Toti United juniors soccer registration closes
The response from keen young players has been overwhelming with all age groups from U7 to the U15s making up their quota of players per team, which has effectively closed registration.
ON behalf of Toti United FC juniors committee and parents, I extend a big thank you to all coaches, team moms and especially Phillipa Carson and Val Potgieter for co-ordinating the paperwork and fee registrations.
The response from keen young players has been overwhelming with all age groups from U7 to the U15s making up their quota of players per team, which has effectively closed registration.
The deadline from SAFA was 18 March and the club has done extremely well to get everything resolved within two weeks, which is an absolute record. Phillipa and Val, your energy and enthusiasm is breathtaking to say the least and the efficiency with the way the whole process was handled is something to behold.
I have been playing soccer at Hutchison Park since the late 70’s, having gone through the ranks from the U12B side right through to the 1st team, when we won the league with the now Bafana coach, Gordon Igesund, as our player manager. Now how many of you knew that? There is a lot of history connected to this club and I could ring off names until the cows come home, but most are now living in Australia or abroad somewhere.
It is commendable that chairman, Dean Carson, has built the juniors club up from scratch over the past five years and it is testimony to his passion for the game and the community that our youngsters are able to enjoy what we had back in the day. Back then, the South Coast had a wealth of imported English players and homegrown talent that produced many Natal and Springbok soccer players as they were called then. One in particular is the legendary Ian Bender, who is still playing competitive soccer well into his 60s with the over 35’s and there were managers like Peter Bond and Lloyd Jones, whose names were synonymous with soccer and Toti for decades and are still around today.
A special memory for me is the annual five-a-side that the juniors host annually in August, because it always reminds me of the old South Coast Cup. Owen Dawson was in his heyday then with the premier league side Twini Park and they used to dominate the competition against derby rivals, Kingsburgh, Umkomaas and Toti.
The tournament would pull in crowds of 4,000-plus and it is so good to see the car park full again on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and especially on Sundays for match day. As an afterthought, some of you will remember the celebrations at the various hotels at our disposal like the Kingsburgh, Strand, Bela Vista, Goodwood, Poseidon, River Gardens, Beach and Lagoon Hotels after match days, when we were spoilt for choice and had entertainment places to go to. Nowadays we have to be content with hanging out at the mall.
