The Danie Craven Stadium hosted its first-ever Premier Soccer League (PSL) match on 25 October. Stellenbosch Football Club played against Moroka Swallows Football Club (Swallows FC) in this match.
The match marked the beginning of a new era for the stadium which traditionally has “a very rich history of rugby”, said Jerry Laka, support services director at Maties Sport.
Stellenbosch Football Club is currently 12th on the DStv Premiership log and has 2 points. PHOTO: Masego Mafata
For the 2020/21 season, “the PSL home games of SFC and Maties Rugby Club matches will be played at the stadium,” Laka said.
One of the aims of this collaboration between Maties Sport and Stellenbosch Academy of Sport is “to create a holistic pathway which includes studying for talented football players, support staff and administration [staff],” according to Laka. SFC is owned by the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport.
According to Jerry Laka support services director at Maties Sport, the collaboration between Stellenbosch Football Club and Maties Sport will contribute to the uplifting and improvement of the Maties Football teams by assisting with the recruitment and retention of student footballers. PHOTO: Twitter/@ilhaamg
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with goals scored by Ruzaigh Gamildien from Swallows FC and Robyn Johannes from SFC. Both goals were penalty conversions and scored at 16 minutes and 27 minutes respectively.
During the post-match interview, Steve Barker, SFC coach said he was slightly disappointed by his team’s overall sharpness.
“I don’t think it was our best performance … [in] second half we lost a bit of our aggression and then [Swallows FC] dictated the game and that’s not what we want at home. We want to be on the front foot,” said Barker.
CommUNITY is the goal
Due to regulations imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, no spectators were allowed to watch the match. Stellenbosch FC live-tweeted the match and DStv channel, Supersport 2, broadcasted the match.
However, the prohibition of spectators did not stop a few community members from finding vantage points at Coetzenburg, near the foot of the Stellenbosch Mountain. This allowed them to see into the stadium and watch the match.
The Premier Soccer League has enforced strict precautions as they resume matches. One of these precautions is the prohibition of spectators from stadiums. PHOTO: Masego Mafata
One of the spectators, Unathi Mtintsilana, said he came to support his friend, Leletu Skelem, a striker and SFC’s number 18.
“Abafuni siyibukele nyani itshomi yethu,” said Mtintsilana (Translation: they really don’t want us to watch our friend play).
Every time Skelem plays a local match, Mtintsilana said he goes with friends to support Skelem.
Hosting such matches, and bringing the different communities of Stellenbosch together, is the kind of community building that Maties Sport envisions, said Laka.
“This will create economic opportunities for entrepreneurs once the spectators are allowed back at the stadiums, which will help the people of the town generate an income by selling items during the games,” Laka said.
Maties Sport also hopes that this venture will contribute to their strategic objective of making Coetzenburg a destination of sporting choice, he said.
While Stellenbosch Football Club is new to the Premier Soccer League (PSL), this is not Moroka Swallows Football Club’s (Swallows FC) first stint in the PSL. Swallows FC was relegated from the PSL in 2014/15. INFOGRAPHIC: Masego Mafata