4 May 2009  

United’s Youth Tournament a Huge Success

United’s Workers Day Youth Tournament was a huge success says the Chairman, of the Parents Committee Mr. Reynold Woods.

" I was pleased with the way the tournament went and I must thank my committee and the assistance of the Academy players who played a major role in its success.

"However the cheating of ages again reared its ugly head and was a spoiler of an other wise exciting day of youth football. It is sad when coaches of these teams come to these types of tournaments with the intention to win and are responsible for cheating with both ages and instilling the win at all cost element," added Woods.

" In our media release we requested adherence with regards with ages and the promotion of the game, this was totally ignored.

" The U11 section was a thriller and was won by Mighty Pa in a shoot out after sudden death 8-7, the silver medalists, were Unit J Stars. This was an exciting match and the ages of all the teams were in keeping with fair play.

"The U13 section was a same team contest when Sobantu’s, Bizzah Dlamini’s “A” accounted Bizzah Dlamini’s “B” team in a penalty shoot out, with the “A” team picking up the gold.

"Another highlight of the Tournament was the participation of 7 year old Savannah Williams the only girl at the event. She played for Walthew Lads and did extremely well in the boys world with her performance.

Head of Development, Katz Naidoo expressed his concern with age cheating and coaches’ or managers’ behaviour.

" Coaches should know that tournaments of this nature is two fold. Firstly fun and participation and secondly as a fund raiser. We all know that there are millions of children who do not play any form of competitive football and above all children do not play for results they just want to be part of the game.

" Hundreds of children due to socio-economic reasons can’t play. It is only a privileged few that are lucky. Some coaches behave as if that they are coaching World Cup Teams. Come on coaches our main responsibility is to provide platforms for children to play and have fun."

"This being our inaugural a lot has been learnt and one thing is for sure no player over age will play. There will be demands for authentic documentation that will be carefully scrutinized, which will have to be met days before the kick-off of the tournament.

" This festering sore has to be cured and we will ensure that our next tournament is fair, as far as age groups go. The tournament is about “Fair Play”.

Action from the U8 game between Walthew Lads (blue) and Unit “J” Stars. Walthew Lads won 2-0


Unit’”J” Stars pose with their Medals. They were U11 Winners


Action from the U13 game Bizzah’s Dlamini’s Five and Cosmos. Bizzah’s Five won this game  1-0.