The Corner Flag: Help others become sports heroes

I’ll be the first to admit that those of us living in the townships are not doing much to support our children’s sporting ambitions.

Be it attending games on weekends, daily training sessions or buying the necessary equipment like boots, cricket bats or kit, we don’t care.

A commentator raised this issue this past weekend during a soccer tournament in Mayfield. He highlighted a lack of parental support or community involvement in sports as one of the things holding children back.

While there were a few parents watching at this tournament, they were not interested in the actual games. Instead, some stood along the touchline holding bottles of beer, shouting expletives at the players, while others just basked in the sun.

It’s a scene I’ve seen far too many times.

The most concerning thing, though, was the need for soccer boots, shin guards and kit. Notwithstanding the dusty, slippery and uneven pitch they played on, the poverty these children have to survive — while their parents indulge in alcohol in front of them despite seeing they weren’t fully kitted — was tough to swallow.

I’m not arguing that the money spent on a quart of beer can buy a soccer boot. However, if parents go to matches for purely footballing reasons — not to pass time — they would see the need around them and may be could help.

A caring parent watching one of those matches on Saturday would have raised an alarm upon learning that one of the youngsters is nicknamed ‘Drug Dealer’, while another’s nickname is ‘Horror’.

In football, especially at amateur ranks, we give each other nicknames based on who we idolise.

In his piece on Idols and Idolisation, Professor Roger Levesque explains the phenomenon of idolisation as “the sometimes excessive admiration of or devotion to something or someone”.

Furthermore, Levesque argues that idols play an important part in adolescent life.

So, why would this youngster be likened to a drug dealer? Does he resemble a drug dealer? Are drug dealers in Mayfield — if there are any — the only ‘public figures’ to look up to?

Besides school, engaging in sport can be a catalyst for positive life changes. The need for sporting equipment I witnessed in Mayfield left me emotional.

It’s for this reason that the Benoni City Times is asking you to Be a Sport. All these children, and many others in our community, need is to compete with confidence and with no worries about boots, balls or rackets.

Most aspire to be like Aiden Markram, Siya Kolisi and Ronwen Williams. But without the necessary equipment, they will always be relegated to the peripheries and end up idolising drug dealers.

Be a Sport.

Donate any unused sporting equipment that’s gathering dust in your garage. There are donation boxes at Benoni Northerns, Old Bens and Benoni Lake Club.

We have until July 18 to fill up these boxes and make a difference.

Also Read: COLUMN: The Corner Flag – It’s about trusting the process

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