NMMU-Madibaz will be heading into the 2015 Varsity Football tournament with crucial momentum after recently gaining promotion to the SAB League.
The Madibaz agonizingly missed out on a semifinal spot after they finished fifth overall, a solitary point fourth-placed UFS-Kovsies – who claimed the final playoff position and are one of only three teams who have managed to retain their Varsity Football status from last year.
Coach Graeme Harrison was upbeat about his side’s preparations for their third bite at the cherry but felt that their LFA promotion will be put to the side for the next few weeks.
“We are all excited about the upcoming Varsity Football tournament. Things will be a little different this year with all the new teams and the changes to our squad but one thing will remain the same – there will be no easy games.
“The confidence among the players is quite high because we recently gained promotion to the SAB League and we have only lost one of our USSA games, so the confidence is definitely there, however, we will put all those things on the back burner and be fully focused for this event,” he told varsitysportssa.com.
The Port Elizabeth students will be lead by Athini Bisha – who has been representing Highbury FC in the Eastern Cape ABC Motsepe League – as he takes over from Kurt Duff, who has exceeded the age limit of 25. Another stalwart who has exceeded the age limit is dynamic midfielder Lukhanyo Rasmeni.
On the bright side though, Harrison expressed his joy on managing to hold onto playmaker Kieran Koert as well as the acquisition of a promising young defender.
“Fortunately for us, Kieran is still around. He is definitely going to be a marked man in the campaign and we will need to work out how to get the best out of him. Another player I’m excited about is Lonwabo Balfour who will join his brother Lundi in the backline.
“Lonwabo is an exciting player, fresh out of High School, and it would be interesting to see how he goes at this level,” he added.
Harrison was keen on getting the Madibaz back into the Top Four of the competition but stated that he would not be targeting any specific matches as he feels doing so would only contribute to “shooting yourself in the foot.”
