Mookgophong to benefit from soccer

A mini economic boom awaits Mookgophong and indeed the entire Waterberg region ahead of the new Premier Soccer League (PSL) season.

As congratulations continued to flood in at the elevation of Thohoyandou’s Black Leopards Football Club into the multi-million rand PSL, the Limpopo Tourism Agency Board (LTA) has welcomed the groundbreaking news.

LTA chairperson, Andrew Dipela, said in a statement that the promotion of Black Leopards into the paid ranks had the potential to improve vastly the province’s sports tourism profile.

“Limpopo Tourism Agency Board would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Black Leopards FC on winning the PSL promotional play-offs. The club’s promotion to the PSL will then mean that Limpopo will have three teams in the PSL next season,” he said.

Dipela observed that the business community stood to be the biggest winner during PSL fixtures.

Working on the law of averages, The BEAT has in the past observed that big city soccer teams such as Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, bring along busloads of supporters, who almost certainly stop over at Mookhophong and other towns, for refreshments.

Rural women in the business of selling consumables such as homemade marula brew, groundnuts and dried mopani worms, should also benefit bigtime.

Several hundred other supporters stop over at towns like Bela-Bela and Modimolle.

Hundreds more soccer followers travel from Gauteng and beyond in minibuses and private sedans.

With three soccer teams campaigning in the PSL — namely Black Leopards, Baroka FC and Polokwane City — this newspaper’s calculation is that each team plays a total of 15 home fixtures.

Overall, the three teams should attract Gautengers at a total of 45 home matches.

For the VhaVenda locals of Elim, Thohoyandou and several other tribal villages, the thousands of soccer followers arriving from Gauteng means more sales for their abundance of pawpaw, avocado and banana.

– The BEAT