For the fourth time in 120 years of local footballing history, Pride of India were crowned Platinum Cup winners in the annual East London Central Local Football Association’s Easter Tournament at North End from April 7-10.
In a nail-biting final between Prides and highly rated ABC Motsepe Komani outfit Seven Stars, the winning side penetrated Stars’ defence to score early in the first half when Luke Groep’s superb inswinging free kick was glanced into the back of the net at the near post by Raeez Frazer.
Sachin Dawood, Justin Jonathan and Marcus Young were colossal figures in the defensive rear guard but it was a superb workmanlike performance that ultimately got the Braelyn side over the finishing line.
Pride of India talisman Cuan Benny was voted the senior player of the tournament.
In 2022, Prides were defeated by the formidable Seagulls FC in the finals but with last year’s victors out of the way, the path was cleared for the Braelyn outfit.
Pride’s coach Hilton Poovan, whose father Larry Poovan was also a winning coach, said, “There was a lot of hard work put into this win.
“My guys deserved it, especially when you consider the time and effort and sacrifice they have given as a team.
“We have built a family team and that shines through when we play.
“For the rest of the season, we will improve on this winning start because our victory tonight will bring us closer as a team for the rest of the year.”
Though a new entrant to the Easter tournament line up, Seven Stars proved to be formidable in all their games and despite finishing in second place, club secretary Chad Naidoo said they were eager to return to North End next year and solidify links with East London clubs.
Stars return to Komani with silver medals and R10,000 as runners-up.
Stars’ Sherwin Smith won the top goal scorer award and Naidoo believes this was a deserved honour for Smith.
He said, “Sherwin is a very experienced player who has played all around SA.
“He joined us this season but he’s brought with him a lot of experience, wisdom and leadership, which is what we need.
“We have a three-year plan aimed at gaining as much experience as possible and playing as widely as possible so that our side can gain experience.
“We are the youngest team in the Motsepe league and so we want to take the raw talent and energy we have and fast track that with some experience so we will definitely be coming back to East London again to play.”
In an all-Bunkers West Gold Cup final for third and fourth place, Cubs Football club defeated Inkwenkwezi on a 5-4 penalty shootout.
Cubs’ coach Abel Iglesias said, “I’m not happy to have gone to penalties but if you don’t take your chances in the game, this is what happens.
“The tournament was great this year and ELCFLA did the best with what they had.
“For the rest of the season, we want to win Bunkers West League and work hard towards the next game, despite the huge challenges we have with our mother bodies and lack of unity across football.
“My club believes in unity in football and I hate it when there is division.
“As coaches and administrators this year, we need to work towards unifying football.”
Riverside claimed victory in the u16 and u18 age groups, beating Pride of India 3-0 in the MTN sponsored u16 final and then triumphed 4-3 on penalties in the u18 final against Kilimia Escuelo de Futbol.
Owama Mataza was voted the u16 player of the tournament and Cade Kock was crowned the u18 top player.
This year, the ELCFLA Easter Tournament incorporated both long distance running and netball into the sporting programme for the first time.
The tournament kicked off with the Bonze Ice Tea-sponsored 5km Remembrance Fun Run on Good Friday, followed by a full day of netball fixtures in which Cambridge location’s Eleven Attackers claimed victory.
ELCFLA president Gavin van Rooyen said, “East London Central is a registered NPO affiliated to the Greater Buffalo Flats Sports Confederation, which promotes mass community participation.
“It is for this reason that we decided to include other sporting codes this year to promote mass community sports participation.
“Netball is included as SA is hosting the Netball World Cup this year and the idea of including running was to incorporate a discipline that include both gender and diversity.”
ELCFLA will now be working towards the 15th edition of the Interprovincial Inter LFA Goodwill Games in October.
