The University of Fort Hare football team aims to celebrate the institution’s centenary in style by reaching the final of the 2016 Varsity Football competition which starts on Monday.
UFH is the only team representing the Eastern Cape in the competition that features the country’s top eight football playing institutions of higher learning. This after Walter Sisulu University, who took part in this competition last year, failed to qualify this time around after finishing ninth in the national qualifiers earlier this year.
Nelson Mandela University and Rhodes University on the other side did not make the cut to the national qualifiers which UFH finished fourth to qualify having made the top eight bracket.
Being Eastern Cape’s sole representatives only adds to the pressure faced by UFH to do well, for they do not only represent themselves but the entire province.
Team manager Sbabalwe Feni was confident that UFH would rise to the occasion.
According to Feni, the team had been hard at work in the previous weekend starting from May in getting the team to shape up for the highly competitive tournament.
So determined is UFH that players had to forget about going on vacation as they had to attend a camp at the university’s Alice campus.
Also to UFH’s advantage is that more than 90% of the team is made up of the same players who finished fourth in the the national qualifiers held in Bloemfontein before Easter this year.
Their first test will be a televised encounter against Free State’s Central University of Technology at the Davidson Stadium in Alice at 7pm on Monday.
Much will be expected from the UFH soccer side, especially after the rugby counterparts UFH Blues dished out a dismal showing in the Varsity Shield competition where they managed a single draw and seven losses.
Feni said they fancied their chances of doing well: “Technically and otherwise we are more than ready as a team and we believe our 30-man squad is capable enough to see us compete with the best of the best and reach the final or at least the last four if we fall short.
“The only challenge we had in our preparations was releasing some players during exams but we made up for that by assembling a camp during the vacation period.”
UFH should not have problems in starting on a high note with their first two opponents – CUT and University of North West not counted among the competition’s superpowers.
They will only get to face serious foes when they travel to Pretoria to square up with last year’s runners-up TUT on August 1 in what will be their third outing.
They will then come back home to play host against defending champions the University of the Western Cape, at which stage it should be clear whether UFH have packed a mean punch or just adding up numbers.
UFH’s final three matches before the semifinal stage will be against Wits, Tuks and UJ in that order with the first two in their own backyard. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
Fort Hare has grand ambitions for tourney
UFH is the only team representing the Eastern Cape in the competition that features the country’s top eight football playing institutions of higher learning. This after Walter Sisulu University, who took part in this competition last year, failed to qualify this time around after finishing ninth in the national qualifiers earlier this year.
Nelson Mandela University and Rhodes University on the other side did not make the cut to the national qualifiers which UFH finished fourth to qualify having made the top eight bracket.
Being Eastern Cape’s sole representatives only adds to the pressure faced by UFH to do well, for they do not only represent themselves but the entire province.
Team manager Sbabalwe Feni was confident that UFH would rise to the occasion.
According to Feni, the team had been hard at work in the previous weekend starting from May in getting the team to shape up for the highly competitive tournament.
So determined is UFH that players had to forget about going on vacation as they had to attend a camp at the university’s Alice campus.
Also to UFH’s advantage is that more than 90% of the team is made up of the same players who finished fourth in the the national qualifiers held in Bloemfontein before Easter this year.
Their first test will be a televised encounter against Free State’s Central University of Technology at the Davidson Stadium in Alice at 7pm on Monday.
Much will be expected from the UFH soccer side, especially after the rugby counterparts UFH Blues dished out a dismal showing in the Varsity Shield competition where they managed a single draw and seven losses.
Feni said they fancied their chances of doing well: “Technically and otherwise we are more than ready as a team and we believe our 30-man squad is capable enough to see us compete with the best of the best and reach the final or at least the last four if we fall short.
“The only challenge we had in our preparations was releasing some players during exams but we made up for that by assembling a camp during the vacation period.”
UFH should not have problems in starting on a high note with their first two opponents – CUT and University of North West not counted among the competition’s superpowers.
They will only get to face serious foes when they travel to Pretoria to square up with last year’s runners-up TUT on August 1 in what will be their third outing.
They will then come back home to play host against defending champions the University of the Western Cape, at which stage it should be clear whether UFH have packed a mean punch or just adding up numbers.
UFH’s final three matches before the semifinal stage will be against Wits, Tuks and UJ in that order with the first two in their own backyard. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
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