Grey College’s football team has finally ended its trophy drought by winning the Nedbank Grey College Tournament.
This trophy has eluded the school for six of the seven years the competition has been hosted at Grey College. .Although Grey College has hosted the competition for seven years, this trophy has eluded the school for six years staging the competition for seven years.
The tournament features the top 24 schools actively playing football in South Africa.
Much to the joy of the school’s football director, Ricardo Katza, Grey College finally lifted the trophy after beating local rivals HTS Louis Botha by 4 – 3 in a penalty shoot-out to be crowned this year’s champions.
It was the first time two schools from Bloemfontein competed in the final. Grey College and Louis Botha proved too strong for their 22 opponents.
Grey College received R25 000, while the players each earned a gold medal as a reward for their efforts.
The school was also on the podium for individual prizes.
Coach Tshediso Goieman was named as the coach of the tournament, while goalkeeper Lesedi Mokwena received the goalkeeper of the tournament award.
They were voted as the deserving recipients for their consistent performance that inspired Grey College’s first-ever prestigious football trophy win.
Lesedi saved two of the Louis Botha penalties to hand his school a deserving victory.
“My goal is to improve the level of football at Grey College,” said Katza.
“The achievements come with a lot of hard work and patience, as we have been runners-up in major national competitions at club and school level.
“We always try to test the strength of our teams by competing in tournaments outside Bloemfontein, because it gives our boys an opportunity to develop holistically on and off the field.”
Katza, a former Seven Stars and Cape Town Hellenic player, said the team’s steady rise has caught him by surprise.
He congratulated Goieman, head coach, for his good work ethics.
“This rise in success on and off the field has exceeded my expectations. Goieman has proven that he is the right man for the job to help achieve the mission. It’s a holistic approach where we balance education with sports,” Katza said.
“Coming from a professional football set-up into a school environment where the main focus is not the sport, but education, has been a real eye-opener,” said Katza.
This was Grey’s second national final in just a couple of months’ time.
The other final was in the Engen Knockout Challenge, in which the team lost by 4 – 0 against the Thaba Nchu-based Moroka Hostel Academy in Bloemfontein in July.
