The exciting final tournament for the Mayoral Cup
The exciting final tournament for the Mayoral Cup
Early Birds of Gansbaai are the men’s soccer champions; Siyadlala from Zwelihle the women’s soccer champions; Kleinmond walked away with the rugby trophy; Hawston went home with the cricket trophy and Hermanus won the netball!
It was certainly not an easy quest for any one of the champions, because they had to vie with stiff competition as well as a fresh south-easter to succeed! At the end of the soccer match the score was 1 all between Early Birds and Real Attackers from Zwelihle. After the compulsory penalty shoot-out to establish the winner, the score was still a draw because both teams managed to get their shots into the netsl. Only far into the ‘sudden death’ phase did the very competent goalkeeper of Early Birds manage to save a goal, and the Gansbaai team broke their tension with songs of joy!
Zwelelanga Nkosinathi of Early Birds was announced as player of the tournament and Lwado Tshaya was the top goal scorer of the tournament. On the rugby field Kleinmond cashed in on the strong wind which gave them a 15 – 6 advantage by half-time, but in the second half Hawston fought back with new courage after lagging behind by 27 – 11. Kleinmond eventually triumphed with 27 – 25.
Wessel Arendse was player of the tournament and Gerald October scored the most tries. Both are from Kleinmond. In the 20/20-format cricket, Hawston seemed to have the upperhand initially and one gained the impression that they would have an easy task chasing the 83 runs after the first few runs came quickly and they only lost 1 wicket. However, Mount Pleasant’s bowlers gave them a hard time and eventually Hawston won with only three wickets and 15 balls remaining.
Sergio Maddens of Hawston, who regularly plays English county cricket, was announced man of the match and George Hlazo of Mount Pleasant, the player of the tournament! In the women’s soccer Siyadlala only managed to score a goal towards the end. However, the goalie of Real Pioneers (Gansbaai) impressed the spectators with her heroic efforts to thwart the opposition’s goals. Player of the tournament was Sindiswa September and Nwabisa Heke scored the most goals.
The Hermanus netball team totally dominated on the netball court and beat Zwelihle with 32 – 11. One must concede that the team from Zwelihle had only been gathered together the previous day after the Kleinmond team had withdrawn. By the end of the match Zwelihle had managed to gain momentum and Nosidima Poni from their team was announced as the best goalshooter. Jana Sprong of Hermanus was die player of the tournament.
The 10km road race was won by Alfred Tshabeni of Whalers (Hermanus) in a time of 36:05 and Nelson Ngese of Gansbaai, who shadowed him virtually all the way won the silver medal! In the women’s section the winner was 14 year-old Jeanne Vermeulen of the Bredasdorp athletics club and Franki Fouché from Gansbaai won the silver medal. Gansbaai Primêr had the most entrants in the fun run who finished the race and Laerskool Gansbaai came second. Mayor Nicolette Botha-Guthrie was impressed with the good spirit which reigned on Saturday. The quality of the sport passed all expectations even though the support was sadly lacking.
The positivity that stems from the event is that there is a platform to exhibit the sporting talent of the Overstrand; it will encourage people to participate in sport – and compete in a healthy atmosphere by spending their time in a positive way. She found that the social cohesion established by the tournament was of the utmost importance as everyone in the Overstrand from Kleinmond to Buffeljagsbaai across language and race barriers were united! She thanked and expressed her appreciation to everyone who contributed to the success of the event.
Source: Whale Coast Media