All-Girls Team Presents SAFA Trophy to Minister Marais

Today, 16 November 2016, Minister Anroux Marais was presented with the SAFA Interprovincial Tournament trophy, by the Western Cape U19 all-girl soccer team.

The team were recently crowned champions of the SAFA Interprovincial Tournament, held in the West Rand in October.

This marks the third consecutive tournament win for Team Western Cape, following their 2-1 victory against Free State in the final.

Nondumiso Mangela was selected as the Player of the Tournament.

The coach, captain, vice-captain, a few members of the team and the Provincial Chairperson of SAFA were in attendance.

[Note to editors: This extract is based on a speech delivered by Minister Anroux Marais at the SAFA Trophy Presentation]

Good day, goeiedag, molweni nonke

What an absolute pleasure it is to have you all here today. You have indeed made the province, your communities, your families and yourselves proud.

I am both honoured and overwhelmed to have you, our all-girl team, present me with the SAFA Interprovincial Tournament Trophy today. What makes this occasion all the more significant is that you have taken ownership of the trophy after being crowned the champions of the tournament for three consecutive years. That is no small feat and I can only imagine all the dedication, practice and hard work you have put into becoming champions. Champions who are now the examples the youth in your communities can look up to, champions who have become our country’s beacons of hope and inspiration. 

Not only do I want to express the Western Cape Government’s pride in you but I also want to say thank you. Thank you for showing our youth that instead of becoming a statistic involved with the social ills plaguing our society, that against all odds, it is possible to become a champion through sport. You have certainly helped us realise our strategic goals of increasing wellness and safety and improving opportunities for youth development.

I take this opportunity to thank the coaches, managers, captains and families of our players for their unwavering support, without it we would not have the winning team before us today.

I leave you with the words of John Assaraf, “The strongest factor for success is self-esteem: Believing you can do it, believing you deserve it and believing you will get it”.

Please do not ever stop inspiring.

I thank you.