The Kagiso Sports Complex was abuzz on September 20 for what was a thrilling conclusion to the inaugural Gauteng Schools Football Champions League and the winners walked away with a whopping R100 000 in cash prizes.
The tournament began on August 26 and saw many top schools go head-to-head to claim bragging rights.
This tournament aims towards creating opportunities for participation, talent identification, exposure and development for young talented players and teams in Gauteng schools.
The league is said to be a first-of-its-kind league format for school sports in the country as it features 16 best-performing schools in football from the school sports Wednesday league programme. It is implemented by the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation together with the Department of Education and supported by SAFA Gauteng.
According to departmental spokesperson, Nomazwe Ntlokwana the tournament is just a stepping stone to advance South African football to ensure that young talent will be developed to play and compete at a very elite level.
“The programme has helped advance and expose top developing talent from Gauteng schools thereby improving the advancement of football, whilst also contributing to solving a long cry of lack of sports development in schools,” Ntlokwana said.
Going into the final round at the top of the boys’ log with 16 points was Clapham High School from Tshwane which had the competition’s current leading goal scorer, Mosa Moloisane. He managed to net six goals in the build-up to the final day. In the girl’s division, leading the race with 16 points and a strong goal difference was Jabulile Secondary School from Orange Farm who were the surprise team of the competition. They were followed by Kwadedangendlale Secondary School with 16 points, Curro Academy with 12 points and Khanya Lesedi High School with 10 points.
With seven goals Sanelisiwe Magagula from Kwadedangendlale was the leading goal scorer having helped her team to rally into the second spot on the log.
The finals were an exciting affair featuring the Arts in Schools programme. All entertainment was provided by learners from the programme including a sign language performance of the National Anthem by Sizwile School for the Deaf from Dobsonville in Soweto.
Other brilliant performances included entertainment by the Khutlo Tharo Secondary School jazz band from Sebokeng and school war cries echoed through the entire West Rand as the teams had the ultimate backing of their schools.
The entire day saw the schools display their passion and put on great performances while competing for the top honours. However, in each division, only one team could prevail.
After weeks of exciting football, the tournament reached its conclusion as the winners of the inaugural Gauteng Schools Football Champions League games would be Jabulile Secondary School for the girls’ division and Clapham High School for the boys’ division.
The Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and Recreation is happy for the immense spirit shown by the schools and hopes that future sports superstars will be created as a result of the initiative.
“Congratulations to our young sportsmen and sportswomen. We hope that future soccer stars will emerge from the league,” the department said in a statement.
