Spar Easter soccer fest a success
The 44th annual Northern Areas Easter Soccer tournament took place over the 15-16 April weekend. Tournament director, Valentine Brink, called this year's tournament a massive success, adding that they look forward to an even more successful tournament next year.
“Even though there was some rain on Friday, thanks to the support of our sponsors, the whole weekend went off very well and we are excited as we look ahead to even bigger things next year,” said Brink, who has been involved in the Easter tournament since its inception in 1973 and said the festival of soccer continued to grow from strength to strength.
He felt one of the features which had made a significant difference was the decision to include an invitation team, Sibanye, who pocketed the title.
Made up of players from the ABC Motsepe and SAB Leagues, Sibanye defeated Park United 5-3 on penalties in the final after a 1-1 score at the end of extra time.
Brink said the Sibanye team had lifted the playing standard at the tournament, resulting in all the other teams raising their play as well.
“It was good to have these sorts of players in the tournament and I feel it is definitely an idea to pursue for the future.
“None of the teams were disgraced against them and you could see them all working hard to show they could match Sibanye. This was proved in the final, with Park United competing all the way and only losing in a penalty shootout. They certainly helped to produce a high eventually standard of soccer throughout the weekend.”
Another important feature of the festival, said Brink, was the age-group divisions.
“For example, we had 60 U9 players in the tournament and also held an hour-long U9 development clinic on the Sunday morning, with some of the tournament’s senior players passing on tips to the children.”
He said there were also age-groups from U11 to U17, while an U20 category, with eight teams participating, was introduced for the first time.
“Having these age-group teams is very important for the tournament because one of our objectives is to promote the game among the youth and to give them something to aim for.”
The Easter Soccer tournament, which has been sponsored by Spar for the past two years, has become a staple of the sporting calendar in the Eastern Cape. Every year the tournament seems to get better and better and next year's event should only look to improve on the success of 2017.
The results were: Seniors
Final: Sibanye 1 Park United 1 (Sibanye won 5-3 on penalties) Third place: Glenville 2 Fairdene 0 Semifinals: Sibanye 2 Fairdene 0, Park United 2 Glenville 0
Junior finals
U9: Fairview Rovers 1 Westlake 0 U11: Rangers 2 Helenvale 0 U13: Park United 4 Glenville 1 U15: Apex 4 Stardrift 0 U17: Park United 2 Saints 1 U20: Westlake 1 Lads 1 (Westlake won 5-4 on penalties)