The 2020 edition of Alexandra’s Map Games cancelled

The 2020 edition of the annual Maimane Alfred Phiri (Map) Games, which have become much of a football festival known as the ‘World Cup of Alex’, have been cancelled due to tight Covid-19 restrictions around fan support at the stadiums.

Announcing the cancellation, volunteer spokesperson for the local organising committee (LOC) of the games, Stanley Makhubela said they had no choice but to cancel the games altogether for this year’s edition.
“As much as the restrictions imposed on fan attendance at stadiums are meant to save lives from this deadly pandemic, what would Map Games be without fans at the games? This is the principal reason why we ultimately had to cancel this year edition of the games,” Makhubela said in an interview with Alex News.

Makhubela said they too were duty-bound to abide by the government restrictions around major gatherings, especially, on soccer fans. “Most of Alex stadiums are open fields and passers-by can just stop and watch the games and crowds can easily develop.

“Even if we say we shall play them behind closed doors for instance, which would mean utilising Alexandra Stadium as the only closed venue we have, what would be the point of the games as they are free games modelled around fans to enjoy themselves?”

The festival draws multitudes of football-loving fans to the month-long games on an annual basis since conception in 2001. They were originally scheduled to take place from 23 May until 19 July this year but then postponed to October and November.

The junior sections of the games, which involve development sides of U13, U15, and U17 of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association and plays much earlier than the seniors, were scrapped altogether as they were supposed to happen during the hard lockdown.

“It’s a wait-and-see situation as this pandemic won’t go away so soon. We hope by next year the situation will be much better as rumour mill says the professional game might be given permission to start attracting a limited number of fans to their games as early as in January next year.
“If that is granted by the government, it may surely be a window of opportunity for us going forward,” Makhubela said.

“The LOC would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Alexandra for their understanding of the situation of the virus afflicting the South African public and the world at large.”
Map Games was founded by Alexandra’s iconic footballer Maimane Alfred Phiri, a former Ajax Cape Town and

Swallows midfield maestro who also distinguished himself as a regular Bafana Bafana star.
Phiri founded the games as his social responsibility project while still playing professionally in Turkey as a way to give back to the community of Alexandra which shaped him to become the player he was.

Although it started off with only four teams, Map Games now boasts well over 200 teams from five different provinces. The senior side of the games comprise teams from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West.

The tournament has over the years produced talented players such as Mpho Makola, Lebogang Manyama, Lebogang Phiri, Simphiwe Tshabalala, Simphiwe Dludlu and Bongani Zungu, to name but a few.