The long-awaited return of the much-loved Maimane Alfred Phiri (Map) Games will take place in May after being put on ice last year due to Covid-19.
Stanley Makhubela, a volunteer at Maimane Alex Development Foundation, who is also the spokesperson for Local Organising Committee of the Map Games, said they have been hosting various workshops for the games’ stakeholders to prepare them for the eventual return of the tournament.
“We are trying to prepare them for the eventual return of the games so that by the time this happens, they are ready to rumble and know the drill from the insights given to them during the workshops,” Makhubela told Alex News.
According to Makhubela, all the workshops they have hosted were aimed at equipping the stakeholders with the necessary know-how of the Covid-19 protocols so that when the tournament eventually returned, they were not caught off guard.
He said the last workshop hosted by City of Johannesburg Joint Operations Committee was an important one as it targeted people at the nerve centre of the operations of the games, and sought to empower them to be able to host and run with the tournament without any glitches and strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocols.
“We wanted to ensure we leave nothing to chance so that they may know what to do when the big day finally arrives and football fans are welcomed back to the stadiums to watch the Map games.”
When asked whether they would be able to accommodate all the junior divisions of the league, Makhubela said they would cross that bridge once they have been furnished with the time lines for the tournament.
“If the time lines we’re given are short, then we will not insist on all divisions to participate. Our desire is that we want all the divisions to participate because people have been waiting for the return of the Map Games for a long time.”
Joint Operations Committee member, Krish Pather warned that if protocols were not observed to the letter when hosting the event, organisers could be in serious hot water and ‘you can even be jailed as the police have been tasked with ensuring strict observance of the protocols in big events such as the Map Games.
