Soccer extravaganza at Marlboro Stadium

A whopping 600 young soccer players filled the fields at Marlboro Stadium to have a chance to play in the 15th annual Marlboro Festival Day.

It was a blazing hot Saturday, on 29 September, but the on-field action was even hotter.

Sixty teams from U6 to U10 level from all over Gauteng, and one team from Cape Town, competed for glory at the junior soccer festival.

While the format of the festival meant there was no overall winner, every child gave everything he or she had to win on the pitch.

Parents and siblings of the players set up chairs and gazebos around the fields and cheered the youngsters on all day.

Good sportsmanship was shown when spectators encouraged the players for every goal and good play, no matter which side was winning.

Marlboro Gardens Football Club secretary Muhammed Fakir said the festival was a great success. “Everything went well and the parents were happy and the children enjoyed it.

“At this age, we keep things non-competitive, so there was no overall winner. Every youngster got a medal for competing.”

Fakir said having the Football Elite team visiting from Cape Town, for their first soccer festival in Joburg, was the cherry on top of the cake for him.

“Next year we will move the tournament to June to have it on the weekend of Youth Day. We will be able to have even more teams and numbers, from all over the country.”

Fakir explained that the club is all about promoting soccer development among the youth.

This means as long as the youngsters have a good time, soccer is the real winner.

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