Batlokwa FC U13 team and Norwood Young Stars U15 team are the new champions of the inaugural Afrika Tikkun Champions League football tournament.
Both teams were crowned their respective age group champions after Batlokwa dispatched Happy Fighters FC 2-1 while the Stars fought their way to the championship beating Alex Royal Tigers 4-1.
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Both finals were played at the Altrek Sports Complex on 19 November after players from both teams were put through their paces in an Afrika Tikkun “boys to men” program designed to prepare players for boys to respect and honor the rights of their female counterparts.
The Tikkun initiative comes against the backdrop of Alexandra being singled out as one of the hotbeds of gender-based violence, particularly during South Africa’s recent Covid-19 lockdown period.
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In the game witnessed AlexNews, The Tigers started the game as one of the most dangerous cats in the world, traumatizing their Stars counterparts and constantly bombarding their goal mouths in search of early goals that never materialized when the forwards missed the target.
Masego Sethebha, Menzi Ngubane, Simanga Nkosi, Fortunate Kwape and Ndamulelo Sikhwari were the main culprits behind missed chances for the Tigers team. Ndamulelo redeemed himself by scoring a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game.
This was after the Stars scored three goals with the fourth an own goal by Tigers’ Siphelele Simelane after trying to clear the ball from the
goal line but instead rammed it.
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Earlier, both teams entered the ‘oranges’ break with Stars leading by just one goal from Thato Ndlovu’s boot. This was after the Tigers defenders attempted to play from their 18 yard area and Thato intercepted the ball and converted.
Malizo Duka headed the Stars’ second goal. For their third, an acute right-wing angled curler Omphemetse ‘Yellow’ Mojele found the net immediately followed by the own goal.
The game almost escalated into a brawl between Tigers skipper Frans Sokana and Thato after a rough play incident but was quickly put down by the referee.
The incident not only goes against the spirit of fair play in football, but collides with the very foundations of the tournament and the Afrika Tikkun workshops that the players had undergone throughout the tournament leading up to it. to the final.
