Top prizes to set off exciting ties

Exciting club rugby action will be the order of the weekend as Umzuvukile Sport Development hosts its annual Heritage tournament from Saturday in NU1 Mdantsane.

This tournament was started last year and is part of the government initiative which is aimed at making awareness on gender-based violence.

“As the sport development organisers in the area we need to work together to provide support to women, children and men affected by sexual violence,” said organiser Mzuvukile Tempi.

“We need to create a counterculture in which the dignity of each person, created in the image and likeness of God, is seen and honoured.”

At its inaugural event last year 16 teams took part and this year sees that number double, with around 960 players expected at the NU1 fields over the three days of action.

“We said that clubs should register 30 players for the event, so we are expecting almost a thousand players to be here,” said Tempi.

“The two finalists for last year would automatically come and take part this year, so they were the first to enter and, with many clubs seeing the way this tournament was handled last year, there was a lot of interest in this year’s event, and we filled up the numbers very fast.

“We wanted to include women in this year’s tournament, but unfortunately there were not enough teams. We wanted eight teams to take part, but could only find four women’s clubs in the area.

“So next year we are hoping to add women to the event. But if we can’t get enough teams again for rugby we will look to add netball to the tournament.”

Umzuvukile Sport Development has teamed up with Time Clothing through their “Flyer Sports Wear” brand to bring this year’s tournament to the people.

“We are in partnership with Time Clothing, and the agreement with us was to introduce a voucher as incentive to this year’s tournament, as we found that if we give money, some teams go and drink that money away,” said Tempi.

“So with the voucher the teams can go and pick the equipment and playing kit that they need.

“The first prize is a R20,000 voucher and runner-up is a R10,000 voucher, while we will also be giving away R5,000 and R2,500 vouchers.”

The 32 clubs will play in a knockout tournament format.

After the first round, taking place on Saturday, the losing 16 teams will drop into a lower league, where they will be battling it out for the R5,000 and R2,500 runner-up prizes, while the top 16 main league goes all out for the main prize.

The two 16- team leagues will take place on Sunday and Monday, with the finals set for Monday afternoon.

“Our aim here is to develop. We want to make things easier for those clubs who are still small and not established,” said Tempi.

“In this event we don’t allow any premier or superleague players to take part, because this is for grassroots players. So we only want teams and players that play at first or Sunday league level. These are the kind of clubs that are struggling to get sponsors for their kit and stuff, so they are the ones who need these vouchers to help the team.

“That is also why we have the second section, because if you come here and get knocked out in the first round, you will lose any interest in coming back next year. Whereas now you have a second chance to still win something, so it keeps the interest amongst the clubs alive.”

Teams from all over the region are taking part, including East London, Mdantsane, Tsholomnqa and Nxaruni.

The defending champions are Black Leopards and last year’s runners-up are Young Lions.

These are the kind of clubs that are struggling to get sponsors for their kit and stuff