Golden Arrows the champs

The team was greeted by a jubilant crowd of supporters as they touched down at Durban International Airport in the morning. They later toured the Umlazi and Lamontville townships where they showed off their silverware.

Triumphant

While the event to welcome the team was organised by the ANC, a group of IFP supporters joined in the festivities at the airport and, together with ANC supporters, celebrated the triumphant return of the Durban side.

Sports MEC Weziwe Thusi later remarked at a gala dinner where the team was honoured by her department and the eThekwini Municipality, that the reception the team got from various sectors of society was testimony that soccer and other sporting codes could play a very important role in social cohesion.

She was full of praise for the team, saying their recent achievement would augur well for soccer development in the province.

"We appreciate the honour that you have brought to us; it gives us hope that there will be soccer development in the province," she said.

Thusi urged the current crop of Golden Arrows players to continue plying their trade in the team and resist the temptation of being poached by clubs in other provinces. She said remaining behind in KZN would ensure accelerated soccer development in the province.

Speaking at the reception held at the city hall, Mayor Obed Mlaba implored other KZN teams to follow in the footsteps of the victorious Abafana Bes'thende, as Arrows are popularly known.

"This should send a message that we need to start doing things differently. We should not be the same, especially after the World Cup.

"It should not be that after the World Cup we continue to experience a drought of trophies in this province, which was once the Mecca of sports."

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