Leisure Hotels Sport
Leisure Hotels sponsors Blackpool Salt River FC
Leisure Hotels has signed on as one of the sponsors of the Salt River Blackpool soccer team. The
new kit was unveiled and handed over to the management and team at the Strand Tower Hotel during
an event celebrating the club’s promotion to the Vodacom 2nd Division. We are extremely proud to be
a sponsor of this very talented team and look forward to a great season ahead!
Under 18 Cape Town International Hockey Festival
The annual U18 Cape Town International Hockey Festival has been hosted by Brothers Sport since 2003 and was held this year at Hartleyvale Stadium in Observatory. Each year the Festival has grown from strength to strength and has become the highlight on sporting calendars for both boys and girls locally and internationally. The tournament was played from the 20th to the 24th of July 2011, and we hosted the Sevenoaks team at the Strand Tower Hotel. The Boys’ Festival Winners were the New South Wales Bush Rangers, and the Girls’ Festival Winners were Kennemer Lyceum School.
Sports and Event Tourism Exchange
The Sports and Events Tourism Exchange was the first of its kind to be held in South Africa, taking place from the 27th to the 29th July 2011. Leisure Hotels was an active part of the conference, which was a resounding success. We have been providing accommodation and organising logistics for various local and international sporting tournaments and teams recently.
The event focussed on the world class standard of facilities and services that South Africa has to offer as a host, for all top level international events and the exchange between sports tourism and the events industry. It also provided a prestigious platform for the marketing of the many products and services related to this niche market, both on a local and international front.
The Sports & Events Tourism Exchange offered a comprehensive International Hosted Buyer programme, funded by the Dept of Trade & Industry and South African Tourism, giving international buyers the opportunity to visit the exhibition and interact with exhibitors through pre-scheduledmeetings, conference sessions and networking events. The key objective of the programme was to connect international buyers with local service providers and product owners.
The support of South African Tourism, the DTI and the Department of Sports & Recreation South Africa, will strengthen the status of SETE as an event of international standing, securing the position of South Africa as an international sports and events tourism destination. The country will also be placed in a stronger position to demand the right to be seen as a serious contender in bidding and competing for large international events.
Leisure Hotels joins the Vialli Soccer League
Leisure Hotels is participating in the Vialli 5-a-side soccer league, which is held in Sea Point. The league was started by Italian football manager, Gianluca Vialli, who not only managed the Italian National Team for seven years, but also managed Chelsea and Watford football clubs in the United Kingdom. Vialli’s soccer league is played on Africa’s first world class outdoor soccer five-a side astroturf fields. We played our first match on Monday the 8th of August against 15 On Orange and drew 5-5.
International Sport
Less than a month until the 2011 Rugby World Cup!
The 2011 Rugby World Cup will be the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. At a meeting of the International Rugby Board (IRB) held in Dublin on 17 November 2005, New Zealand was selected as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa. There were two rounds of voting by the IRB Council to decide the host nation, with South Africa eliminated in the first round. It will be the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games, 1992 Cricket World Cup, 2003 America’s Cup and 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. Around 70,000 visitors from overseas are expected to travel to New Zealand for the associated games and events.
The event is scheduled to be played over seven weekends from the weekend starting 10 September and culminating the weekend starting 22 October 2011. The weekend of the final was chosen so it falls on a long weekend caused by the New Zealand public holiday of Labour Day (Monday, 24 October 2011). The final is scheduled to be played in Auckland at Eden Park.
South Africa has won the coveted Web Ellis Trophy twice in four appearances, the last being at the last World Cup in 2007. We would like to wish the Springboks a massive good luck for the tournament. Bring that trophy home boys!
‘Blade Runner’ to meet the best at the World Championships
The Blade Runner: he has no legs below the knees. Yet he is a runner. And later this month he will run on his blades against the quickest men in the world. South African Oscar Pistorius will become the first athlete to bridge the gap between ”disabled” and ”able-bodied” athletes when he competes head-to-head against the fastest men in the world in a World Athletics Championships event. Having finally achieved an ”A” standard, qualifier Pistorius was yesterday named in the South African team to compete in Daegu, South Korea later this month.
The 24-year-old Pistorius, who lost both his legs at 11 months of age, was banned from competing in able-bodied races in January 2008 saying the blades gave him an unfair advantage. He successfully contested that ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Pistorius last month smashed his personal best at a meet in northern Italy and made the qualifying time for the worlds and next year’s London Olympics. ”I have dreamt for such a long time of competing in a major championships and this is a very proud moment in my life,” Pistorius said in a statement.
The world championships run from August 27 to September 4.
South African Sports News
Late try sees Cheetahs beat Western Province
The Free State Cheetahs scored a controversial try with five minutes left to beat Western Province 28-22 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The hosts fought back from 13-0 down to hand Province their first loss of this season’s Currie Cup. Cheetahs captain Andries Strauss went down with an ankle injury in the 75th minute, and the visitors stopped playing after medics ran onto the field.
The hosts, however, played to the whistle, and official Sandile Mayende allowed the try after Corne Uys went over unchallenged. Province had taken the early advantage, with flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis securing three points from a penalty in the eighth minute. Two minutes later, Province centre Johann Sadie broke through the Cheetahs’ defence and sprinted 30 metres down the left wing to dot down for the first try of the match.
Catrakilis converted and added another penalty to give the visitors a 13-0 lead midway through the first half. Cheetahs flyhalf Sias Ebersohn responded with three penalties before the break, however, and closed the gap to 13-9. The majority of the second half was a battle of the flyhalves, which Ebersohn dominated, adding a further 12 points.
Catrakilis responded with two penalties — he missed an attempt in the 73rd minute — before Uys went over for the hosts. Catrakilis added another penalty before the final whistle, but the Cheetahs held on to bag their second win of the competition.
Strauss applauded Ebersohn for keeping the home side in striking distance after Province dominated the first quarter. “Sias kicked exceptionally well today. He kept us in the game,” the skipper said. “In a defensive game like this you need a good kicker.”
Final Score Cheetahs (9) 28 Western Province: (13) 22
Released Platinum Stars defender Mbulelo Mabizela is training with Ajax Cape Town with a view to signing for the Urban Warriors. The troubled centre-back, who has played for Maritzburg, Orlando Pirates, Tottenham, Valerenga and Sundowns, arrived in the Mother City on Tuesday where he will be assessed before the club make a decision on his future.
Arguably one of the most talented defenders to have emerged from South Africa in recent years, the 30-year-old, who at the age of 20 became the youngest national team captain ever, has represented Bafana Bafana 44 times. His career, however, has been blighted by controversy due to his well-documented off-field behaviour and it appears to be the reason Stars decided not to extend his contract, which expired at the end of last season.
Ajax CEO George Comitis told the club’s official website: “He will train with our team for the next week. The technical team will evaluate OJ and then we will make a decision.” Angolan forward Antonio Correia is also training with Ajax after he was recommended to the club by former coach Foppe de Haan, who coached the player as a youngster at Herenveen FC. He has also featured for Emmen, Primeiro de Agosto and FC Inter Turku.
