Hungry Lions Pride of the Northern Cape

Compiled by Vurushca Shearer – Journalist for Horison Media as

part of NK

Media

The Hungry Lions Football Club (FC) is a SouthAfrican Football club which is based in Postmasburg,Tsantsabane.

Hungry Lions was founded in the 1980s by Stefaans Basie. After initially playing friendlies and once-off tournaments, they entered competitive leagues in 2000, working themselves up from local leagues, then the SAB league, until around 2004 they were promoted to the SAFASecond Division. Since then they have gone on to become the national winners of the SAFAABC Motsepe league. Part of holding this title includes establishing a legacy project which ploughs back into their community, making its mark. As the winners at the national level, an amount of money valued at R250 000 is allocated to the project through which the team along with management may drive community initiatives. OnThursday, 30th of March, the Lions along with their organization handed over soccer kits and equipment to various schools and junior league soccer clubs.This investment into the youth of this particular community is crucial and speaks to the morale of the youth to avoid stagnancy and encourage a culture of constructive community participation and discipline.

The ability to instill pride into the community in which they operate is an achievement and driving force in itself for the organization. In order to continue a legacy wherein the players may continue this initiative, it calls for much consistent dedication from the organization to maintain championship status. “We aim to place our organization in such a position to be able to do this annually, which means consistent dominance in the game,” says the organization representative. There is a brewing misconception that soccer, being the biggest sport in the world, feeds its own operation.This is where the Hungry Lions FC took the decision to dedicate their professional capacity to create a space in which not only they reap fruit but rather may plant seeds of development within their community.This goes to show that God-given talents are exactly that and may be used not only to the benefit of the holder but may be moulded into a model of development which speaks to multiple social ills in the world today Merriam-Webster defines a Legacy as a noun that means a gift by will, especially of money or personal property, to a beneficiary. It can also mean something that is passed on or received from an ancestor, predecessor, or the past. Legacy does not usually include real property, which is a device.A legacy can depend on an event that has not yet occurred.The legacy to be bestowed upon the community ofTsantsabane will be the Pride of our Lions.