Tzaneen beats Giyani on own turf

ANYONE who has ever watched a soccer match between Greater Giyani Municipality and Greater Tzaneen Municipality teams would be reminded of the term: “change-five-drop-ten”, which is mostly used in street soccer to explain the relation between the half-time score and the score at the end of the match.

Giyani was beaten 10-2 by Tzaneen in Giyani recently.

The match was part of an annual awareness campaign organised by the Greater Giyani Municipality to promote a healthy lifestyle by hosting sports activities for personnel to participate in.

Speaking after the game, Tzaneen soccer coach Peter Modike attributed their win to the team’s practise routine, saying they practised three-times a week.

“We practise from Tuesday to Thursday and sometimes organise a game for the weekend, where we play our hearts out,” he said.

The Tzaneen team is arguably one of the best municipal soccer teams in the province, but unfortunaltely lost in the finals of the Southern Africa Inter-Municipal Sports Association games (Saimsa) that was held in Polokwane last year.

“We will compete in the upcoming Saimsa games to be held in the Makhado Municipality soon,” he said.

According to Modike, the Tzaneen team was very dedicated and organised. “We even contribute our own money to buy the kit that we use in away matches,” he added.

Spokesperson for the Greater Giyani Municipality, Steve Mavunda who was also part of the soccer team, said they were going to address their poor performance by urging personnel to participate in sport.

According to Mavunda, the reason they did not practise much was because some municipal workers do not have transport after practise. “We appeal to staff to participate in sport. We will try to resolve the current problem of transport after practise,” he said.

“When we knock off on Wednesdays those who live in the villages rush to the bus station instead of coming to practise as they won’t have transport home after practise.

“This is one of the main problems we are facing in terms of getting everybody to the practise session,” he said.