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SEDIBENG STER
Young women sweat it out Sofia Mathole
SEBOKENG. - Vaal Milano FC, a girls team from Sharpeville took part in a friendly head to head tournament with Young Girls FC, a team from Sebokeng on Friday at the Zone 7 Stadium. Montsheng Kola who is a former player in Bophe-
long Ladies and VUT teams formed this team in order to keep young girls off the streets. With the high rate of alcohol and drug abuse in townships, young girls need to be mentored and encouraged to follow a healthy lifestyle to ensure a brighter future. Kola realised that there were but a few girls in her community who were
participating in sports and she decided that she needed to do something about it. Kola said, “My goal for this team at the moment is to enter them into the Sasol Provincial League and to show these girls that they can amount to more than they ever thought they were capable of.”
16 July - 22 July 2014
Neil Jansen Legends tournament held
Zacharia Nale
The players of the Vaal Milano and Young Girls who played in the friendly tournament. Photo: Sofia Mathole.
RUST-TER-VAAL. - The Simon “Bull” Lehoko Sports Foundation is to host a soccer tournament in honour of the late Neil Jansen. The event is scheduled to take place at the Rust-ter-Vaal Sports Complex in September. This good news was broken to Sedibeng Ster Sports by the foundation’s marketing and communication manager, Mojekisale Lehoko. Jansen died a tragic death in the field of play while playing in a game with other local legends like Moses Moloi and Geelbooi “Goma” Masango, to mention but a few. His funeral was attended by a veritable ‘who’s who’ in football and politics. The Rust-ter-Vaal Sports Complex will be named after Jansen for the role he played in the Rustter-Vaal community. Lehoko says they will not only honour Jansen, but other former Vaal professional players such as Geelboi Masango, Robinson “Koi Yoko” Seakamela, the late Meshack “Guna” Zwane, Ronny Joa and many others as well. He says that - as the foundation - they saw fit to acknowledge those former soccer professionals for the role they played in the development of football in this country. He says they will invite other soccer legends from as far afield as Johannesburg, Springs, Tembisa, Free State and other provinces, to come and celebrate this day with them. “These are the people who used to bring joy to many people’s lives while playing soccer at the highest level. We invite companies to come on board to make this day a success,” he concludes.
Local boxers to exchange blows Zacharia Nale
Sparks will fly when these youngsters exchange blows in the much anticipated Sedibeng Amateur Boxing Tournament to take place at Saul Tsotetsi Sports Center in Zone 14, Sebokeng this Saturday. Photo: Zacharia Nale.
SEBOKENG.- Local boxers will exchange punches when they compete in the Amateur Boxing Tournament scheduled to take place at Saul Tsotetsi Sports Center in Zone 14, Sebokeng on Saturday. This much anticipated tournament will be hosted by the Sedibeng Amateur Boxing Organisation in conjunction with Emfuleni Local Municipality. The event will see local boxers pitted against their counterparts from Soweto, Alexandra, Thembisa and other regions. Speaking to Sedibeng Ster Sports, the newly elected Sedibeng Amateur Boxing Organisation chairman Morena Tsotetsi says the tournament is the ongoing attempt to bring boxing back to the townships. He believes that this kind of tournament will help to revive the sport in this region. Some of the notable names that used to mesmerise local boxing fans include Carlton “Swing Carlie” Monnakagotla, Shamba Mthimkulu, “Tiger Follor” Shole Mokoena, Baby Lux Khambule, Aaron “AK 47” Kabi
and a host of others. “We will never give up until boxing gets a place of honour on our sports calendar and I’m positive that we will achieve our objective. This is one sport that used to bring Vaal people together in the past. I’m happy because for the past three months the response has been so positive and local boxing clubs are now active in their respective areas,” says Tsotetsi who was accompanied by the Emfuleni Sports Organiser Thanduxolo Madikizela. The two urges Sedibeng Zone 14 and surrounding communities to come in big numbers to support this initiative. Apart from development, Madikizela says the tournament also forms part of the Mandela Day celebration. The legendary Nelson Mandela was a boxer and was passionate about boxing.“As Emfuleni we would like to dedicate this tournament to our fallen hero Utata Madiba for his contribution in sports. The man deserves to be acknowledged for his selfless contribution in this country,” he concludes.
Developing football talent in Fezile Dabi District SASOLBURG. - Sasol, in partnership with the South African Football Association SAFA, officially launched a football talent development programme in the Fezile Dabi District at the Harry Gwala Sport Centre on Wednesday, June 25. This is the second leg of the partnership that impacts the local football associations of Fezile Dabi in the Free State and Gert Sibande in Mpumalanga. The first leg was launched on March 26 in Secunda. Sasol’s long standing support for South African football development in the country has inspired the company to become the first corporate sponsor of the South African Football
Association Development Agency (SDA). The main objective of SAFA’s vision 2022 Football Development Plan is to have all SAFA national teams ranked consistently in the top three in Africa and top twenty in the world. The plan has seven pillars to it. These include the development of a national playing philosophy, the training and licensing of coaches, the identification and nurturing of talent from the earliest age, as well as organisation of structured competition at a local football association level. “Sasol is excited about this initiative as it is an excellent example of our commitment to the communities in which we operate, in collaboration with other part-
ners such as SAFA-DA. Our approach to sustainable development, as the success of Sasol’s Ikusasa community and infrastructure development programme demonstrates, depends on building strong and mutually beneficial relationships. We are therefore proud to be working with the South African Football Association to contribute to the development of football in our region,” said Vusi Cwane, Vice President, Sasol Public and Regulatory Affairs, Sasolburg. The Sasol-SAFA Football Development Programme entails SAFA B and C licence certification of coaches, grassroots coaching and education programmes, training of coaches/ life-skills educators and referee de-
velopment. Provision is also made for staffing and operational costs, while growth and development of women’s football in the community will also be addressed. Sasol has been involved with the development of football for over 20 years; firstly with the National U/23 Football Team “Amaglug-glug”, and more recently with women’s football in Sasol - Banyana Banyana and the women’s provincial football league, the Sasol League. The Sasol-SAFA Football Development Programme further cements Sasol’s commitment to the development of football in the country.