THE local soccer community is in for a treat as the annual Kuyga Soccer Tournament, which has undergone a complete refresh with a new date, new name and new sponsor, will kick off on Saturday.
Kuyga Local Football Association (LFA) representative, Xola Piter, announced the new name, which is the Caltex Greenbushes Freshstop Youth Day Soccer Tournament, and new co-sponsor, the Freshstop store at Caltex Greenbushes, at the recent launch and tournament draw.
The tournament date has been moved to June 16, instead of Easter weekend as in the past, in order to align with Youth Day celebrations.
“The tournament traditionally took place over the Easter weekend every year, but we and the LFA committee decided earlier this year that instead of spreading the players and families too thin over a time that is jam-packed with larger sporting events, we would rather encourage the players to participate in those events and find a new space on the sporting calendar for our tournament,” said Dewald Niemand of Caltex Greenbushes, a founding member of the event.
Another new aspect to the tournament is the inclusion of a masters’ team for the first time, with the over-35s confident that they would still be able to “teach the young ones a thing or two”.
The tournament was born following a meeting between the LFA and Caltex Greenbushes approximately six years ago.
“Our overall approach since taking over this site was that we need to be more than just a business in the Greenbushes area; we need to be a part of our community. We embarked on supporting various community-driven initiatives of which this tournament is one,” said Jurie Snyman, Caltex Greenbushes owner.
Freshstop operations manager, Roche Engelbrecht, said they were very excited about coming on board as a new co-sponsor as the event aligned with the company ethos of promoting good, clean, healthy living for all.
“The community has always been very supportive of the Freshstop outlet that forms part of the Caltex Greenbushes forecourt and we are very happy to be able to give something back in return,” said Engelbrecht.
Caltex master franchisor, Caltex Eastern Cape Marketer, also supports the tournament as part of its commitment to supporting retailers in their partnerships with the communities they serve, Clive Berlyn, CEO of Caltex Eastern Cape Marketer, said.
A total of 14 teams from the Kuyga area – including Seaview, Rocklands, St Albans and Colleen Glen – will take to the field to vie for the overall prize money of R10 000 that will be divided between the first three place winners.
The tournament will kick off at 09:00 at the Kuyga Sports Fields in Greenbushes on Youth Day on Saturday.
The tournament draw is as follows:
Kuyga United vs Blue Aces; Fitches Corner vs Young Pirates; Rockland Stars vs Shooting Stars; M Chiefs vs Kuyga Masters; St Albans vs Seaview United; XV Wizard vs Pumas FC and Young Ideas vs G Stars.
