Football enjoyed in feminine style
Bantwana College Football Club welcomed five visitors to their home ground at Allen Glen High School to play a pre-season tournament during the weekend.
A new flourishing ladies/ women’s development football club played host to an exhilarating inaugural pre-season soccer tournament where six regional clubs locked horns to triumph in the tournament.
The Bantwana College Football Club welcomed its visitors Randburg AFC, Diepkloof FC (Soweto), Education Through Soccer (ETS), Old Parks Football Club and Blue Birds Football Club (Alexandra) to their home grounds at Allen Glen High School where the entertaining tournament was held on 17 March.
The format of the football games was a round-robin, all play all, with top four teams qualifying to play in the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals progressed to the finals and the losers played for 3rd position.
After the round-robin and qualifying stages – there could only be two teams playing in the finals. As a result, Diepkloof faced off Blue Birds in finals – this enthralling game resulted in a 1 – 0 win for Diepkloof who won Gold. Blue Birds FC were runners-up with Silver and Old Parks FC finished 3rd after playing this position against Randburg AFC who finished 4th place. The hosts finished in 5th place and ETS last.
Founder of Bantwana College FC Theo Buttress, who was very proud of his side despite defeat, explained their vision and mission for the club. “This is the first year that we’ve hosted the tournament, we started our club in October last year and we have entered into the local football association namely the Summer League. We also entering into the Rand Central Winter League which starts in the second week of April. This tournament was opened to all girls and ladies, with age group between 13 to 35 years old,” he shared.
Buttress indicated they are purely focused on girls’ development and would not be diversifying the club. He said his vision is to get the youngster opportunities overseas.
Speaking of overseas opportunities, a shining young female footballer Nibonile Dlamini who played for ETS joined Barcelona Football Club Academy Satellite Club in Canada last year.
Buttress also thanked his major sponsors who made the event a success. “Without the generosity of our sponsors this event would not have been possible, so I would like to thank EC Security and VitalMed for supplying flawless security and medical attention the entire tournament and to REMAX Masters for partnering with us as our main sponsor,” he said.
Jarryd Westerdale, rental specialist at REMAX Masters cited about the importance of supporting this event. “We are happy to have been in partnership with the Bantwana College Tournament. As a company that prides itself on the community, we are delighted to support grassroots soccer especially enabling ladies soccer to reach its great potential,” he concluded.
If any girls or ladies would like to learn how to play football, for fun, fitness or making it a possible career, can contact coach Theo on 072 300 1927 or email info@bantwanacollege.co.za
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