M Family Foundation and Wild Coast Sun sponsored the last biggest football tournament of 2022

AmaMpondo FC won on penalties in the finals against Real Aces FC

In Bizana, Mphuthumi Mafumba stadium hosted 62 teams to play at the M Football tournament which took 3 days.

Out of the 62 teams from all over South Africa that participated in the tournament, the teams that won the tournament are from Bizana. The teams that made it to the top four are AmaMpondo FC, Real Aces, Ravens FC and Assassins

This tournament was sponsored by Wild Coast Sun and the M Family Foundation who are the main sponsors of the tournament. “As the M Family Foundation we are all about development. Even if this leads to just one or five professional careers that would mean a lot to us because its nice to know that we touched lives. No matter how little but we had some contribution. We have provided a platform that made people fall in love with  football.” Said Lubabalo Mgwili of the M Family Foundation.

This tournament is not the first to be held in Bizana it all began in 2017 and has developed over the years. Hosting such tournaments is a gambit to local development because sponsors of this tournament  are all about local development and they hope to advance these tournaments to attract football scouts.

“This tournament prevents many young people from going to shebeens to drink and stab each other, which has always been the case during the festive season. Unfortunately or fortunately this time around there is this event which a number of about 10 000 people who came to either participate or support the teams playing. There are also economic benefits to this because street vendors are allowed at the event so people are making money even local shops are busy due to this tournament.” Said sub secretary of ANC youth league in Winnnie Madikizela Mandela sub region, Lihle Gcalo.

Deputy chairman of Alfred Nzo who is also a chairman of Winnie Madikizela Mandela Football Association said the tournament was a huge success and all the players are as good as those in the professional level. “There are players you could see are not supposed to be playing at this level but should be in professional football for instance there is a player, playing in for AmaMpondo FC wearing jursey 10. Even if you could take that player overseas he would succeed because he is ready. For now we are focused on development. During the festive we want to keep people busy and so we encourage people to play organised football because without being organised you won’t go anywhere. In June we will invite football scouts. We couldn’t invite them now because most players are on contracts during this time and as according to SAFA recommendations those contracts come to an end in June.” Said tournament coordinator Gorge Gusha.

Players of the tournament were thrilled to participate at the tournament. Sibusiso Zawana a Young Citizens FC player said “the game was very beautiful although the weather interfered because the ground was wet and slippery but we had an overall beautiful and successful tournament. We would just love to see everything operating at the stadium from the toilets to the taps for water.” Zawana also added that he would love to see more people supporting Bizana football and seeing the  sport developing even more.

Another player from Real Aces FC Vuyo Jukuja said  “This was a great tournament to showcase his talent as a young football player because it grooms you mentally and gives you an opportunity to be seen and possibly selected by bigger and better teams.”

“Wild Coast Sun supports everything related to sport, agriculture environmental issues and tourism. We encourage the youth to participate in sport and sustainable initiatives which we sponsors. We urge those sponsored to keep safe anything they have been sponsored with.” said Wild Coast Sun socio-economic development manager Bandile Mdliva.