Alex Northrand LFA vice-president Venita Masisi calls for the continued prioritisation of lives over sport
ALEX – Alex Northrand LFA vice-president Venita Masisi supports the prioritisation of lives over sporting activities.
“Any athlete will tell you how depressing and miserable it is just to sit idle at home and not be seen in the fields of play doing what they know best.”
These were the words of one of the two vice-presidents of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (Alex Northrand LFA) Venita Masisi when she spoke on the side-lines of her food relief distribution initiative in Norwood on Mandela Day, along with her donors, Bidvest Services.
Masisi said as much as they appreciated the lockdown to try and flatten the curve of Covid-19, it was difficult for children to sit idle at home and do nothing. “Children will naturally turn to other things to keep themselves busy, including mischief and other societal ills but as parents, we need to rein on them.
“We need to emphasise the importance of staying on the straight and narrow. We need to tell them that Covid-19 lockdown and the subsequent ban on all sporting activities was for their own good. We must impress upon them that lives matter much more than losing a couple of games or a season,” said Masisi, who owns the Norwood Young Stars Football Club. Stars have a senior team that competes in the Alex Northrand LFA Promotional League for a spot in the next level of the football rung, the SAB League.
There are various other divisions of the club such as the U13, U15, U17 and a girls’ team. She thanked the mother body, Safa, for choosing lives at the expense of a couple of games.
“I always assure and reassure my players that one day we shall overcome this Covid-19 and return to favourite pastime but for now we need to wait a little longer,” she added.
As the food distribution got under way, community members picked up some empty bottle of over-the-counter liquid drugs and cough mixtures that children allegedly buy and mix with soft drinks to create a potent drug. “It’s because of things like this that I am pleading with parents to always know where and what their children are doing at all times.”
