Spotlight on little ones at Cubs soccer festival

LFA Mitchell’s Plain hosted its annual under-6, under-8, under-10 and girls' under-12 Cubs Festival, at Strandfontein sports complex, at the weekend.

The crowd that turned up for the festival that featured 94 teams, can bear testimony to witnessing a vibrant mix of youthful energy, exhilarating matches and unforgettable memories. 

LFA president Gilbert Kruger said putting together a festival of this magnitude takes a lot of planning to accommodate and run the event with so many teams, players, spectators and parents.

“Obviously, we rely a lot on technology to assist us with all the paperwork, logs and stuff. We just feed everything onto an app and feed it to the players and managers and coaches,” he said. 

Charlene Wilkinson, Youth HOD, for the LFA, said the tournament’s success is the result of tremendous teamwork and the fact that they created a platform ahead of the tournament to iron out all challenges and potential issues with everyone involved.

She said a local organising committee (LOC) was appointed by the LFA executive committee to run the tournament.

“They did all the leg work, they applied for the permit, for the ambulance and secured sponsorship to make sure the tournament was a success,” said Wilkinson, thanking all sponsors and supporters.

“With the tournament running in its 11th year this year, it is a well-established tournament,” she said. “Games took place on time, we had our safety officers and first aiders and ambulance on the field.” 

“It’s predominantly Mitchell’s Plain teams that take part in the tournament, so we have the support of the Mitchell’s Plain clubs and outside clubs,” said Wilkinson. 

Thanks to the work of the LOC, Wilkinson said, Blue Ribbon came on board as the title sponsor with Westridge-based Rawson Property covering the girls' division.

“Blue Ribbon sponsored all our under-6, under-8s and under-10 teams with kit, goody bags, balls and catered for lunch and juices for the three days of the tournament for players, coaches and family members. Rawson sponsored prize-winning for the girls,” she said.

Sectional winners:

Under-6

Strandfontein AFC under-6s won gold in their division with Red Rover runners-up. 

Bayhill won the platinum division, Westridge runners-up

Under-8

In the under-8 section, MA Collville was crowned winners with Juventus runners up.

Platinum winners Hellenic with Vasco da Gama finishing runners-up

Under-10

Bothasig clinched gold in the under-10 division, runners up Rock-A-Fellas

Platinum winners Barcelona, runners-up Hellenic

Girls under-12

Winners Hotspurs, runners-up Strandfontein