On Saturday I was fortunate enough to be invited to the street parade for Jet Nteo, the winners of the Sanlam Key Motsepe Schools Cup. The event was held in the streets of Boipatong in Vanderbjilpark, south of Johannesburg. Boipatong is not well known (I had never heard of the place) but they are building a little bit of a soccer tradition with Jet Neteo being the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup champions and with, Bafana Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena, coming from the area.
This area of Vanderbjilpark has also got a political history since it borders Sharpeville and for those of you that have not heard of Sharpeville you should Google the Sharpeville Massacre . There is a museum that pays tribute to those who gave their lives on the 21st March 1960 in the fight against apartheid and pass laws.
Tucked away between an industrial area, a huge power plant and Leeuwkuil Pan; between Vanderbjilpark and Vereeneging is the little township of Boipatong. It is not the healthiest place to grow up and I would hate to know what rubbish the industrial areas spew out but it is where these kids call home.
I was invited to the school where I got to meet the local Sanlam representative, the national Sanlam representatives, the Headmaster of Jet Nteo, the regional counsellor (who unlike most counsellors that I have met, actually seems to be liked by the community), the chief of police, etc. In other words I was treated like someone important.
After a couple of speeches and loads of pictures we were allowed onto the Bus where we were joined by some of the Sundowns players and the soccer academy trainers. The Sundowns players spoke to the kids and once everyone settled we started a tour of Boipatong and Sharpeville. I was amazed to see how many people came out of their houses to cheer on the kids. We even had about 30 kids that ran after the bus laughing and chatting to the kids on the bus.
The bus tour finished at a local stadium where the kids were once again treated to speeches by their headmaster, and Alex Shakoane and Yogesh Singh from Sundowns. They were also introduced to Sundowns legends Daniel Nadau, Joas Lupi Malego, Isaac Shai and Eric Ramatsiki.
Once the speeches finished the fun started. We were entertained by various school dance groups, two freestyle footballers and a soccer clinic that everyone in the stands was invited to. The field was a buzz of activity with male and female kids of all ages trying to impress the Sundowns development coaches instead of listening to them. As a matter of fact, what I heard most from the coaches was “concentrate” and “listen to me”. It was brilliant to watch. The kids learned some skills but they also found out that they need a lot more work before they can imitate their school hero’s.
All in all I had a blast and so did all the people involved. One of the Jet Nteo team members came to me and told me that it was the best day of his life and he wished that it would last for ever.
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