Kovsies in for bumpy ride, warns UWC keeper

The position of goalkeeper is regarded as the most specialised position in football, and because of his slender physique, Reon October has often been advised that the position is not ideal for him.

But the 22-year-old second-year UWC BA student is not willing to give up what he has loved since the age of seven years old. “I might not look like a goalkeeper, but I enjoy being one,” the Manchester United fanatic, October, comments. “To me it is one of the best positions in football, and it excites me all the time.”

October, who is originally from East London in the Eastern Cape, is a fierce goalpost defender. His sterling performance has earned him two consecutive FNB Man of the Match awards during UWC’s first two matches in the Varsity Football tournament - a 2-2 draw at home against the University of Johannesburg and a 1-0 away defeat to the North West University - which generally means that the team didn’t play well. But October disagrees.

“Putting my individual performance aside, the team played well but switched off in the last 19 minutes of the first game and we could have won the last game (against NWU) if we had taken the opportunities offered to us.”

October, who plays for Maties in the Boland region of the SAB Regional League (formerly the Castle Regional League), believes the UWC team will be a force to be reckoned with in this year’s Varsity Football tournament, despite picking up a single point out of a possible six.

“We have a crop of brilliant players in the team. In fact, I think this is the best squad the University has ever had. I don’t think we are far off from other universities, judging from what happened in the past two games. We are just a bit slow in getting off the starting blocks. As soon as we get going, we will be a force to be reckoned with and I know that we can make it to the top four.”

UWC will count on October’s heroics when they seek their first Varsity Football tournament win at home against the University of Free State on Monday, 4 August. After it was predicted on the Varsity Sport website that his team will finish last, October says the team is fired up to prove the critics wrong.

“We will use those comments as motivation. The mood in the camp is now better than at the beginning. We are more like a family. The guys are pumped for Monday’s game and the University of the Free State is in for a bumpy ride”.