UWC team brimming with confidence
At ABC Motsepe League, South Africa’s third tier football consortium, Akhona Bonga has been a familiar face in the past five years as he commanded a place in at least five different clubs.
Such a depth of experience will be vital when Bonga’s services are called to action as the UWC Football Club try to improve their previous performances in the Varsity Football Tournament this season. The event kicks-off on Monday, 20 July 2015, and UWC will open their account away at Wits.
A final-year Bcom general student, Bonga believes the University has what it takes to go all out to win the trophy, unlike the past two seasons when they finished seventh and sixth. His confidence is derived from the fact that the team has maintained about 70% of their squad from last year, finishing runner up at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) games early in the year.
“And we managed to match and even beat some of the top teams during the USSA games,” remembers Bonga, who is the vice-captain of the Bellville-based UWC Varsity Football side.
Bonga, who has represented the Western Cape provincial team from Under 13 to Under 19 divisions, also believes that UWC is more united as a family than before, with even the coach, Salie Adams, staying on campus.
Like many budding footballers, the Plettenberg Bay-born Bonga has a dream of plying his trade at professional level, and is knocking hard on relevant doors. He was in the USSA Under 21 team which participated in the Sasol Under 21 National Championships in June 2015, and has in the past been in the books of the Motsepe League franchises of both Ajax Cape Town and Chippa United, among other clubs.
“I had a dream to replace Tefu Mashamaite (South Africa’s current player of the season who left giants Kaizer Chiefs recently). But I still have hopes that one day I will make it to professional level.”
A religious Bonga, who loves cooking in his spare time, has called on the University community to come out in large numbers to support the team in their four home matches.
“Support is very important to any player and to any team. It gives us more motivation to work extra hard because we don’t want to disappoint our fans.”
Meanwhile, the UWC team for this year’s Varsity Football competition was introduced to the University community with much fanfare on Thursday, July 16. Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tyrone Pretorius, and Students’ Representative Council President, Vuyani Sokhaba, joined hundreds of cheering students to wish the team well in the tournament.
Here are PICTURES in case you missed out
The opening game against Wits will be televised live on Supersport at 17h00 on Monday, 20 July 2015.
