The university’s male and female football teams have once again extended their legacy, when they both qualified for this year’s Varsity Football finals making TUT the only institution to have reached four consecutive finals in both men’s and women’s divisions.
The two teams are currently the only teams to have qualified in the finals of this competition with both genders contesting in the finals. The female team will face the University of Western Cape this afternoon, 15:30 at Wits for their sixth appearance in the finals of this competition. As it stands they are also the only team in both male and female to have won the competition four times in their five final appearances.
The male’s team is expected to lock horns with hosts Wits University at 18:00 tonight. Varsity Football analysts have praised the TUT males team for their resilient performance as they were the only team that played all their matches away from home this year, yet they managed to be in the finals. This makes them the first and only team to have triumphed all the way to the finals against all odds.
Speaking at the council chamber while presenting the teams to the Executive Management Committee (EMC), Shadrack Nthangeni the Director of Sport and Recreation said, these football teams are the most feared in the country and therefore it is important to highlight that their record in the field of play speaks volume.
Shadrack praised the female team who are the only team in both genders to have played all the finals of this competition since the inception. He said this year is special for the male’s team because they made it against all odds when playing away from home.
“Their performance is remarkable because it also gave the university five hours on live TV in the final matches that they have played and in that process they contributed over 500 million rand in PR value according to statistics received from Varsity Sports. Colleagues I would like to urge all of you to come and support our teams, we promise to bring back both trophies therefore you can start with preparations for a victory parade,” he said
Professor Lourens van Staden the vice-chancellor and principal said, on behalf of the EMC he is very proud of the team’s performances against all odds. He said a university education is not about studying only because the goal is to produce well rounded graduates for South Africa. According to Prof when students are competing in a team and ultimately get to score a goal, they get to learn basic fundamentals of team work and group dynamics and this will be essential in the real world when they finish with their studies.
“My advice to you for in this year’s final, let’s not go there to the final thinking that we are the favourites but go in there and respect your opponents and beat them properly don’t relax and think that things will just happen. With those few words we would like to wish you well, we know that you are more than capable of winning it just go out there and make us proud. I want you to remember that even if the other team is better on the day you must loose like champions, but I honestly have no doubt that you will win this final, in fact I will be waiting for you to come and parade the trophy to the EMC next week,” he added
The matches will both be broadcast live on DStv channel 204 alternatively live updates will be available on twitter @varsitysportsSA.
By Mokete Radebe
