By Jack Arnold
22 May 2006
The first junior footy league for the year has well and truly begun in Vryburg. The league is being well managed by a number of community-based coaches and umpires who have benefited from AFL South Africa’s programs.
There are seven teams participating in the league, they are the Brisbane Lions, Bulldogs, Dikwena, Elephants, Extreme Eagles, Kangaroos and the Richmond Tigers. Some of these teams are newly formed and are predictably struggling a little against the teams with more playing experience.
Rain, hail and shine the games are played at the Huhudi Township stadium on a Saturday morning. The community-based volunteers are at the field bright and early setting up the goal posts and putting out cones to mark the boundary. Soon after the Under 13 players come running through the gate, footies in hand and ready for action. The jumpers are distributed and the coaches go through their pre game talks.
As soon as the ball is thrown up many of the pre game instructions are forgotten as everyone is trying the get a kick and score a ‘six’. The players all have a soccer background and during the games it is not uncommon to see a player standing all by himself acting as a goalkeeper.
The games are generally of a good standard, although as with junior footy just about everywhere a pack tends to follow the ball around the field. So far this season we have seen some great play, including spectacular marks and goals. There are some players who really stand out and hopefully in the next few years will be seen playing with the South African national team, The Buffaloes.
The main attraction for the kids is just playing ‘Australian Football’, winning is an added bonus. One of the best things for me is to see the delight on the faces after a goal is scored. Pretty much the entire team runs around the field doing soccer style celebrations and yelling ‘six six six’.
After Round 4 the ladder is as follows
Position and Team
1
Bulldogs
2
Extreme Eagles
3
Dikwena
4
Kangaroos
5
Richmond Tigers
6
Brisbane Lions
7
Elephants
At present it is looking like the grand final will be played between the Bulldogs and either the Extreme Eagles or Dikwena. However there are three round to go before the finals so the teams in the bottom half have an opportunity to work their way into finals contention.
Categories: Junior Leagues
By Jack Arnold
22 May 2006
A recent AFL South Africa initiative was to join the communities of Vryburg, Schweizer-Reneke and Christiana and get them playing monthly footy festivals. On any given day each team will play at least two games.
There have been two festivals held so far with another to be held on June 3rd in Christiana. The first festival was held on March 18th in Vryburg, on the day Vryburg ran out convincing winners beating both Schweizer-Reneke and Christiana. This win illustrated Vryburg’s dominance in footy in the North West Province. Footy has been played here for a number of years and with many junior teams it looks like it might just continue.
The second festival was held in Christiana on April 29th, the games were held at the Utlwanang Stadium and were a great success. Each team won at least one game, Schweizer-Reneke ended Vryburg’s winning streak with a great win but then lost to the underdogs Christiana.
The final was a very close affair with Schweizer-Reneke going down to Vryburg by five points. Schweizer-Reneke was left rueing missed opportunities, which would have put the game beyond doubt early in the last quarter.
People from all three communities umpired the games and the coaches were also drawn from each community. It was great to see the games being played, umpired and coaches by South Africans. It shows how far footy has come in this country.
The next festival was due to be held on May 27th in Schweizer-Reneke but as a suitable venue could not be secured the event has been postponed and moved to Christiana on the 3rd of June. This festival will also provide Australian volunteer Tom Randall with an opportunity to say goodbye to the people he has been working with before he returns to Australia in mid June.
It is good to get the players from all three communities playing games, as senior competition helps continue the development of the game in South Africa. I sincerely hope that these festivals can continue to be played, as it is a great way to keep people involved in footy and as I have said previously helps the development of the game.
Three other towns have been joined together and are playing a Tri Community Festival in Ventersdorp in the very near future. They are Rustenburg, Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom. Please check for a report soon.
Categories: Festivals · Senior Competions
