A football era has come to an end with the relegation of Wits University from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) — a first in the club’s history.
Wits narrowly escaped the drop in the 1996/97 season when they beat Jomo Cosmos in their last game. They are renowned as a breeding ground by the glamorous PSL teams.
Their most prized export is arguably former Bafana Bafana ball juggler Zane Moosa, who saw his career blossom at Sundowns. In recent times, Wits prodigy Manqoba Ngwenya also made the switch to Sundowns in an effort to win honours and break into the national set-up.
No one could have predicted their demise but their penchant for cashing in their best players has finally caught up with them. Raymond Hack, CEO of the South African Football Association (Safa) and non-executive member of Wits, told the Mail & Guardian, ”It is very sad to see Wits go down. I have lost part of a family. I am sure they will return from the first division.”
The club can take consolation from a pledge by its number one fan for the past five years, Mokhulu Matshika, who this week told the M&G, ”I do not blame anyone for my team being relegated, luck was just not on our side. I’ll support Wits even when they are in the first division. They’ll be in the premiership in two to three years’ time.”
For sports journalist and Supersport television presenter Thomas Kwenaite, the Wits giant killing acts on the playing field have endeared them to soccer fans. ”I will remember them for the Mainstay cup in 1978 when they played Chiefs in the final.
At the time students played for Wits and I thought that they stood no chance against Chiefs. But they proved me wrong when they hammered Chiefs.”
Wits won the Coke Cup in 1995, beating Soweto Giants, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs on the way. They are among the most improved sides in recent seasons, until inexplicably plunging to this new low.
Kwenaite believes that the Wits management should shoulder some of the blame for allowing key players — the Winstanely brothers, Gert Schalkwyk, Manqoba Ngwenya and Ryan Hodgskin — to leave last season. The injury to their current national team player, Benson Mhlongo, also didn’t help matters.
On Saturday he will put aside his relegation woes and inspire his team to what would be a historic victory over Supersport United in the Absa Cup final. It would be the first time that a relegated club lifted a major trophy and qualified for the cup winners’ competition on the continent.
But their opponents are the modern day cup kings. Supersport United coach Pitso Mosimane will want to show that he is deserving of the mantle as PSL Coach of the Season, an award he picked up on Wednesday. He is the first coach to reach the final of all three domestic cup competitions (won Super Eight, lost to Chiefs in Coke Cup, now Absa cup finalist). He has twice before taken United to within a whisker of lifting the lucrative league title.
Supersport will go into the final emboldened by the inclusion of Calvin Marlin, Siboniso Gaxa and Ricardo Katza in Stuart Baxter’s squad to play Cape Verde in an African and World Cup qualifier next week. The trio are among eight players plying their trade in the domestic league that have cracked a call-up.