Saturday’s biggest opponent was an uncooperative 25km/h easterly. On Sunday, it was the 35C heat that Freestone Stadium’s gladiators had to contend with in two friendly home-sides pre-season tournaments.
Hosted by Bathurst City, eight under-23 teams took to Freestone Stadium on Friday night and then Saturday from early to late. All the teams were from Bathurst, and from the look of things, there may just have been a bit of mix-and-match age-wise, to make up the squads.
At stake was a winner-takes-all prize of R1600 – the sum of eight R200 team entries.
“It’s our first pre-season tournament,” said organiser Siyabonga Budaza, from Bathurst City. “Coming out of the festive period, the aim is to get our children back to sport in this gap before school starts. Of course, it’s also an important part of the teams’ preparation for the local league.”
The Beaufort Scale calls it a moderate breeze – but players would have been forgiven for calling it something much ruder last Saturday: it wreaked havoc with the best-laid plans and did its best to make even the best players believe they weren’t up to the task.
Eleven Destroyers, Madrid, Young Boyz, Tigers, Bathurst City, Classic, Jomo Spurs and Vuka Ayibambe battled it out in nine games starting at 9am and ending under floodlights more than 12 hours later.
The two semifinals and the final will be played on Saturday January 17: 10am – Young Boyz v Bathurst City; 12pm – Classic v Madrid. The final will be played at 4pm.
With an under-23 tournament hosted by Ward 5 councillor Mzwandile Sweli scheduled for the same day in Bathurst, it’s not clear how the two venues (Freestone and Zamdela) will be allocated. At stake in the councillor’s tournament are gold medals, a full set of kit and a trophy for the winners; silver medals and soccer balls for the runners up and a trophy for the top goal scorer.
Also at Freestone Stadium last weekend – this time cooking in Sunday’s high 30s – five masters teams put in R300 each for a winner-takes-all purse of R1 500.
Port Alfred Collection, Shaw Park Masters and Bathurst Masters were eliminated and Port Alfred Masters beat PA Vintage 3-0 in the final to take home the spoils.
LFA
Registration for the Ndlambe Promotion League closes on February 7 and the league’s first fixtures are scheduled to be played that day and the next.
Bathurst City is currently ranked second in the Ndlambe Promotional League, behind Tigers.
Regional League
Registration for the SAFA Cacadu/Sarah Baartman Hollywood Bets Regional League for 2026/27 closes on February 14. They will play their first matches for this year on Saturday January 17. The last matches of this regional league will be played on April 18.
There are six teams from Ndlambe in the SAFA Cacadu/Sarah Baartman Hollywood Bets Regional League A-stream (formerly called the Ndlambe/Makana stream) – Alexandria Superstars, Alexandria African Killers, Kenton Junior Sundowns, Port Alfred Young Pirates, Port Alfred Arrows, Bathurst United 11; and three from Makana: City Pirates, Eleven Attackers and, from Riebeeck East, Riebeeck City who are first-time winners of the Makana LFA Premier League.
This Saturday’s regional league matches, all at 3pm, are: African Killers FC v Young Pirates FC; City Pirates FC v XI Attackers FC; Arrows FC v United Eleven FC; Riebeeck City v Super Stars FC, at various venues in Makana and Ndlambe.
Regional League have their eye on promotion to the ABC Motsepe League coastal stream. Currently Makana Rhini United (MARU) is the only Ndlambe/Makana team in the coastal stream for 2025/26. Of the 10 sides in that league, MARU sits at fourth with 16 points. At the top of the coastal stream is FC Buffalo City Relatives with 21 points. They will play their first ABC Motsepe coastal stream fixture of the year on Saturday January 24, against Steynsburg based Amavaravara. Registration for the next edition of the ABC Motsepe League closes on February 14.
Bathurst Easter Tournament
Local teams are urged to sign up for the Bathurst Easter Tournament. With 32 teams vying for a winner’s purse of R50 000 (R20K second and third R10K) plus winners’ gold medals, there will be serious action at Freestone stadium and Zamdela soccer grounds.
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, January 15, 2026. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays
