Tigers win the battle of the cats

Hardly a year after their formation and registration with the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association, Alex Royal Tigers Sports Club has dumbfounded everybody.

They have just arrived and swept away all their 23 opponents to win the U13 league with 64 points, having only conceded one loss and one draw.

Their closest rival was Alex Young Lions Football Club with 57 points, thereby winning the battle of the cats.

As part of a celebratory occasion to mark the season’s end, Alex football organised a mini soccer festival which pitted the league winners against the runners-up in all the divisions.

In the U13 division of the festival match, the Tigers again won this battle of the cats by beating Alex Young Lions 3–2, placing the Tigers on top of the food chain.

Alex’s youngest referee, Lesego Nkosi (10) officiated the game.

Besides winning the battle of the cats, the Tigers reached each and every final of the cup competitions on offer under the Alex Football Association but were unfortunately knocked out in the final stages of all of them.

Youthful Tigers coach, Thembinkosi ‘Tiger’ Matholengwe (18) said his recipe for success in his first year of participation in the league games, although the team previously participated as Leonard FC, was a simple affair.

“I decided to work on the boys’ state of the mind, focusing attention on their psychological motivation to mentally prepare them for the battles that lie ahead in the league, and this paid off handsomely,” said a delighted Matholengwe in an interview with Alex News.

Matholengwe said Alex Football Association had previously denied him the opportunity to register his sports club, saying he was too young to own one.

But the secretary-general of the association, Mafika Morajane, explained that they had not denied Tiger the right to register his club but had to consider African protocol when a 16-year-old would need to argue in a meeting with men his grandfather’s age.

“We advised Tiger to find somebody elderly to work with who would then attend the meetings of the clubs’ chairmen and would be able to argue and put Tiger’s case forward. We didn’t want a situation where old people sit and argue with a youngster as that is unheard of in our culture,” Morajane explained.

Alex United’s Nkani Dube then came into the picture and managed to secure a registration for the young man and got Khotso Mofolo to sit in on the board meetings to present Tiger’s case to the elders.

“I am looking forward to defending the league title come next season. Most of my boys will still be eligible for the U13 league division,” Tiger said.

Details: Thembinkosi Tiger Matholengwe, 061 620 8213; admin@alexroyaltigers.com; www.alexroyaltigers.com