A great year for sport
Mark Ward
Its been a remarkable 2024 year in which Cape Town’s sports luminaries produced several memorable moments from the Mitchells Plain, to Paris, too Blackpool in England, while the Stormers prodigy Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu made an incredible debut for the Springboks at Twickenham.
The 22-year-old, Feinberg-Mngomezulu launched his international career in an impactful manner when he coolly slotted over a long-range penalty with his first touch of the ball against Wales in June. The Springbok connivingly won the match 41-13.
Not far from where Feinberg-Mngomezulu made his mark, Bonteheuwel resident Tasneem Solomons, became South Africa’s SA's 1st-ever World Master Pool Champion in July.
Solomons (35) defeated former world champion Kirsty-Lee Davies from Wales to become the World Eightball Pool Federation Ultimate Pool Women’s Singles World Master Champion in Blackpool. She was also named Cape Town Sport Council sportswoman of the year.
Swimmer Tatjanaa Schoenmaker might have stolen the show at this year’s Paris Olympics Games, with her record breaking gold and silver medal performances but it was Cape Town’s Alan Hatherly who brought a bronze medal to the Mother City in the mountain biking event. Hatherly’s hard-fought medal performance also earned him the Cape Town Sports Council male sportsman of the year award.
But not to be undone, Wynberg resident Zain Davids played a leading role by scoring two tries to help South African Sevens rugby team clinching the bronze medal at the Paris Games after beating Australia by 26-19 in the final. Davids declared bravely in an interview with Cape Community Newspapers he wants to go for gold with his team at the 2028 Games in the United States.
Then there also was Para-athlete Tezna Abrahams feats at the Games where she competed in the T47 category for athletes with movement affected in one lower leg. Abrahams was born with Ectrodactyly. While she did not end up in the medal podium her teammate, 29-year-old Mpumelelo Mhlongo not only won the country’s first medal in the Paralympic Games, but did so in spectacular fashion as a runaway gold medal winner in the T44 100m race, having clocked it in 11.12 seconds.
The University of Cape Town chemical engineering PhD student also set a new World Record in the Men's T44 Long Jump with an incredible 7.12m.
On the football front the Vasco da Gama club rose to new heights when its amateur side won Safa Cape Town’s much sought after Coke Cup when they beat the Mitchell’s Plain based FC Tafelzucht side. But it was the Club’s semi-pro side under the tutelage of Andrew Pequeno who went on a record-breaking spree. His side won the Safa Cape Town’s Third Division, then marched onto clinching promotion to the Western Cape ABC Motsepe League. They have also reached the Round of 32 in the national Nedbank Cup after winning both the regional as well the provincial play-offs.
But it was the rise amidst adversity of Tafelzucht in a community beset with social challengers to reach the final of the Coke Cup who left an indomitable mark on the local club football scene. Cape Town Spurs’ demotion from the Premier League (PSL) who’s slump continues to be a cause of major concern for the Mother City’s football fraternity. They are presently languishing in the relegation zone in the NFD.
The Rygate LFA who is celebrating its centenary also scooped the Community Builder of the year as well as Recreation Body of the Year awards at the Cape Town Sports Council awards.
The UCT’s women's team also made their mark by securing promotion to the professional Hollywoodbets Super League.
On the Local rugby scene, the University of the Western Cape along with Van der Stel-Evergreens won promotion to the Western Province Super league.
Macassar, Primrose and Goodwood were also promoted to Super League B while Delft, Violets and Caledonian Roses will be competing in the 2025 Super League C competition.
The Newlands base Western Province Cricket Association is celebrating positive signs that the union is moving out of trouble financial challengers while on the field the senior men’s team won the Cricket South Africa One Day Cup while they lost in the final of the 4 Day series. The women's team however won the T20 as well as the One Day Cup.
The teenage lifesaver Eve Abrahams produced several superb performances at the Youth World Lifesaving Championships in Australia where she won two gold medals to earn the Junior sports star of the year.
But there were two momentous events which made the sports year in Cape Town remarkable. The one held at the Athlone stadium which provided hope and compassion on and off the field when Safa Cape Town hosted the Palestinian national football amidst a war raging in Gaza in an historic moment of defiance.
Then Bafana Bafana returned to the Mother City after a nine year break. The match played at the DHL Stadium saw Hugo Broos’ (coach) team beat South Sudan 3-0 in their final match of the Afcon qualifiers.