Rainbow Football Development, based at Cecil Payne Stadium, celebrated Women’s Day with a tournament featuring eight local teams.

According to coach Thabo Machabe, the tournament was used as a platform to create awareness among the players and spectators of gender-based violence and child murders, both of which have been prevalent issues in Roodepoort in recent months.

“We thought Women’s Day was the perfect opportunity to raise awareness among our community of football players, parents, and coaches,” he says.

The tournament was well attended, with all three fields lined with parents and family members loudly cheering on their teams and shouting advice from the sidelines.

Participating teams included Rainbow Football Development, Los Blancos, Western Sporting, Soweto Marvee Stars, Fufa, Doljorta Football Club, Vrededorp Academy, and Wolfs FC.

“We had various age categories from U11, U13, U15, and U18 taking to the field,” says Rainbow Development coach Amos Mamabolo.

“The players showed great resolve, with some excellent soccer action playing out on the fields.”

Los Blancos coach, Lancelot Nare, adds: “It was a successful day. Our players received good exposure to strong competition from the other clubs.”