Tuks and TUT ready for Varsity football
Varsity football is back with Tuks and Tut looking to dominate.
Eliot Mahlase
Varsity football kicks off next Monday when University of Pretoria (Tuks) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) will battle it out with six other universities.
Varsity football season three started in Johannesburg on Tuesday, with the country’s top eight university sides getting ready to battle it out over 10 weeks of explosive action.
Amatuks have won the title back to back and will defend their position when the tournament kicks off on 20 July.
The tournament will feature three new teams – Walter Sisulu University (WSU ), Vaal University of Technology (VUT ) and North West University – Potchefstroom (NWU-Pukke) while Wits and TUT make a return after missing out last season. TUT will join rivals Tuks in the battle to win the R97 000 prize money.
Each university will play at least three home games, with 17 of the total 31 matches broadcast live on SuperSport 204 and 210, every Monday at 17:00 and Thursday at 18:30, with the finals taking centre stage on 24 September.
At the end of last season, South Africa’s national coach, Shakes Mashaba, credited Varsity football. “I want to congratulate the organisers for a job well done. I will call some of the players to come and rub shoulders with the Bafana Bafana coach and the players. This talent needs to be nurtured,” he said in a statement.
University of Pretoria striker Thabo Mnyamane, the star of the 2013 tournament, rewarded Mashaba’s faith by scoring on debut in Bafana Bafana’s 3-1 win against Swaziland in an international friendly earlier this year. He was also one of the Premier League’s top goal scorers in the past season.
“This is exactly the kind of progress we are looking for in terms of sustainable partnerships for Varsity Sports. We want our players to get exposure and get noticed by the coaches at the top. It has worked fantastically well with Varsity Cup and we are starting to see the same effects for our other sports,” CEO of Varsity Sports Duitser Bosman said.
Bosman said football is the biggest sport in the world, and the business of football is booming on the African continent. Competitive sport at university level is the first step for many future stars towards making their dreams a reality of gracing the elite leagues across the world.
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