City squads battle for Premier Cup spot

Staff Reporter|Published 2 years ago

The final play-offs for this year’s under-19 Bayhill Premier Cup took place at William Herbert sports ground in Wynberg with 28 teams competing for the 14 spots. Here Queen’s Park AFC’s Aviwe Mnweba, left, and Silver Spurs’ Ebrahim Richards challenge for the ball during their side’s play-off match. Queen’s Park won 1-0 to advance to the competition proper. Picture Mark Ward

Mark Ward

Greenwood Athletic FC, last year’s plate winners, are among the teams who have qualified for the 2023 edition of the under-19 Bayhill Premier Cup.

Greenwood emerged from the last qualifying round of play-offs at the William Herbert sports ground in Wynberg where 28 teams competed for the 14 spots at stake over the weekend.

The tournament played over the Easter weekend is the pinnacle for many a young player's football career.

Warren Lotters, coach of Greenwood, shared his delight with his lads having qualified for the event. “For Greenwood Athletic, which is probably one of the biggest amateur clubs in the Western Cape, it is a huge honour for us to be part of such a prestigious tournament,” said Lotters.

He, however, lamented the fact that his side struggled to qualify.

“However it was also a great experience and huge learning for me as the coach with my technical team. We also boast the biggest and most loyal supporters locally. So for the club to be at the Bayhill has become tradition and this is a great achievement for our community,” he added.

Lotters said his team had been working together for about seven weeks before the playoffs and hopes this will lead to them being better prepared.

“Last year we won the Plate section and achieved this with less than four weeks of training. For me personally, as a coach together with my technical team, winning the Plate section has been a great achievement and hopefully we can go one step further this time.”

The teams who qualified are: FC Porto, Grassy Park United, JL Zwane, City Kings, Young Bafana, Du Noon Academy, Greenwood Athletic, Clover FC, Queen’s Park, Hellenic, Hazendal United, Matroosfontein, Rygersdal and Jomo’s Power.

Seeded teams: Cape Town Spurs (champions), Cape Town City, Stellenbosch, Safa Invitational XI and hosts, Bayhill United.

Greenwood Athletics Yizaad Damonse and Clover FC’s Sifiso Cetywayo during their sides’ Premier Cup play-off clash at the weekend. Picture: Mark Ward

Greenwood Athletic coach Warren Lotters keeping a close eye on the action during the weekend’s final round of Premier Cup play-off matches, at William Herbert sportsfield. Picture: Mark Ward