Malherbe wins the prestigious tournament

By Thabani Magubane
It all began when the UKZN Soccer Committee organized a greatest of all tournaments- The UKZN Champions League. The tournament was held on the 6th of October 2007 at Howard College. Sixteen teams from all the UKZN campuses with Nelson Mandela Campus falling under Howard College participating in the tournament. The top four from each UKZN Campus League were selected to participate in the tournament. Siwelele, Greater Malherbe, WOB and Denison represented PMB in the tournament. It was PMB Campus that proved to be the best with three of our teams (G. Malherbe, Siwelele and Denison) reaching the Semi-Finals. The PMB teams dominated in all the games. In the first game Siwelele won 6 – 1 to P – Block (Westville) the so called the best, G. Malherbe drew 2 – 2 with New Res (Howard) which has the best players representing the UKZN soccer team and G. Malherbe won 3 – 1 on penalties, Denison won 5 – 1 , unfortunately for WOB they lost on penalties after 1- 1 draw. In the quarterfinals, G. Malherbe won 2 – 1 to Shakers, Siwelele won on penalties after a one all draw.

Already three out of four teams from PMB had already qualified for the semis. In the 1st semis Siwelele again won on penalties after a hot goalless match and had qualified for the finals. G. Malherbe was suppose to play against Denison in the 2nd semi-finals but since it was late, and only the PMB Campus teams were left, it was decided that the second semi-final (G. Malherbe vs. Denison) and final were going to be played in PMB. The 2nd semi-final between G. Malherbe and Denison was played in Greenfield on the 20th October 2007. Malherbe dominated the whole game and the final score was 3 – 0 in favour of G. Malherbe (the untouchable boys: “Abafana Bamaskofiya”). The final between G. Malherbe and Siwelele was held on the 21st October 2007 at Greenfield. This was the dream match for all soccer supporters in PMB, although the sun was burning hot but Greenfields was packed with both G. Malherbe and Siwelele supporters. The 1st half was not interesting as it seemed as if both teams were trying to understand the opponents’ style of play. In the 1st minute of the 2nd half Siwelele broke the deadlock with only four passes as they caught G. Malherbe napping. G. Malherbe boy came back to equalise with only 10 minutes left on the clock. The matches ended up in a one all; draw, and went on to penalties. All Siwelele players missed penalties even their most trusted one Lindo “Skhafthini” Zamisa missed, therefore allowing G. Malherbe to win it in style, 3 -0 on penalties. It would have been very sad for G. Malherbe if they did not win this one because they failed to win the league and the cup although they pulled off good performances for the rest of the season. Congratulations to Greater Malherbe “Abafana Bamaskofiya”

To all the teams that represented PMB in Howard College; you guys made us proud and showed that our Campus League is the best in whole of UKZN.