LOOK: Klawerjas tournament
TENSE: Klawerjas Tournament held at Grassy Park Civic
A real tournament has now been made for one of the Cape Flat's oldest card games.
Unions from the South Peninsula, Mitchells Plain, southern suburbs, and West Coast participated in the Western Cape Klawerjas Confederation’s inaugural Klawerjas tournament.
Oldies brought their A-game to a packed Grassy Park Civic Centre where the event ran from Thursday to Sunday last week.
Chairman of Cape Town Klawerjas Leon Courie says the tournament was an exciting experience for players.
“Our first major event for the year was quite successful, hosting an event of this calibre was very very successful. Both players and supporters enjoyed themselves,” Leon says.
He says that despite Klawerjas being an inside sport, there were several challenges that they had to overcome.
Vice-captain of Mitchells Plain Klawerjas Union Warren Donough says that the majority of the players are from an older generation when card games used to be the in-thing.
“It is predominantly played by the older generation. In the competitive arena, the larger majority of players are probably around 60 years old and older,” he says.
In the end, there could only be one crown champion, that saw South Peninsula Klawerjas Union win the title.
The winning captain, Anwar Moosa, adds that the game is different when played competitively and at home.
“This is why when people come and watch tournaments like this, it kind of makes them enthusiastic to learn more about the sport.
“The average age is not where we want it to be at the moment but the competition is still of high intensity,” he says.