Amaroto enjoys competitive league season

Despite the challenges Amaroto Football Club faced, the Katlehong-based club was able to end the season on a promising note.

They are second on the Katlehong Local Football Association (KALFA) Super League log standings.

Their last game against Dikole Killers (DK) was stopped at 0-0 when the DK coach assaulted a match official.

The clubs are waiting for a directive from KALFA that will determent what team proceeds to the playoffs.

This is the second time the team came close to snatching the KALFA Super League title since its initiation in 2019. They dominated the log table last season before sporting activities were disrupted by the pandemic.

The boys were hoping to be competing in the Castle League as they enjoyed a seven-game undefeated run.
Head coach of Amaroto FC Tieho Mokoena joined the team in 2020.

He explained he has always been a fan of the club.

“I always attended their games before I started coaching them. I saw the potential and enjoyed how they play football,” said Mokoena.

“The first thing I told the players was we need to play in the league because there is no team from Katlehong competing in Castle or Vodacom leagues or other prominent leagues.

“At that time, they were only playing tournaments,” he said.

At the time, he was still a coach for Happy Stars and helped at a school in Danville, Primrose. Besides his duties at Amaroto, he assists at Wits FC.

Achievements of the club

With assistant coach Musa Makhanya (24), they were able to make a name for Amaroto.

They reached the semi-finals and finals in most of the tournaments they took part in, in 2020. Their biggest achievements are winning three tournaments, including a top 16 tournament in Vosloorus, and a top eight in Katlehong and Palm Ridge.

Makhanya said even though he is young, he appreciates the respect the players show him.

“The players respect me when it is time to work. We can joke when training is done and dusted, but when it’s time for us to work, everyone knows they have to switch on and get ready to learn,” he said.

Setbacks during the league season

“In our first season in the KALFA league, we only played the first round and were almost done when Covid-19 struck,” he said.

“Last year the league was declared null and void, meaning we all had to start from scratch, which was a big blow for us because we lost some players.

“I was not happy because I was expecting us to win the league, but since we could not complete it, we could not claim the title. The league required teams to play at least 60% of the games. We only played eight games and had two remaining in the first round,” said Makhanya.

Amaroto did not play with a full squad in most of their games this season.

They won 12 games, lost three and scored 38 goals this season.