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Varsity Sports CEO lauds this year’s intensity─── 13:02 Thu, 29 May 2014
Lee Khotlele
Bloemfontein - Varsity Sport CEO, Duitser Bosman, has lauded the intensity of this year’s Varsity Sport and says he will be anticipating the same intensity when the football event commences on 21 July.
“Varsity football is our main event. It’s a big one. Football is big in this continent and in the world,” he told OFM Sport.
The Varsity Sport, which allows South African Universities to compete in different sporting codes, promised nothing but entertainment and loads of action and Bosman said it had delivered thus far.
“I think the year kicked-off quite fantastically as both events were taken to the next level. The men’s hockey was fantastic, so was athletics. So, we are thrilled so far,” Bosman added.
The athletics event began in Port Elizabeth at the fields of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) on Friday, 21 March 2014, with the next leg taking place at North West University (NWU)-Potchefstroom on the 14th April.
The third event was in Stellenbosch on the 21st April and the final, which saw the most consistent side, University of Pretoria (UP) Tuks, emerging victorious, was held on the 28th April at Tuks Stadium.
“The beauty about varsity athletics is that it was a great event for the athletes to go and display their talents”.
“They got out there, on television, in the public eye, to show everybody what they were all about in the well-organised, well-structured tournament, so I’m sure the athletes enjoyed to be part of such tournament,” Bosman said.
The intensity of the athletics was passed onto the men’s hockey. The three-day playoffs began at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), from the 3rd to 5th May, then headed to Bloemfontein and Stellenbosch, on 10th – 12th May 2014.
After three rounds of non-stop nail-biting action and excitement, it was University of Johannesburg (UJ) and University of Stellenbosch (Maties), who came head to head in the final match, where the home side beat Maties in a dramatic penalty shootout.
University of the Free State (UFS-Kovsies) finished fourth in the overall standings after losing 2-0 to UP-Tuks in the 3rd/4th play-off match.
“We presented the varsity hockey ladies last year and everybody told me to wait to see the men and I was quite surprised by how quick and physical the game is and how high the skill-level was,” Bosman said.
“We are satisfied with the competition so far and we are looking forward to the remaining sporting codes to come.
The varsity football will be followed by netball, rugby and beach volleyball.
