Grassy Park United’s Premier Cup celebrations continued at the weekend when club members went on a victory march through the neighbourhood, following their 2-1 victory against Cape Town Spurs in last week’s finals, played at Athlone Stadium.
“After winning the Bayhill Premier Cup, our club felt it was important to celebrate this major achievement with our community,” said club spokesman, Alaric Jacobs.
Quick to respond to the idea mooted by chairman, Zaahier Witbooi, players and management, fellow senior and junior players of the club, parents and other supporters met at the corner of Victoria Road and Klip Road in Grassy Park, marching down Victoria Road all the way to Fifth Avenue,” said Jacobs.
“We showcased our winning trophies to show our community what we did for them. We stopped at all the businesses along the way to celebrate with them and take photos with the staff who were excited to be with the team who made Grassy Park proud. We were singing songs and displaying our trophies for everyone to see.
“There was a real buzz in Victoria Road,” he said. “Everyone was excited, cars hooting, people coming to take photos with the team and there was just a sense of celebration. The community was generally happy for us and you could see they were proud of what we were able to achieve.”
Jacobs, knows all too well the hard work that went into pulling off last week’s historic victory as he’s been with the club since its establishment in 2014 as well as with its forerunner, Crusaders AFC, which he joined as a 16-year old.
“So that’s 31 years in total,” said Jacobs, who’s also secretary of the club and the manager of the Bayhill team.
“We started preparing for the tournament in November last year already. We had to start getting our players fit and get some new players. We knew we would only enter the play-offs in the group stages. So we arranged friendlies to get us ready for the qualifiers,” he said.
For Jacobs and co it’s about more than just playing soccer and winning matches as they aim to have an impact beyond the soccer pitch.
“Our objective is to make that difference in the community. If you can keep the children off the streets and on a soccer field that is a job well done. There are so many bad elements out there and for many soccer is an escape,” he said.
“Another objective is to get as many of our players to go and play professional football. We can proudly say that we have had at least one go per year in the past five years. So, we are looking at getting many more to go and live the dream of being that pro footballer,” he said.
