WATCH: Norwood Young Stars off to Safa league
NORWOOD – Local football team struggling for funds despite winning the league.
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Norwood Young Stars Football Club completed yet another remarkable season as they were crowned the champions of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association.
The president of the club, Venita Masisi, was delighted with the team’s effort and was full of praise for the players.
She thanked the people of Alexandra for their warmth throughout the season. “We had a wonderful time playing in Alexandra,” she said.
“The people were very accommodating and embraced us, even though the team consists of a lot of foreigners.”
Young Stars played 26 games, winning 22 of them, drawing one and losing three. By gaining promotion, the team will now be faced with different challenges in the South African Football Association (Safa) League.
“We are now the league winners being promoted to Safa league, which is a great opportunity for my players as a whole. But, as management, we are saddened that we can’t take all the players with us because they are foreigners and Fifa rules state that semi-professional teams can only have five foreigners playing,” explained Masisi.
She pleaded with anyone who could assist the team with sponsorship as they had been consistently delivering great performances. “We don’t have sponsors and we don’t even have a proper field to train on. But through all those challenges we are still playing and we are on top. There is nobody who helps us, we help ourselves as a team.”
Recently, one of the team’s players, goalkeeper Okpara Newman signed a three-year contract with Lesotho outfit Dioli Football Club. Dioli are currently the league champions in Lesotho and will be competing in the CAF Champions League next season. The new adventure is set to give the young goalkeeper much-needed exposure to blossom as a player.
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