Back where they belong

Gallery

KNYSNA FOOTBALL NEWS - Pine Stars and Slow Town football clubs have been promoted to the Knysna Local Football Association's Domestic League after coming up trumps in the 2019 Super League playoffs.

The Super League acts as KLFA's second division in the domestic soccer structures, and acts as the decider for who will be promoted to the top tier of local soccer, replacing the two teams which are relegated to the Super League.

El Classico and United Brothers were the two clubs who finished bottom of the KLFA Domestic League after the 2018/2019 season, meaning it was up to the six teams in the Super League playoffs to determine who would get promoted to the Domestic League.

Click here for a photo gallery.

The first round of fixtures kicked off on Saturday 3 August, with six games played on the fields in Rheenendal. The next round came the day thereafter with three games played in Sedgefield. The third and final round of the Super League playoffs was scheduled for 10 August in Hornlee, but had to be postponed by a week due to the Mayor's Cup.

Luckily no further postponements were needed, and the final round of Super League playoffs kicked off on Saturday 17 August, with four clubs – Pine Stars, Southern Stars, Young Stars, and Slow Town – in the running for promotion. The first match of the day was between Pine Stars and Southern Stars, with the winner of the game standing a good chance of promotion.

Pine Stars emerged victorious in this encounter, downing Southern Stars 2-0, needing at least a draw against Young Stars later in the day to secure promotion. Southern Stars' loss to Pine Stars saw them fall out of the running for promotion, thanks to Slow Town thrashing Voota FC 5-0 in their first game of the day.

Pine Stars would earn a 3-3 draw with Young Stars to secure their promotion, while Slow Town would draw 1-1 with Southern Stars later in the day.

This will see Pine Stars and Slow Town make a straight swap with El Classico and United Brothers for place in the 2019/2020 Domestic League season, which will kick off in a month or two.

Reagan Roelf takes a free kick for Southern Stars. Photos: Blake Linder