Soccer: Protest disrupts Safa Cape Town Coca Cola Cup
At the semi-finals of the woman’s leg of the Safa Cape Town Coca Cola Cup, the Saxon United Ladies team from Heideveld protested on one of the fields where a semi-final match between RV United from Khayelitsha and Phoenix Spurs from Bonteheuwel was about to start.
The ladies entered the field with placards that had messages such as: ‘We want answers’, ‘Safa let us down again’, ‘No feedback received’, ‘We never default’.
It is unusual for soccer teams that are not happy about something to protest in this manner.
Ashne Combrink of Saxon United Ladies said, “We were supposed to play RV United in our quarter final game, but we never received the revised fixture, which made us miss that game because when we got to the field, we were told we were late.
“We sent emails to Safa enquiring about our game but they never got back to us.”
Combrink said, “We thought we needed to take a stand because if this game gets results, then we’ll be out of the competition and it is unjust.”
Safa Cape Town’s Martin Neewat said, “We don’t deal with clubs. They must deal with their local football association who deal with us [and] not the way they are going about it now.”
Saxon United Ladies won the battle because the game they disrupted did not happen. The two teams, who were kitted out ready to fight for their spot in the finals, were disappointed they didn’t get to play.
RV United goalkeeper Pamela Ngwabeni said, “I don’t know why they disrupted our game because the other semi final continued and ours didn’t. If they have a problem with Safa, they should protest against Safa and leave us out of it. We prepared well for this game. We were ready. Now we must wait for Safa to tell us when we can play the game.”
Phoenix Spurs manager Jerome Walters said, “We came here to play and now our game has been called off because Saxon stepped on to the field. The girls were excited and looking forward to play this semi final. They were very disappointed to have come all this way and not to play, but that’s football.”
In the other semi-final Vasco da Gama thrashed Durbanville 11-1 to advance to the finals. Earlier on, two semi-finals of the boys under 17 took place: Santos lost 3-1 on penalties to Masidlale after they played to a 1-all draw in the 90 minutes. The second semi-final was played between Ajax Cape Town and Glendene. Ajax also won the game 4-1 on penalties after a 1-all draw.
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