Edenvale Football Club will host fundraising tournament
“The whole idea of the day is to get people together, have a nice event, where people can have fun, especially the players."
With hopes of raising funds for the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa), Edenvale Football Club will again host the EFC Pink Tournament.
ALSO READ: Ekurhuleni team picked for national games
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown regulations, this will be the first pink tournament since 2019.
The non-competitive event will be held during Cancer Awareness Month over the weekend of October 8 and 9.
Organised by EFC chairperson Tony Diaz and the club’s executive committee the tournament was first held in 2016 to create awareness about cancer.
Diaz said it started after he had a brush with cancer but has grown into so much more.
“Over the years community members have become more aware of cancer,” said Diaz.
“There are a lot more people getting affected by it or who know someone who is affected by it. So awareness has grown.”
He said although there is a misconception of only elderly individuals being diagnosed with cancer, this is not the case.
According to Diaz, there are members of EFC’s family who are dealing with cancer diagnoses personally.
As the tournament’s founder and someone who has played football most of his life, Diaz said knowing that the community and football fraternity are supporting the event is satisfying.
ALSO READ: Tigers and Edenvale battle it out on the field
This year Edenvale is hoping to host more than 40 teams from Eastern Gauteng, Rand Central, North Rand and the West.
“Previously we hosted 40 teams at the tournament so we are hoping to break that record this year,” said Diaz.
All proceeds from the tournament will go towards Cansa. The tournament will cater for U6 and U12 players.
U6, U7, U8 and U10 teams will take to the field on October 8 while U9 and U11 teams will face off on October 9.
“We found that over the years younger children enjoy these types of tournaments more so than their older counterparts,” said Diaz.
Besides being a day of football, a variety of stalls will be present. Diaz said he is also in talks to have hair spraying and cancer screening done on the day.
ALSO READ: Growthpoint extends long-running sponsorship in various parts of South Africa
“The idea is to get people together, and have a nice event where people can have fun, especially the players,” said Diaz.
He thanked the club’s committee for their support stating that the tournament would not be possible without them.
“It will be nice to have some sense of normality return by hosting this tournament as we did before the pandemic.”
For more information, contact Natalie on 072 574 1430 or Diane on 082 944 8227.
Also follow us on:
