New cup adds some maize flavour to football
JOBURG - A new kid with some maize flavour in his nimble football skills will spice-up the somewhat dull soccer scene of the North West province.
Soccer sprinkled with some maize flavour will spice-up the somewhat dull soccer scene of the North West province.
Known as the Bokone Bophirima Maize Triangle Challenge which features three teams from South Africa’s major maize producing belt of the North West, Free State and Mpumalanga provinces, and a team from Botswana, the challenge has given birth to the Maize Cup.
It was launched at a moving ceremony which not only featured soccer greats such as former Pirates and Chiefs stalwart, Brian Mathe but also celebrated other heroes from different sporting codes that have made the Bokone Bophirima (North West) province a great sporting province.
They included 2015 Comrades Marathon winner Gift Kelehe, who together with his brother, Andrew, are the only South African siblings to have won the Comrades Marathon. Former Bafana Bafana striker Philemon Masinga was also present.
Teams in the challenge include home boys, Platinum Stars, provincial neighbours in the Free State, Bloemfontein Celtic, Mpumalanga Black Aces and neighbouring Bostwana glamour side Township Rollers, who are also the defending champions of the Botswana Premier League.
The challenge, which will be played at the Moruleng Stadium on 11 July, is a vision of North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo. The premier envisages the development of the province around its biggest export, maize, and using sport, and in particular football, as a catalyst for this vision.
Those attending the launch would have been excused for thinking they had come to an agricultural show, as the event was dominated by the presence of farming equipment such as tractors, planters and harvesters.
Speaking at the launch, North West Public Works MEC, Madoda Sambatha, described the challenge as not just a football tournament, but one that was designed to enhance the development of the North West province.
“We aim to develop agriculture and other spheres of government, such as tourism, to ensure that maize production continues to be the primary product of the province that feeds not just the citizens of the province, but the whole of South Africa and the African continent,” Sambatha said.
