Diadora gained promotion to Safa Cape Town’s Third Division on Sunday by beating Westridge FC at Rooikrans Sports Field in Grassy Park – but the questions about possible collusion and bribery just will not go away.
Safa Cape Town is still busy investigating the alleged bribery and corruption scandal which rocked local football with the commencement of the Playoffs. The Mother Body has since appointed a magistrate to handle the case and only time will tell what the future holds for those implicated.
That aside, it was always going to be a tough ask for the Mitchells Plain LFA champion, Westridge, to get the better of Diadora and it reflected in their 0-5 drubbing in Grassy Park.
Diadora went on to complete an unprecedented treble by winning the League at Athlone LFA, defended the Coke Cup successfully and followed that up with the cherry on the cake by gaining promotion to the Hollywoodbets Third Division for 2024.
Clover FC also gained promotion by beating Kalawa 3-0 in the other semi.The only other team to achieve a treble in the local amateur ranks was Vasco Ladies in 2021 when they won promotion to the Hollywoodbets Women’s Super League.
Surely, Safa CT could also not have aided Diadora with their success at the LFA and Coke Cup? The fact of the matter is that this club from Hanover Park is doing something right – something that other clubs just cannot do.
Whether it is the caliber of their players, their owner’s vision to contribute positively toward their community and giving players a platform to shine, or whether it is just because they are driven by success. Whatever it is, one cannot take away from the fact that Diadora was just a cut above the rest.
Westridge, who competed at their fourth playoffs this year, should only blame themselves as in my view their coaching staff got the tactics wrong on the day.
And instead of their fans questioning the football side of things, profanities and racial slurs were hurled – in the presence of young children – during the second semi-final which was completely uncalled for.
Westridge coach Clinton Jacobs gave his honest opinion after the match stating that he did not think it was a legitimate penalty awarded to Diadora early in the match which “kicked the wind out of their sails”.
This is debatable, but the clock showed that there was ample time for a comeback. Westridge, for whatever reason, could not find their mojo which led them up to this point. They had a couple of half chances here and there in both halves, and with a little more composure and luck the scoreline could have been, not different, but less embarrassing.
The thing is that Jacobs’ team also did play football… I’m sure everyone is familiar with the saying: “Laat die ball die werk doen” and this did not happen.
Westridge did not have the ability to hold onto the ball and string together at least a couple of passes, creating space and looking for gaps to pierce passes through – NO! It was long aerial balls which was baffling as Diadora’s defenders are not only tall but extremely good in the air.
This suggests that Westridge had no clear tactic or Plan B to nullify their opponents. Maybe the occasion was too overwhelming. Maybe the scandal of the playoffs played on their psyche, who knows…but Westridge was clearly not at the races.
It also doesn’t help if your goalkeeper gets beaten with a 30-yard looping freekick whereby he could see the ball coming from a mile but could not hold onto the catch – eventually falling backwards into the goalpost with the ball next to him.
It is time that the quality of football or lack thereof should be the discussion and not the sideshows. Yes, there are politics in sport and in football even more so, but let’s not give it further prominence by making it the focus – it should have been the football on the field in the highly anticipated match where there was a lot on the line for both clubs. It devalues and takes away the shine from the clubs, coaches and players.
Let’s not forget why we call ourselves football lovers – and not drama or scandal queens because adding more fuel to the fire will eventually tarnish the sport we hold so dear.
