HESSEQUA NEWS - Without anyone really noticing, football, or soccer as we know it in South Africa, has come into this region.
At the moment eight teams are competing in a newly established SAFA (South African Football Association)-affiliated soccer league. It includes teams from Heidelberg, Riversdale and Albertinia.
The fixtures are played on Sundays, rotate every weekend, with all games played in the same town.
Manager-coach Vukani Mangxaba, who is employed at the bentonite mine in Heidelberg since 2014, found young people playing social soccer on Sundays and saw their talent. With a kit sponsorship from his employer and another good Samaritan, he was able to affiliate to the SAFA Local Football Association.
Heidelberg has two teams at the moment; Heidelberg United and Warriors. Zama-Zama United and United Brothers of Riversdale are both competing for honours at the top level in the region, but also for honours among all the regions, including the Kannaland, George, Bitou, Mossel Bay and Oudtshoorn regions.
Within each of these regions soccer is growing, and with the FIFA 2018 World Cup currently being played in Russia, the games on Sundays attract hundreds of spectators.
Mangxaba, also vice-presid
ent of the Hessequa region says, “Our sport is still new, not nearly as popular as rugby here. We don’t have soccer fields; we still share the same fields with rugby in the towns and struggle with transport when we have away-games. We just hope that with the FIFA World Cup our soccer here will attract the attention of young players, the local government and councilors serving our towns, and importantly, also some sponsors to our clubs.”
Coach Jomo of Zama-Zama says competition among the local football associations of the region in the Eden Football Assiation become quite stiff with the top Eden team playing in the SAB competition.
United Brothers, Riversdale.Coach Wilson of United Brothers is confident his team will be topping the log of the Hessequa region, and will go through to join the leagues where the semi-professionals start earning the big money in soccer.
Being affiliated to SAFA means the soccer player has something to aim for; has an opportunity to play regularly in an organized league, and that scouts of the bigger clubs will come around to watch games looking for talent. Maybe, just maybe, one day soon we’ll have a local hero playing soccer at the highest level.
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