Safa NC praises Hungry Lions for making Province proud

HUNGRY Lions FC have received heaps of praise from the provincial body of the South African Football Association (Safa) following their incredible feat of clinching promotion to the GladAfrica Championship and simultaneously winning the national ABC Motsepe League in Mbombela on Saturday.

An excited Safa provincial secretary Willem Coetzee on Sunday evening issued a statement from the organ’s provincial executive team which said: “We as Safa Northern Cape congratulate Hungry Lions with their promotion to the (National) First Division of professional soccer, namely the GladAfrica league, and also for being the overall winners of the the ABC Motsepe League national championship”.

Coetzee pointed out that Hungry Lions had for the past five seasons campaigned tirelessly in the ABC Motsepe League. During that period they had won the provincial championship on three occasions. On that basis they had thrice made it to the national play-offs of the national ABC Motsepe League, where they vied for a spot in the senior national professional league, the National First Division, aka the GladAfrica Championship.

Postmasburg-based Hungry Lions at the weekend achieved an incredible double. First the team overcame opposition in the national ABC Motsepe League play-offs, which started out at Mbombela’s KaBokweni Stadium last Monday.

They lost their opening match 2-1 to Sivutsa FC only to bounce back 2-1 winners in a midweek game against Leruma FC. This win alone afforded them promotion to the National First Division.

On Saturday, Hungry Lions topped up that win with a 5-3 penalty shootout victory against Platinum City Rovers of the North West province. This last win of the season accounted for Hungry Lions turning out as the ABC Motsepe League’s national play-off champions.

Platinum City Rovers are the other promotion winners to the NFD.

Meanwhile, Hungry Lions player Bongi Mkhwanazi won the player of the tournament award.

Coetzee concluded his statement by saying: “With the support of the Northern Cape Province we believe that Hungry Lions can go from strength to strength and be a better team to compete in the GladAfrica league”.

Coetzee noted that Hungry Lions were presented with a R1. 2 million cheque for winning the play-offs, as well as being rewarded with another R500,000 from the Northern Cape premier and local business interests.

He said that this would go a long way in helping the club stay the course in the professional ranks. He added that the Safa executive will do their utmost to assist the team in their NFD campaign.

Hungry Lions owner/coach Henry Basie was meanwhile quoted in the weekend press as saying: “... the club's promotion will bring hope to a Province that is ravaged by unemployment and poverty. This is a big accomplishment. It's been very long that we have waited to have a team in the PSL.”

Coetzee revealed that he was waiting on word from the Hungry Lions management on where they would host their future GladAfrica games. The team was in transit from the Mpumalanga province on Monday.