Thulamahashe Stallions win big at Dukes
The Stallions bagged the winners' prize at the Dukes Festive Tournament. The team’s leadership expressed their excitement for what is to follow.
The Thulamahashe Stallions did it again by coming out on top at the Dukes Festive Tournament for the second time in 2023.
The Forever Fighters won the Easter leg of the tourney early in 2023, when they walked away with R50 000 and two individual awards, the player and the goalkeeper of the tournament.
The team from Bushbuckridge, which saw six of their players being awarded professional contracts after their victory, repeated their top spot win recently, beating the Fire Snipers by 2-0.
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The team’s founders, Karel Sibuyani and Dumazi Mkhonto, said it is not easy to participate in a tournament in entirely another province, having to drive two hours on every match day. “There’s a lot of logistics and sacrifices, but it takes a great deal of commitment from all the people to see such an achievement through,” said Mkhonto.
Sibuyani accredited their victory to previous experience. “Though we didn’t have all the same players from the last tournament, we kept more, so that helped us a lot during the approach and play throughout. We also didn’t have our coach, Vincent Chawane, who was away, but our assistant coach, Nqobile Ubisi, stepped in and delivered.”
The team’s goalkeeper, Noah Mkhonto, won goalkeeper of the tournament, while Ubisi won coach.
A happy Ubisi gave credit to the players. “With the players we have, we can win anything. Their discipline, respect for the technical team and focus is marvellous. It was not easy, but we conquered as a unit,” he said.
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The award-winning goalie, Noah, said, “As players, we want to appreciate our management and technical team. They really took care of us and made sure we know the mandate and that we stick to it.”
The Stallions bagged the winner’s prize of R125 000 and kept the trophy. “Our aim is to win it again next year so that we can keep the trophy for good. Maruleng is ours now; we have captured it,” said the team’s captain, Thabo ‘Zungu’ Mashigo.
The Stallions were well supported by fans and the community at large, who showed their appreciation for them putting Thulamahashe on the map. As some of the Stallions were scouted from this area, it has encouraged other local players to join the winning team and perform better than they ever did.
