Mayoral Soccer Cup rules were not obeyed 2008-11-20
I AM concerned about irregularities around the Mayoral Cup 2008 soccer tournament played within the Boland Soccer Association and currently in its final stage.
I’m a mother of a 12-year-old boy playing for Paarl Soccer Club’s under 13 team, which also participated in the Mayoral Cup 2008 tournament.
At the start of the competition it was a rule made very clear by the organisers that all participating teams must have a valid birth certificate for each of their players they wish to play during the tournament.
This however was over-ruled by the match officials, stating that it was not deemed to be important, which resulted in an unfair competition.
Paarl Soccer Club’s under 13 team was well prepared for each of their games with valid birth certificates for each player, and they played well throughout the tournament, until they met their opponents Paarl Pirates in the quarter-finals played on Boy Louw soccer field.
Our boys played well during the game and it came down to penalty shootouts, where we lost the game 1-2.
Our team manager did an enquiry after the match as one of our under 15 players pointed out that one of the opponent’s players had played in the under 15 age group the previous year.
The enquiry was held after the game, and we had to formally write a letter to the chairperson of the soccer board listing our grievances.
I phoned Paulus Joubert Secondary School as the boy in question is a pupil there, and the school confirmed that the boy was a Grade 9 pupil.
It was later revealed that Paarl Pirates had five players which were in an older age group and they were disqualified.
It was advertised in the Paarl Post of 6 November that Paarl Soccer Club’s under 13 team is playing semi-finals against Mbekweni United on 9 November at Faure Stadium.
When we arrived at the stadium, the team Paarl Pirates that had been disqualified from the tournament, was ready to take the field.
A meeting was held with the soccer board’s chairperson and after two hours of deliberating they decided that Paarl Soccer Club was playing the semi-final.
This really put some strain on our boys as they as normal youths were very eager to play and have fun.
They were to start the first match of the day which was scheduled for 10:00, but afterwards only took the field at 13:30.
Paarl Soccer Club lost 5-0 to Mbekweni United, but afterwards we were told that the Mbekweni team had also had under 15 players in their team.
I want to know as a concerned parent who loves to enjoy and support our youth playing the sport they love so much, when this dishonesty will stop and what the organisers of this event will put in place which will not be over-ruled by the match officials of the tournament. I believe if the team who wins a match on level grounds, then they deserve the win, but on the other hand I feel that the losing team was unfairly matched-up during the game due to dishonesty.
I as a parent feel the organisers, team officials as well as match officials must work together and put down the rules of the tournament as this is our juniors who at the end of the day feel that they were cheated out of the tournament. I really feel something needs to be done and I’ll do my best to be helpful in anyway. Heather
Maawyah Moerat, Sports Liaison Officer of Drakenstein Municipality, replies: I do understand the concern of the parent regarding older players who are not playing in their age group. This, I believe, is not acceptable.
I also believe that the rules of the tournament were communicated thoroughly to the clubs. In general clubs follow the rules, but it can happend that individual clubs don’t accept the rules.
Although Drakenstein Municipality is the organiser and sponsor of the Mayoral Cup, the local soccer association (Drakenstein LFA) set the rules for the tournament.
In 2006 Drakenstein Municipality launched this tournament with good intent. We cannot allow that allegations mar this tournament which is there to uplift soccer in all communities in the Drakenstein area. In the future we will definitely look at rules which will make this tournament more successful.
