
“Now I can confirm that we are officially relegated, cases or not; we are relegated,” the club’s communication officer Siya Quzu said.
There were small windows of opportunities for Pondo Chiefs to save themselves and one was by winning all of their remaining games.
However, their last two defeats against Cape Town All Stars and Polokwane City shattered all hope of survival.
The other was seeing if the cases that have been brought before the Premier Soccer League could swing matters in their favour, but nothing seems to have materialised on that front.
It was ironic that the club to finally relegate the Hunters were the former employers of head coach Clinton Larsen, who themselves dropped out of the Dstv Premiership under his watch.
The side from Bizana occupy the bottom of the log with 20 points to their name.
Results have been hard to come by in their maiden season in the National First Division. They have won only four games, drawn eight and lost 16 matches in the 28 they have played so far.
A lack of goals and a leaky defence is probably the worst combination for any football team.
Well, that’s how you would summarise Pondo Chiefs; they scored 19 goals and shipped in 39 goals, the most in the division.
One must commend the good fight Pondo Chiefs put up though. With the odds staked against them, they gave it their all but saving their status was one hurdle too many.
Their two remaining games are against Pretoria Callies on May 16 followed by an encounter with Uthongathi.
Club chair Nkosinathi Mqokiyana says he will have fond memories despite their fate.
“For me as the chairman of a village club, I’m very proud, regardless of what happens,” Mqokiyana said.
“This season has been exciting for us. This is a new thing for a rural club like Bizana Pondo Club. So it has been a great experience, one I will cherish for the rest of my life.
“The bottom line is that it has been exciting.
“This is the first time a team from Pondoland got promoted and that during a pandemic. We love the experience we gained.
“We are from a village. We were thrown in at the deep end. Yes, we are last but we have accumulated 20 points — a team from a village comes in for the first time in the NFD and beats Cape Town Spurs home and away with all their facilities.”
It will be back to the drawing board for Pondo Chiefs and they will plot their way back to the second tier of South African football.
They may lose their big name coach in Larsen and some of their players and they will have to work around that in the offseason.