May 2002 (2)
BOOKMARKS Hockey Soccer Report on the Soccer Tour to Botswana and South Africa Squash Results Service Matabeleland Selections Previous Sports Reports
Two weeks of term have now passed and as ever there has
been no lack of sport to occupy the bodies and minds of player, coach
and spectator alike. Second Term is always busy and for many (I do not
count myself among them!) the most important because of the rugby.
Sadly I have been unable to extract a Dubai tour report from the side
but after the creditable performance both at that Tournament and in
the Cottco Festival at Prince Edward hopes are high that Falcon will
have a successful season.
So far at first team level, Falcon has won one match, the first week
away to Milton and then last Saturday the XV played out a tight 11-11
draw at Hartsfield against Plumtree. The lead changed hands on a
number of occasions and, as far as I can ascertain, honours were
indeed even at the end of a good match. The game was also part of the
Matabeleland Trials and we were fortunate enough to have 13 boys
selected to make up the A and B team squads.
The junior sides have also been largely successful with two wins out
of two for both the U14 and U16 A sides. I watched some of the junior
sides play Milton and our U14 group does look a promising bunch. They
played well to beat a strong Milton team.
Hockey
The 1st team hockey has already had a busy season, having competed in
the Inter Cities Tournament, held the first weekend at the Khumalo
Hockey Stadium, and taken on Petra and Plumtree. At the Inter Cities
we did well in the qualifying group stage but then lost to eventual
winners, Prince Edward, in the semi-final. At home to Petra, the team
played well and deservedly won a convincing 6-0. Plumtree are always
tenacious opposition and an early goal was just the start we wanted,
followed by a second not long afterwards. A third came in the second
half to seal victory. I was able to watch both those games and was
generally impressed by the young side – only three are due to leave at
the end of the year. Owen Grobler plays a steady, constructive game in
the midfield, well supported by the likes of Alayne Moseley and
Alistair Roberts. Captain, Keith Ewing in defence, flanked by the
fledgling full back pairing of Gary Manchip and Gareth Hodges, look
pretty solid and the two wingers, Ian Austen on the right and Sean
Williams on the left always threaten in attack. Masimba Bimha in goal
was not called upon for any major heroics but seemed to have
everything under control.
Click on any of the thumbnails to see our hockey players in action....
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Junior sides have only had the one outing at home to Petra. All three
games were won and we trust that is a sign of things to come! U16
(Zimbabwe age-group U17) trials have also been held with 9 Falcon boys
gaining selection for one of the two Matabeleland sides.
On the back of their successful pre-season tour, hopes were high for more of the same on the soccer field and so far optimism has been justified. A win at Milton was a good start, followed by victory over Plumtree in which Josh Sithole, leading scorer on tour, continued his fine form up front.
The junior sides have also been in action. The U16 side is not the strongest we have ever put out but they are keen and really do want to do well. I hope they will meet with more success as the season progresses. It was good, however, to note the victory of the U15 As at C.B.C.
This last week we have had the Junior Inter House soccer which was a competitive and entertaining couple of days with each House playing a short game against the five others. Hervey came out on top, winning all five of their games. Founders were second including the match with the most goals as they inflicted a 6-0 defeat on poor Tredgold, playing pretty well in the process, I thought, but then I am House Tutor in Founders!
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Report on the Soccer Tour to Botswana and South Africa by Hanani Ndebele |
| Our tour started with
a two day camp here at Falcon College, where we assembled on
Saturday 30 March to leave on Tuesday 2 April. We worked to the
limit during the camp and left the College at 8:00 am on the
Tuesday morning. After complications came about at the Botswana border, we continued to Francistown, completing a journey, which had been extended to 8 hours and arrived at John McKenzie School at 3:00 pm. We played our game at 3:30 pm. We certainly got off to a good start, with a convincing 7-0 victory. After a braai at the school we left for our respective hosts’ homes for the night. The next day we moved on to Gaborone, where we were well received by the Mutwale and Sithole families, who were to be our hosts for this leg of the tour. Our first game in Gaborone was against Maru-a-Pula High who we discarded 5-2, in one of our most exciting matches. Two days later we played Ledumang High School, the Botswana Schools Soccer Champions. We played out a 3-3 draw, much to our disappointment after we had led the game 3-1. We proceeded to Legae Secondary School after a day’s rest. We easily despatched them 3-0 and we had now swiped through Botswana! We left for South Africa on Wednesday 10 April and played Denver Boys High that afternoon. It was our most difficult game, but we stood our ground to come out victors by 4-2. Mafikeng was as far as we went in South Africa. Our last game was on Thursday 11 April and we played Mafikeng High School. We won the dull contest 3-1 but the win sparked wild celebrations in our camp as we had completed a major feat, which we were all proud of: to go through the tour undefeated. We then left Mafikeng for Gaborone early on Friday morning, arriving at about 11:30 pm. We spent the night at the Sitholes’ residence before leaving for Zimbabwe at 6:00am the next day. We finally got back to Zimbabwe at around 5 o’clock to tell a great story. Credit must go to Mr
Ndlovu and the Khumalo family who accompanied us on the tour. They
spurred us on all the way and we are grateful to them. Many thanks
must also go to the Sithole and Mutwale families for the
accommodation they gave to us. Their kindness should be known by
all. Thanks once again to these great families. |
We have also had some squash this term with the
Bulawayo Winter League in full swing right from the very first day of
term. Sadly I do not have the results to hand. The A team is playing
in the second league and has been battling a bit but they did win
their most recent match, I believe. The players are largely young and
so relatively inexperienced and this year Orlando Fernandes, the
coach, is throwing his hat into the ring and turning out for our A
side.
Results
service
| SPORT & TEAM | ||
| Rugby | vs Milton | vs Plumtree |
| 1st XV | W 39-10 | D 11-11 |
| 2nd XV | W 47-0 | W 38-5 |
| 3rd XV | W 10-5 | |
| 4th XV | W 51-0 | |
| U16A | W 17-0 | W 22-12 |
| U16B | W 31-19 | |
| U15A | W 44-5 | L 19-29 |
| U15B | W 51-0 | W 42-5 |
| U14A | W 7-5 | W 15-12 |
| U14B | W 15-0 | L 10-29 |
| Hockey | vs Petra | vs Plumtree |
| 1st XI | W 6-0 | W 3-0 |
| 2nd XI | W 3-1 | |
| 3rd XI | W 5-0 | |
| 4th XI | W 5-0 | |
| U16A | W 4-1 | |
| U15A | W 2-1 | |
| U14A | W 4-1 | |
| InterCities Tournament | ||
| vs Midlands Christian | W 2-0 | |
| vs Lomagundi | W 3-0 | |
| vs Watershed | W 3-0 | |
| vs Reserves | W 4-1 | |
| vs Prince Edward | L 2-0 | |
| Soccer | ||
| 1st XI | vs Milton W 2-1 | vs Plumtree W 3-2 |
| 2nd XI | vs Milton L 1-2 | |
| U16A | vs Mzingwane L 0-4 | vs Gifford L 0-6 |
| U16B | vs Gifford L 1-4 | |
| U15A | vs CBC W 1-0 | |
| U15B | vs CBC L 1-4 | |
Matabeleland Selection
Rugby
U19 A side: C Smith, R Valdal, D
Carruthers-Smith, B Maplanka, R Swemmer, A McTaggart, D Jones, D
Williams
B side: B Lapage, L Coulson, D
Crouch, L Turner, T Odendaal, F Mafurirano
Hockey
U16 A side: S Williams, A Roberts,
J Badcock, G Manchip, G Swanepoel
B side: W Collin, K Murray, R
Waghorn, M Stephenson
Richard Harrison
Sports Co-ordinator
20th May 2002