Grassy Park United’s victory at the 2023 Bayhill Premier Cup is the highlight of a collection of beautiful football stories this past Easter Weekend.
I love this tournament. It’s a tournament that I’ve seen grow to levels unimagined from Mitchells Plain to Belhar and this year’s final was played at Athlone Stadium.
It truly must be applauded how the youth have been given access to the historic football venue lately.
The FC Kapstadt Cup has been hosted there, the Safa Cape Town Coke Cup Festivals and now the best U19s battled it out there this past weekend.
Thousands of spectators witnessed Grassy Park United taking top honours in the annual under-19 football tournament, when they beat Cape Town Spurs in the final at Athlone Stadium on Monday, 10 April 2023.
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) April 11, 2023
Read more: https://t.co/WukNgx5xRj#CTNews pic.twitter.com/keUKfOQOAF
Erica Park has become a place where Cape football mixes and plays host to the most prestigious U19 tournament in the country.
It was Thursday afternoon upon my arrival at the busy Belhar football grounds, when I saw the grootman Alaric Jacobs, looking ever so disciplined in his Grassy Park club tracksuit.
We go way back outside of football and hadn’t seen one another since before Covid.
I took the opportunity to tell him how much of a soft spot I had for them.
As we shared a hug near the changing rooms, I said: “You know that I love you guys right? You are always in the mix. Well done to you all at the club man.”
Jacobs, a long-serving administrator of the club, was humble as always in his response and smiled proudly saying: “Thank you, we’ll do our best.”
Their historic journey to the podium of the Bayhill is one that should be admired.
Bayhill Premier Cup Player of the Series, Luke Baartman (CPT Spurs)
— Reagen Allen (@ReagenAllen) April 10, 2023
Well done to Grassy Park United: Winners 2023.
The tournament is the most prestigious youth showcase on the African continent. pic.twitter.com/AscHArGHmw
They remain modest in their approach, despite boasting a fine record campaigning in the ABC Motsepe League while other clubs are sold, renamed, relocated or, worst of all, relegated.
It isn’t easy or cheap to keep up a club in the Safa second division. I can bet there is a football club status up for sale right now in many of the Safa regions.
Grassy Park has stood the test of time.
They have always managed to do enough to stay competitive in the ABC, a sadly underrated platform as the official highest amateur league for senior players.
Their junior teams have also been impressive in how they’ve stayed competitive against their more prominent opponents at local junior football tournaments.
My personal journey with them started back in 2017 at the Engen Knockout in Parow, where they lost in the semifinals to Ajax Cape Town, who went on to get their revenge against Old Mutual Academy.
They were the surprise package of that tournament and they walked away with the bronze medal.
They’ve been there and thereabouts ever since, with players of all ages, all the way up to the over 35s representing them at various tournaments around the city.
This is a club with a really deep and rich history and should serve as an example to many out there, that with so many fly-by-nights that come into the game to cut corners, it’s possible to trust your process.
They should really be applauded for how they have not only survived but can now be counted among one of the champions of the country’s longest existing first-class youth tournament.
How things have changed since that weekend in Parow in 2017.
Ajax is now known as Cape Town Spurs and this year’s Bayhill tournament was their first title defence since they cut ties with their Dutch partners.
There’s now also Cape Town City and Stellenbosch as the Cape’s top professional clubs, there are overseas-backed Ubuntu and Young Bafana; the youth has some decent club options out there.
Even as champions, Grassy Park are aware that they will eventually have to lose some of the top players to the guys they beat to this year’s title for obvious reasons.
It’s all part of the process, their club is a stepping stone for local starlets from their area. It’s basically how the Cape football ecosystem works.
Everything changed on Easter Monday, 2023.
Just last week, I spoke to the national U17 head coach and Cape football legend Duncan Crowie about the how the less prominent teams can use the Bayhill to shine the spotlight on themselves.
Grassy Park has done it and besides being the crowned the best U19 team in the country, young Thriston Francke was selected as the Goalkeeper of the Series.
The award is overseen by the great Farouk Abrahams, who could not hide his pride about his relationship with many of the young goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaches involved at the tournament.