After our trip to Moruleng Stadium for the Maize Cup and the subsequent drive around Pilanesburg, Jen and I stayed over nearby at Kedar Lodge. I hadn’t realised at the time when we booked it but it had a fantastic collection of Boer War memorabilia, better than that of a lot of museums that we’ve been to.
Unfortunately, with arriving late and then leaving early for a 10am game we didn’t get to give it much more than a cursory glance. Maybe next time.
The game was at Dobsonville Stadium, home of Sowetan team Moroka Swallows. I’d been trying to see a match there ever since we’d arrived but the fixtures invariably seemed to be scheduled for an evening and a daytime drive past the ground had suggested that it wasn’t the place to be after dark.
It didn’t really seem to be the place to be at 9.30 in the morning on this occasion either as some protesters had set up a roadblock of burning tyres close to the ground. I didn’t hang around to take a photo, but got one on the way out when just the smoke remained.
There was a women’s international scheduled for 3pm, but we were there for the 10am curtain raiser, the final of the national under 17 competition. Entry was free on production of a voucher, which someone very kindly handed to us as we approached the turnstile.
The ground was close to empty as we took our seats in the main stand, although I’d like to think that by the time of the main event a few more people would have taken advantage of a free day out.
Sundowns were in their usual yellow with Wits in navy. Both sides had their share of players who looked far too big to be seventeen, but I suppose that’s the nature of age-group football. You wonder whether the bigger lads are only there because of their size and then whether the smaller fellas will grow enough to have a chance of making it in the professional ranks.
There wasn’t a lot of support coming from the stands, with the most noise being made by the Sundowns squad members who hadn’t made the bench. They stood and sang for the whole of the second half;
The game was goalless under a couple of minutes from full-time. With penalties looking likely the Sundowns left winger cut inside and curled a right footed shot beyond the Wits keeper and into the corner of the net. That was sufficient to take the cup and, as far as I was concerned, to finally bring the 2015/16 season to an end.
Trail of the Lion King 
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