Joy and excitement spread through the Vhuilafuri stadium and finally found its rest in the hearts of Madabani soccer lovers, when the Madabani soccer team were announced as the champions during the Sinthumule-Kutama Easter Soccer Challenge a fortnight ago.

For the second time in a row, Madabani took the champions’ position, after beating Ravele 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out. The two teams had drawn 0-0 during the final match. The winning team’s manager, Mr David Ramarupi, said that words could not express the extent of their joy.

“We started preparing ourselves for the tournament from December last year and kept telling ourselves that we would like to win,” said Ramarupi. “Now that we have been crowned champions the second time in a row, our joy is not small! This only shows that our boys are hard workers who are not lazy during training sessions.”

Madabani were awarded a cash prize of R8 000, a floating trophy, soccer kit, 15 bibs and 30 gold medals. Ravele, who came second in the tournament, received R3 000, a soccer kit and 30 silver medals. The third team in the tournament, Tshiozwi, received R1 500 and 30 bronze medals. Maebane ended fourth and received R1 500.

One of the sponsors, Vho-Marubini Mapholi of Postnet Musina/Thohoyandou, spoke at length, pointing out that as sponsors they were happy to be part of the tournament, which is organised yearly by Mamu Community Sports Development.

“We want to assure the organisers and the communities of Sinthumule and Kutama that we will continue to help and assist where we can in terms of sponsorship,” Mapholi said.
“As sponsors, we are satisfied with the overall running of the tournament, as we were there and enjoyed watching the games throughout the Easter weekend.” Mamu’s chairperson, Mr Madonna Nthabalala, said that the tournament had gone well. “There were some challenges along the way, though,” he said. “We have decided to invite the managers from all the teams who participated in the tournament to a post-mortem meeting next week, where we will address all these challenges.”

The mayor of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr David Mutavhatsindi, also graced the event on Sunday (23 March) when he handed the floating trophy to the winning team. He reminded people that in South Africa football was not just a game, but that it had become a culture which could not be separated from the people who were part of it.

The president of the South African Football Association, Mr Kirsten Nematandani, was a guest of honour during the tournament, as had happened in 2012.