Junior footy event to kick off

THE biggest annual amateur football tournament in the Mother City is once again upon us.

Founded in 2010, the Kapstadt Cup is a platform for young football enthusiasts to develop their skills.

“As a club, FC Kapstadt places huge emphasis on youth development and more so on grass-roots (entry-level) football,” said managing director Zaid Omar.

“We conceptualised the event as a fundraiser but also to address a local need in football, thus in 2010, along with the hype of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, we started the Kapstadt Cup.”

The tournament, which is open to all amateur clubs in Cape Town – with a focus on Under 7 to Under 14s – is sanctioned by the Cape Town Tygerberg Football Association and the City of Cape Town. It has a world cup-style format, making it the only grassroots football tournament in the country to meet international event standards.

The tournament aimed to address a number of issues.

“First, there are not enough grass-roots football competitions. Second, there’s a major lack of quality or world-class grassroots football competitions in Cape Town and in SA,” Omar said.

“There is no development without competition, but more importantly, there is no true development if there are no quality tournaments. Why should grassroots football tournaments experience the worst pitches, with no medics, security, and with bad culture and development?”

Omar and others at FC Kapstadt have made sure the kids competing in the tournament can play on the best possible pitch (the club’s homeground of Hartleyvale Stadium), have medical teams on standby, safe, clean facilities and, of course, hundreds of screaming fans, to give the players the sense of playing in a world-class event.

At present, all teams in the tournament are from Cape Town. Omar said they hoped to change this.

“The plan is to go national and international by next year. We have received great interest from abroad,” he said.

The tournament will be held at Hartleyvale Stadium in Observatory from October 20 to 22. It will feature 23 clubs, 96 teams and 1 180 players vying for victory in 228 matches.

All lovers of the beautiful game are invited to attend.

For more information on the tournament, visit

www. fckapstadt.com.

Damage caused by the fire in Vygieskraal informal settlement has not deterred the kids from running.

The Kapstadt Cup grassroots football tournament takes place from October 20-22.