Wednesday, March 10, 2021

OUR RICH HISTORY - BEREA – SUNDOWNS FPL FINAL AT CURRIE’S FOUNTAIN ON NOVEMBER 14 1976

 



 

During the 1970s and 1980s while working for the Daily News and the Press Trust of SA News Agency most of my articles on soccer related to the struggles for the establishment of non-racial soccer, non-racial sport and a non-racial society in general. But at the same time, I also covered professional matches related to the Federation Professional League (FPL).

One such FPL match was the Coca Cola Shield final between Berea of Durban and Sundowns of Pretoria at the mecca of non-racial sport, Currie’s Fountain, on November 14 1976.

I did a preview of the match and this was surprisingly published on the main sports back page on November 13 1976 under the headline: “We’ll win tomorrow!” and the sub-headlines: “That’s what both Berea and Sundowns are saying about their replay.”, and “25 000 fans can expect a treat at Currie’s Fountain.”




The story read:

Berea manager Don Mudaly and his Sundowns counterpart, Cliffe Andrews, are both cocksure that their respective teams will emerge victorious in the R12 500 Federation’s Coca Cola shield final replay at Currie’s Fountain tomorrow.

Mudaly and Andrews are confident that their players will dish out the same brand of football that earned them high praise after the epic final last week. It ended in a 3-3 draw before more than 30 000 fans.

Mudaly, an enthusiastic young man who has managed the Durban team for the past three years, said:

                         RECOVERY

“We could have sewn up the match last week, but our boys missed a number of gilt-edged chances. Despite the poor showing of some of the players, we managed to pull back after a 2-0 deficit at half-time.

“Our recovery has put us in the right frame of mind and I think we have a psychological advantage over Sundowns tomorrow.

“We admit that our opponents are a top team, but we have one or two things up our sleeve to overcome them.”

And Andrews, a genial sports administrator who has steered Sundowns to its present height of glory, said:




                         ATTACK

“We are working on a plan, but at this stage it will be unwise of me to divulge our strategy against Berea. I can assure you that we will not be making the same mistakes like last week.

“We may have one or two changes because some of our players are on the injury list. Tomorrow’s match will decide who are the kingpins in our league.”

Scampy Biseswar, the tough Berea striker who was suspended for six matches, will come out of cold storage to strengthen the attack that seemed inept and out of touch against the strong and witty Sundowns defence, ably led by skipper Neville Williams.

Biseswar, if chosen for the final line-up, will be of tremendous assistance to fiery left-winger, James George, and teenage “bomber”, Stanley Govender, who proved his mettle last week by notching two of Berea’s three goals.

Missing from the Berea line-up will be wing-half, Vicky Vally, who left on a delayed honeymoon to Europe this week. His place will most probably by taken-up by the fast-tackling Angus McPhail.

                         FEARED

The players who are expected to play a key role in the Berea side will be Daya Maistry, Gavin Snyman, and Charles Carey in defence, and James George, Pat Blair, Govender, and Dudu Munsamy in attack.

Sundowns, in their first year in professional football in the league, will rely heavily on Williams, Don Lucas, Jacques Lucas and Clifford Dirksen in defence and dribbling wizard Vincent Julius and wily Gene Adams in attack.

Julius, who has been priced at R25 000 by the Pretoria team, is one of the most feared front runners in the country. His potential to leave defences at sixes and sevens was clearly shown last week when on many an occasion he outwitted evergreen Daya Maistry, Vicky Vally and Gavin Snyman in the Berea defence.

The match itself promises to be another pulsating and electrifying affair, as the stakes are high. Beside the honour in winning the coveted Coca Cola shield, a great deal of money is in for the taking.

The expected capacity crowd are in for another treat and can be assured that proper seating will be provided for all.

Mr S K Chetty, secretary of the Federation Professional League, said today the league would make provision for 25 000 people only.

“The house-full sign will go up once the stadium is full,” he said.

He said the gates would open at 10am and the first match would be played at 11am between Tulip Rangers and Coleen Athletics in the Southern Natal Soccer Board’s third division league decider.

The curtain raiser to the final will be the SNSB’s Coca Cola cup final between Leeds of Wentworth and Durban Suburbs of Tills Crescent.

The main match will kick off at 3pm.

The referee for the big game is Lingiah Munsamy and his linesmen are Dawood Shaikh and Keith Nelson.  Ends – Daily News Reporter – Marimuthu Subramoney November 13 1976

 

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