Feel It! It is still here

The Football Turfs Legacy Programme is a continuation of the spirit that captured South Africa during the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup extravaganza that indeed it is here.

The jovial mood of the crowd and the participation of at least thirteen soccer junior teams, consisting of both boys and girls, made it very clear that Upington and Siyanda are feeling it.

The Local Organising Committee (LOC), that was responsible for this historic epoch making event, continues to make a significant impact in particularly the soccer fraternity.

On 8 October 2010 the special friends of the Northern Cape, as Premier Jenkins refer to them, converged on Upington at the Paballelo stadium to launch the first of various football turfs. Additional sites that has been identified within the province is Springbok (Bergsig) and Britstown.

The special friends, consisting of the Local Organising Committee, South African Football Association (SAFA) and the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) are the key partners of the Football Turfs Legacy Programme.

The key purpose of this programme is to ensure that dreams do come true. This dream for Upington, which is the first of three for the province, started with the renovation of the site next to the Paballelo Stadium and it systematically became a reality.

In the words of Mr Danny Jordan, LOC Chief Executive Officer and Mr Kirsten Nematandani, President of the South African football Association (SAFA); this programme is about infrastructure development and nurturing potential talent.

The special friends of the Northern Cape were united in the message to the province that we have the opportunity to turn the future to our desired need. The Football Turfs Legacy Programme, which has a broad approach towards sports development, provides the Northern Cape with an opportunity to maximally utilise our partnership and friendship with the key institutions involved in the programme to the best of our ability.

The approach towards the clubhouses is that it serves as a multi-purpose centre, which focuses on elements such as youth development and broad social economic development innovation. Some of the programmes that will be provided through the clubhouse are computer training, life skills, leadership training, HIV and AIDS talks and anti-crime initiatives.

Professor Alfred Nevhutanda (Chairperson of NLDTF) highlighted that through this programme provincial academy's of sports development could be established, which would become the driving force behind making the Northern Cape dream a reality.

Premier Hazel Jenkins emphasised the need for communities, which would be benefitting through the 2010 legacy programme, to take ownership of these innovative initiatives. She highlighted the fact that 2010 legacy programme provides the platform for the unlocking of potential within the sporting arena.

She encouraged especially young people involved in sports to become and develop into legends in the field they are practising in. She was joined by the LOC, SAFA and NLDTF in calling upon the community to not vandalise their properties, but to guard it with all their might.

Premier Jenkins emphasised the importance of preserving such initiatives for future generations. She indicated that through sports various business opportunities could emerge for communities if they just place their entire energy into cultivating it. She further expressed her appreciation towards the special friends (LOC, SAFA and NLDTF) for providing this opportunity to the province.

A facility management team, comprising the local SAFA executive and Khara Hais municipality, were established to monitor the project and ensure that there are proper control mechanisms in place.

Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government