Botswana Football Tour June 2015

On Wednesday 10 June, 14 excited boys and 2 staff members arrived weary-eyed in the car park at 05:45 for a 06:00 departure to Gaborone in Botswana.

After a brief stop-over in Zeerust and explaining ourselves at the border post – leaving South Africa with children has become somewhat of an administrative nightmare! – we arrived at our host school, Thornhill Primary School. After some brief introductions and a quick lunch, we began our warm-ups for our first match versus Northside Primary School.

We seemed to have travelling legs and didn’t really gel and despite numerous attempts were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Final score 0-0. Our second game was against our hosts, Thornhill Primary, where the Saints boys played really well to win 2-0. Our boys were billeted out with families from Thornhill Primary School.

Our second morning saw us visit a Pottery Studio, a Morula fruit processing plant and a visit to the Livingstone Memorial, where the guide gave us a brief history of Livingstone’s stay in Botswana. We then made our way to Baobab Primary School, where the second day’s fixtures were to be played. We discovered that field we were due to play on, had absolutely no grass on it whatsoever! Our first game was against Broadhurst Primary School, who had no answer to our attacking play. We dominated all facets of play and managed to beat them 6-0. After some refreshments, we played against a well-coached and drilled Baobab Primary School. We scored first and they managed to equalise just after half time, the game flowed from end to end and proved to be very exciting. With about 2 minutes to play, we attempted a shot on goal, the keeper dropped the ball and the ball rolled over the line. Final Score 2-1 to Saints. That evening the staff were treated to a meal at one of Gaborone’s most well-known eateries the Bull and Bush.

Our third morning saw us visit the Gaborone Game Reserve, which unfortunately does not have the Big 5, however we saw plenty of Ostriches, Zebra, Warthog and Eland. A brief stop at the mall to get rid of some Pula and then back to Thornhill to play against Thornside, a combination team from Thornhill and Northside. The opposition scored early in the game and despite numerous chances we could not score, losing a game 0-1 where we so easily could have won! We them made our way to the BNYC (Botswana National Youth Centre), which has a fantastic full size sand/Astro football pitch. We played against the Gaborone Diamonds, a u/14 Academy side. We were a little shell-shocked at the pace and size of the opposition and the speed and accuracy of their passing and half time we were 1-4 down. After some positional switches and a heartfelt talk from the coach, Mr. Galane, the boys went back on for the 2nd half. We were far more competitive and were unlucky to concede another goal. Final score 1-5. Our boys showed determination and grit and displayed a ‘never-say-die’ attitude against boys who are a year older them.