When I tell you guys that Hartleyvale is a special place, don’t come and tell me otherwise if you weren’t at this year’s Lucky Star Cup because emotions ran high mfowethu!
Ajax Cape Town did the double at the junior football festival, with the U12 and U14 teams lifting the titles and their players picking up most of the key individual awards.
Hout Bay FC won the U7 and U8 division titles, while Football Elite walked away as the winners of the U9 division, with FN Rangers FC winning the U10 division.
The U7 to U10 sides all played in a five-a-side format, while the U11 and U12s compete eight against eight.
Tramway FC won the U11 division and then the Ajax tiny youngsters stole the show with unbelievable skill in their oversized jerseys, bringing back some crazy memories of seeing the likes of Steven Pienaar, Shaun Potgieter, Thulani Serero and the like to run circles around their peers.
Their entertaining brand of football was described by one of the KZN parents as a “free football clinic” as they beat the KZN Academy and win their first-ever U12 title.
IMPRESSIVE: Ajax took U14 Lucky Star Cup. Picture: Jeffery Abrahams.
The Ajax U12s are coached by one of Langa’s great footballers Harper Makhi Mapila, popularly referred with the nickname Grompy.
Many of Ajax’s top talents have passed through his hands over the years, the list is far too long to even put on paper.
But Grompy says he couldn’t hold back his emotions seeing his tiny boys lift the trophy.
He tells the Daily Voice: “Going back to Hartleyvale as a coach and winning the Lucky Star tournament brought back so many fond memories and has inspired me to continue doing what I like - coaching young players.
“I watched my former team Bafana FC against AmaZulu FC here.
“Bafana boasted the likes of Days Gqiba, Stix Oliphant and the late Fisher Galo, while AmaZulu had the likes of Sugar Ray Xulu, Nduna ka Ndaba and Shoes Shamase, etc.
“I watched my favourite player Bertram “Pedis” Sodayise struggle in that game with a stomach bug and he had to time and again leave the pitch a couple of times but come back to play.
“That game changed my life because I grew up and joined/played for Bafana to follow in the footsteps of my role model Sodayise. I wore his number 10 jersey.”
WAY BACK: Inter-provincial tourney. Picture: Supplied.
His assistant coach Rameez Behardien, who is some years younger, said that he only heard stories told by his father about Hartleyvale.
“My father always told me about matches at Hartleyvale. Watching the then-Cape Town City coached by Frank Lord.
"They would travel by train every Friday night and arriving at a full-capacity Hartleyvale Stadium!
“Watching players like Geoff Hurst [still the only striker to score a hattrick in a World Cup final] and Frank “Jingles” Pereira who also went on to play for Kaizer Chiefs and later Orlando Pirates”
Meanwhile, the Ajax U14s head coach Rowan Hendricks’ memories of the ground runs even deeper because it is where, as a 16-year-old, he won Player of the Tournament at the United Bank Inter-Provincial Tournament.
Hendricks says: “Farouk Abrahams was our coach. I got goosebumps because that was the very place my life changed.
“It is where I was selected for the national U20 team. I watched as I’m sure the boys’ lives will change.
“They brought so much hope back and I’m forever grateful to you for allowing me that.
“Hartleyvale has so much history and I felt that in my bones.
“That’s why I couldn’t hold back tears!”
HAPPY BOYS: U11 champions Tramway FC. Picture: Jeffery Abrahams.
Hendricks had called on former teammate Nathan Paulse to sit next to him on the bench at the eleventh hour and Ajax beat Milano United FC on penalties to lift their first ever U14 title.
Paulse said that although he never attended a match there as youngster, he got to at least play there for Avendale while on a loan deal during his Ajax days.
He recalls: “Most memories of Hartleyvale was me listening to my dad and his friends reminisce about the old Cape Town City packing out Hartleyvale Stadium back in the day.
“These kids created their own piece of history that we will talk about for many years to come!”
The tournament lived up to its slogan: It All Starts Here as it surely was the beginning of great things for the boys that played on that holy ground this past weekend.
Remember these names: Siviwe, Faiz, Para and Zubair alright!