It is exactly a year ago that the Western Cape Sasol League champion UCT Ladies was given a send-off by Safa Cape Town when they embarked on their first HollywoodBets Super League playoff campaign.
Unfortunately, coach Ahmed Parker and his university students fell short at their very first attempt last season but conceded that “valuable lessons” were learnt, says Parker to No Bones with Jones.
And now 12 months later they get a second bite at the cherry in so many seasons to redeem themselves. This comes after the region announced that they are preparing their official send-off on Thursday 10 October – with venue and time to be confirmed.
Furthermore, the playoff campaign will be in their own Western Province backyard – unlike the previous season where they travelled by bus to Bloemfontein for more than half a day to compete against the country’s best and this in hindsight also took its toll on the players.
Playing closer to home this time around in the Sasol’s National Playoffs also comes with its own challenges and UCT need not be reminded that the stakes are high.
As if that is not enough, throw in a Coke Cup final against the defending champs Dangerous Heroes at the Athlone Stadium on 26 October for good measure.
Mind you, Parker and his troops are multiple champions of the prestigious Coke Cup after winning it in 2019 and 2022 and knows what is required to attain success. Parker says he is just grateful for competing in another Coke final.
“Look, first things first we have to deal with the playoffs,” Parker told No Bones with Jones.
“And regarding the Coke, they will have done their homework, and so will we. So it’s going to be an epic encounter.”
And all this after UCT schooled The Magic Ladies in the promotional playoff match at the UWC’s Sportfield in Bellville a couple of weeks ago.
