The provincial finals of the Game of Stars soccer tournament took place at the Tzaneen Showgrounds on Saturday, with Richmond Kopano from Hoedspruit taking the tournament title.
The Mark Fish Foundation and Agri Limpopo embarked on the initiative to establish a sporting culture on farms, to use sport to uplift skillsets and in order to provide a platform for players to showcase their talents.
Four district tournaments were held before Saturday’s finals in order to determine the top 10 Limpopo teams that would make it through to the finals.
The top competing teams included Mockford Farms from Capricorn, Maroi Boerdery from Vhembe, De Wagendrift and HN Pieterse from Sekhukhune. From the Mopani East region, Richmond Kopano and Landman Group represented and Mopani West included two teams from Westfalia Fruit Estate as well as Laeveld Sitrus.
The tournament was played with the FastFooty© format which is an 11 vs 11 T20 style football aimed at speeding up the game, getting players to think and communicate strategically and encourages players to score from outside the 18 yards area, which then counts as two goals.
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Additionally, it included a PowerPlay where the opposition had to send three players off the field for six minutes.Despite the blistering heat, the teams played with conviction and many of the matches came down to nail-biting finishes and a total of 36 goals were scored throughout the day.
The semi-finals saw Maroi Boerdery take on one of the Westfalia teams and winning 1-0 and Richmond Farm, which falls under the Komati Group taking on the second Westfalia team and beating them with an incredible final score of 5-1.
The finals then saw Maroi Boerdery and Richmond go head-to-head for the title win, with Richmond just scraping through with one goal to nil.
Players that stood out during the tournament were each awarded with a rising crystal star trophy. The overall best player of the tournament was Player # 2 Orphan Mahlako from Richmond, whilst his teammate Kenneth Mafogo was recognised as the best goalkeeper. Further, Player # 15 Alick Phiri from Maroi was awarded as the best defender and Player # 13 Stanley Kwinika also from Maroi as the Best Midfielder.
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Well done to coach Robson Morema, captain Elvis Monareng and the Richmond Kopano Farming team from Hoedspruit.
This year’s tournament was the first of a platform created for farmworkers to showcase their talent.
Going forward, the tournament will be expanded to include more farms, more frequent tournaments and intensified coaching and skills clinics.
The coaches reported that since they started playing this format their team’s performance in their communities showed marked improvement.
