The Soul Brothers Football Club from Better Life informal settlement in Philippi East is expected to celebrate its 10th anniversary on Saturday 24 October. The event will be held at Philippi Village.

Co-founder of the club Brian Matiwane, described the upcoming event as a milestone. He said the aim is to celebrate the club’s achievements and plan for its future, since it had come a long way, and a brotherhood had developed in the club.

A milestone for the community

“We formed the club in mid-2015. We started by forming a team for the legends and, due to demand the following year, we formed a junior team (u-10, u-12, u-14, u-16 and u-18). Later in 2016 we formed a senior team. We wanted to take the children off the streets.”

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He added that the legends play in the Township Legends League in Khayelitsha, while the juniors and seniors play under the Hanover Park Local Football Association (LFA) in Philippi East.

Changing the perception of Philippi

Matiwane said the club wanted to change the perception that people have about Philippi and Philippi East as a whole. Granted, he said, these are problematic areas, because the crime rate is high but not everyone living there is a criminal nor every experience bad.

What’s more, he said, “young boys between age 14 and 16 we want to take off the streets and keep them busy…” and make their lives more purposeful.

Call for sponsors

Matiwane said it is a struggle to draw sponsorship to such causes and urged donors to come forward.

“We do need sponsors to support us. Sometimes when going to matches we have to dig deep into our pockets to hire transport for the players.”