The two-day tournament which started on Saturday and ended on Sunday last week, was not without drama. The last game started late at 16:00 instead of the scheduled 15:00 due to some players demanding an hour’s rest before returning to the field after the semi-final match. This caused a problem when the game had to go for a penalty shootout.
By that time there was not enough daylight for goalkeepers to see the ball. However, both sides indicated that the shoot-out should go ahead. This resulted in goals from each side as the goalkeepers from both sides could not properly see the ball. Any shot that either side took, went straight into the net unless a player missed the poles, which happened once on both sides of the shoot-out.
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This went on until each player had taken a shot, and the score was 9-9 by the time the referee decided to end the game due to visibility as it was already dark and the teams could not proceed with the next batch of penalty shoot-outs. The R10 000 prize of the tournament was shared equally between the two teams. The tournament was established six years ago by local residents at Mushiyani village as weekend entertainment for local communities in the area.
Thereafter, other villages joined, and it became lucrative in terms of prizes allocated to the winners. Salva Chabalala, the treasurer of the tournament, said the weekly prize for the tournament is R6 500, followed by R3 500 for the second team. Due to limited sponsors, no trophies or medals are awarded to winning teams. Only the first two teams get prizes out of the eight teams that
participate weekly.
“We would like to grow this tournament bigger because it boosts the local economy as it rotates within participating villages. It provides an opportunity for small businesses to be able to sell their products wherever it is staged,” explained Chabalala. “We appeal to sponsors to come on board; together we would be able to push this tournament forward to a level where it would be able to help make a living out of it,” she said.
