The FC Ravens’ entourage received a warm send-off from their Bizana base on Wednesday afternoon as they left for the ABC Motsepe League playoffs in an attempt to become another Eastern Cape team promoted from the league.
The Bon Voyage happened just a day after the draw, which saw Ravens picked in Group B alongside the Free State’s Mangaung Unite and the Western Cape’s Hope FC.
The playoffs will take place at the Mthatha Stadium from Monday until June 7.
Though Mangaung were listed as the Free State’s representative, that could change.
Sasolburg United have filed for an arbitration hearing, with Mangaung and the Free State Football Association cited as respondents.
If the status quo remains, it would be another attempt at promotion for Mangaung, and out of the three in the group, they are the most experienced, and this makes FC Ravens wary of them.
In the past decade, Mangaung have been in the national playoffs five times.
But despite booking their spot on the big stage, the club has infamously endured a history of near-misses and heartbreaks, with 2024 being the most recent when they were knocked out of the group stages.
Another team Ravens will closely watch are WC Hope because of their experienced players from the PSL.
But the mood in the Ravens camp is upbeat.
They will be led by head coach Sibusiso Mapompo, who will make his mentorship return at the national playoffs, having previously guided Spear of the Nation in 2022.
“I think at this stage, there’s no team you could say I would have preferred to have in the group,” Ravens representative Mthuthuzeli Madikizela said.
He attended the draw at Safa House in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“All the teams here are teams that did well in their respective provinces. It’s going to be an interesting competition,” he said.
In the past three seasons, Ravens have come close to reaching the playoff summit.
“For us, it has been a long time coming,” he said.
“We have been knocking on this door, and we finally get an opportunity to gain promotion to the next phase. We are very optimistic,” he said.
Bizana to Mthatha is a distance of 225km and a three-hour drive, meaning it will be basically like playing at home for Ravens.
“When we play in Mthatha, it is sort of like playing at home. It’s not different.
“If you have been following our league, the supporters travel everywhere we play, and it’s a bonus now because Mthatha is not far from Bizana.”
Group A consists of North West University and teams from Mpumalanga and Gauteng, while Group C will be made up of Mpheni Defenders, NC Professionals and a KwaZulu-Natal team.
Three provinces do not have winners because of ongoing disputes.
Safa competitions committee chair Kwenza Ngwenya said they would not postpone the event.
He said disputes between the clubs were a delaying tactic to destabilise the playoffs.
Daily Dispatch
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