“We have a mantra at the club where we don’t lose derbies,” Steve Barker shared with journalists after his side defeated Cape Town City thanks to a Devin Titus goal on the 5th of March 2024.
The Western Cape has produced some of the finest footballers who have graced the pitch for Bafana Bafana and various teams within the DSTV Premiership. This season, Cape Town City, Cape Town Spurs, and Stellenbosch Football Club all fought for the right to be the best team within the region of Cape Town.
In football silverware talks, this season Stellenbosch Football Club won the first edition of the Carling Black Label Cup by defeating TS Galaxy. Ever since then, they haven’t looked back and are one of the inform teams in the DSTV Premiership season.
At the time of writing, Stellenbosch Football Club currently sits in 3rd place ahead of local rivals Cape Town City and Cape Town Spurs, who sit in 5th and 16th place, respectively. After Stellenbosch’s latest clash with Cape Spurs on the 9th of March 2024, they are undefeated in Cape Town Derbies this season.
Stellenbosch had to come back from a goal down, which saw Cape Town Spurs take the lead thanks to Asenele Velebayi, who scored in the 43rd minute of the game. Iqraam Rayners’ strike in the 68th minute earned Stellenbosch a share of the points in what was a hard-fought battle against an in-form Cape Town Spurs team.
With the conclusion of the DSTV Premiership in May, Stellenbosch look to continue their push towards playing in Africa next season. “I said four or five years ago that I want to see a headline that says from crushing grapes to crushing Africa, so I have to live up to that. We know and we can see what it does (playing in Africa). It’s not easy. I do trust that we are in a position with 11/12 games left to go that we can compete for one of the positions to play in Africa next season,” Steve Barker shared when asked about his team’s aspirations should they achieve African football qualification at the end of the season.
