It was an emphatic end to a blitz CTTLFA promotion league campaign as Green Point and Kensington claimed promotion to the Premier League with Tramway and Camps Bay climbing the ladder into the First Division.
Topping the log having only actually played nine games, Green Point’s only loss of the campaign came toward the end of their title challenge after going down 1-0 to Ruyterwacht.
Green Point’s Kyle Horn said the teams faced challenges brought on by the pandemic but the players overcame them in their quest for glory.
“Although these challenges did not make anything easier this season, the players at Green Point SAFC made sure to work as hard as possible once the opportunity was given to them for the second season this year, season 2.0 as we called it,” Horn said in a statement issued via e-mail.
“The hard work from the players this season was directly reflected in the results achieved and all paid off when the first team and reserve team managed to secure the league titles on the last day of their respective leagues.
“The club has been really put in a big effort in supporting the needs of all the teams at Green Point SAFC over the last two years and current results and league titles across all the teams are a direct result of this effort by the club. We are very proud of all the hard work and effort shown by everyone at the club, as a community, ensuring that we continue to believe that anything is possible in the right environment.”
Meanwhile, over at Kensington, Warren Langerman was full of praise for his Kensington side after they won promotion back to the Premier League after having been relegated back in 2014.
“When we started this journey in 2020 we knew the current crop of players has what it takes to achieve great things, however the National Lockdown in march 2020 meant the cancelling of all soccer for the year.
“We had a slow start to the season 2021 and with all football being being stopped due to the Covid 19 pandemic midway through our regular season we thought our chances of gaining promotion would have to wait for another year but as the national lockdown levels eased and under very strict Covid 19 Protocols put in place by national government, SAFA CT and CTTLFA we as a club decided to participate in the resumption of the league in August with the modest goal of keeping the young men active.
“I want to take nothing away from the club leadership and coaching staff this moment belongs to the players and coaches and the hard work they put in to gain promotion, our area is known for gangsterism but this club has always been a beacon of light drawing the talent away from the negative elements that they are easily attracted to.”
His written statement concluded: “The opportunity to play premier league football in 2022 will be even more attractive to these boys as we want them to experience and show case their talents at the highest level as possible”
Closer to the Southern Suburbs, Tramway found themsleves celebrating an unexpected League Title after a number of second division teams dropped out, leaving just eight official league matches to decide the ultimate winner.
Tramway’s head coach, Shamiel Permall, acknowledged what could have been and was grateful his side took the opportunity after years of disappointment.
“It would’ve been an interesting season had it been a full played out season, because there are very good teams in Division 2,” he said.
“We’ve been struggling to get back up since 2016, bar the Water Restrictions and obviously Covid, everyone at the club is happy and excited at the same time and looking forward to the new season.”
Pressed on what this means, Permall was just happy to be promoted: “I myself am a bit relieved that we won and will be going up because for the longest time we’ve been just about there fighting year in and year out for promotion ending close each year.”
For Camps Bay Football Club, promotion to the First Division couldn’t feel sweeter and even with two losses, the beachfront club was still able to find their way into promotion with ease, finishing five points adrift of third-placed YSD Macassar.
“The Camps Bay Senior section of the Club was almost non existent and had just suffered two consecutive Relegation’s when we (myself and Andy) took over,” told Bobby Breen in an interview with CTTLFA Head of Competitions Barry Petersen.
He went on to describe the work he and Andy had undergone: “We rebuilt the 1st, 2nds and 3rd Teams and they have all done Amazingly well with the first team winning Promotion, the second team winning their League and the thirds finished in a very respectable 4th place.
“It really is a fantastic achievement because it was a completely new Team that we had to put together. We had a number of teenagers in our First Team squad and also lots of young 20-something’s. The average age of the First Team was under 24 Years of age. These young players were awesome, held together and driven on by their Lead by example Captain Robbie Breen“
On what it took to succeed through the shortened season, Breen laid praise on the club’s Chairperson, Gina Isserow and explained her role in their quest for promotion.
“It has been an absolute pleasure working with Chairperson Gina Isserow who has given us everything that we asked for to enable us to win promotion to the First Division. Gina and the whole Club are ecstatic that we have won promotion at the first attempt and I said from day one we would win promotion.”
Looking ahead, Breen is confident his young guns have what it takes to get them all the way into the Premier League: “I expect us to be challenging next season also for promotion to the Premier League,” he said. “You need to set Goals/Targets or the Players will stagnate.”
The 2022 campaign will likely kick-off in early April and if these teams are going to repeat the heroics of 2021, they’ll no doubt be looking ahead already and putting together their plans for what promises to be one of the most exciting seasons of local football.