The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
NDOLWANE Sports Grounds in Bulilima District is expected to come alive when the 21st edition of the Ubuntu Football Association (UFA) Super Cup takes place on 27 and 29 December.
Teams mostly made up of South Africa-based Zimbabweans commonly known as injiva will square off over the two days in football and netball. Five football teams and the same number of netball sides will be in action over the two days.
Makhulela, Dupute United, Butshe Shining Stars, Ndolwane Super Stars and Khame are the football teams taking part.
UFA chairman, Bowen Ndlovu said all was in place for this year’s Super Cup. He believes that this is the best festive season present they can give to the young people in the surrounding communities with the theme being “Community development through sports.”
“It’s all systems go for the Ubuntu Super Cup on 27th and 29th of December. The UFA Super Cup is just around the corner. We believe this is the best we can give to our communities especially the young stars,’’ Ndlovu said.
For football, the winners will get R4 000 plus a R1 000 bonus, R3 000 will go to the runners-up, the teams in third and fourth positions have a reward of R1 000 waiting for them while the team in fifth place will pocket R500.
A beauty contest has been introduced with the final judgement of the winners to be conducted at Siyaphambili Secondary School main hall.
Organisers have managed to secure the services of some of the best officials for both soccer and netball.
Last year, Ndolwane won a rain-affected final 1-0 over Khame, to lift the trophy for the seventh time, which makes them the most successful team since the start of the tournament.
Due to heavy rains, the match was abandoned with 14 minutes left. With Khame indicating that they could not make it the following day to play the remaining time, the match was awarded to Ndolwane.
The tournament enjoys lots of support from the Bulilima community who pay to watch the matches which has seen the organisers being able to assist in some of the projects which benefit the locals.
Meanwhile, three slots are up for the taking in the Khumbulani Moyo-sponsored Inyathi New Year’s Day tournament scheduled for Badala Business Centre with knock-out matches taking place tomorrow and Tuesday. Inyathi Pirates, Black Swallows, Shooting Stars, Inyathi Rovers are the teams that are trying to make it to the semi-finals on 1 January.
Winners of the semi-finals automatically qualify for the two spots and the losers will play for the remaining one slot. The fourth space is reserved for Bubi, a team that plays in Ubuntu Football League in Mzansi that will have guest players from Bulawayo.
At the beginning of 2019, Shooting Stars, a team that nurtured Highlanders striker Prince Dube while he was a pupil at Somvubu High School defeated Inyathi Rovers 1-0 in the final to retain the trophy they won in 2018.
— @Mdawini_29
