The tournament is an initiative of the Mahumani royal family with the aim to get young people involved in sports. According to Elec Makhubele, the chairperson of the local football association in the Mahumani area, the tournament focuses on the football clubs in the villages that fall under the jurisdiction of the Mahumani royal family.

“Eight teams participated in the tournament and all of them received jerseys and soccer balls. It is all thanks to sponsors such as Rivisi Electrical, Mahumani INC, and TS Makhubele INC who made it possible for us to give every participant something to take home apart from the cash prizes that are given to the winners,” he said.

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Speaking after the tournament, Raseropo said his team’s perseverance was the key to their win over Nkomo Phunya FC, the tournament’s title holder and the most feared team in the area. Nkomo Phunya holds the Zama-Zama championship title played annually in which all of Giyani’s teams compete. “We started our tournament with them beating us.

We managed to progress to the finals and had to face them again,” explained Raseropo. “This time, however, we said enough was enough. We had to beat them,” he said, raising a trophy after being named coach of the tournament. Meanwhile, the winning team walked away with R13 000, a trophy, medals, a jersey, and soccer balls. The second team, Nkomo Phunya FC, was awarded R7 000 and the third and fourth teams won R4 000 and R3 000 with medals jerseys, and soccer balls, respectively.