As part of Women’s Month celebrations Kaizer Chiefs collaborated in the Emalahleni Ladies Tournament that took place at Lynnville Stadium on Friday, 9 August 2013. The tournament which saw ladies teams St Mary’s, Coal City, Imphikayipheli FC and Lynnville Squad was well supported despite the unyielding weather conditions on the day.

Marketing Director Jessica Motaung accompanied by Mr Emmanuel Khumalo, Supporters Retail Manager and other Club officials was impressed with the order of the day;

“We are happy to be part of the excitement here today. It is extremely important to sponsor and support women soccer. It is a pleasure for us to sponsor the teams with Kaizer Chiefs kit and just being on the ground and engaging with the supporters and the public.”

St Mary’s and Imphikayipheli FC proceeded to the finals after brushing aside their opponents in the rainy morning semifinal game. St Mary’s beat Coal City while Imphikayipheli beat Lynnville squad.

After their win over Imphikayipheli in the finals, St Mary’s Owner and Coach Mary ‘Zane’ Nkosi was full of praise for Kaizer Chiefs;

“My team is part of a Development Structure that I started when I retired from playing soccer and currently we are playing and lying 2nd in the log standings in the A-stream of the Sanlam League. Currently I am serving as Chairperson of the Women Soccer in Mpumalanga. I want to help develop women soccer in the province and the support from Kaizer Chiefs in this tournament will go a long way to motivate the players going forward. It is also a personal achievement to win the tournament against the teams coached by male coaches, especially on Women’s Day. Thank you to Kaizer Chiefs once more for the kit and all the support they provided here today.”

The day was not only about the Tournament, ladies were selected from the fans to participate in halftime activation and the winners walked away with Kaizer Chiefs hampers for their efforts of shooting into open net much to the delight of the cheering fans.

The fans had an opportunity to shoot pictures with the 2012-13 ABSA Premiership trophy. “This is part of the plans to take the trophy to the supporters. The supporters have been calling asking for this opportunity;” said Thato Matuka who worked tirelessly with the Marketing team to ensure the day’s proceedings go without a glitch.

Tournament organiser Trevor Dube was satisfied with the outcome of the day; “the day went very well. The weather nearly spoilt it but the spirit of playing football prevailed today. This is one of the activities we organise continually to uplift the community of Emalahleni.”

There was also a curtain raiser game between Lynnville Masters against Ackerville Masters which saw Kaizer Chiefs former player Frank ‘Disco’ Makua turning out for Ackerville. ‘Disco’ commended Kaizer Chiefs for coming to Emalahleni; “This will go a long way. I am so happy to see my former Team, Kaizer Chiefs engaging in the communities especially going outside Johannesburg where things always happen. This will encourage us to work hard to help the communities especially women to play sports.”

The day ended with the awards ceremony with trophy presentation for the winners and runner ups as well as individual awards for Player of the tournament who received Chiefs track suits and Nike sneakers. The leading goal scorer received a pair of Nike sneakers and Nike ball. Goalkeeper of the tournament received full goalkeeper kit. All the above donated by KC Retail Store.

St Mary’s went into full song after Jessica Motaung presented them with their winners trophy. Motaung was jubilant speaking during the closing ceremony;

“Thank you to everybody gathered here today. It was nice to see the ladies playing in Kaizer Chiefs jersey and looking so good. We hope that with these kits and the other support we provided to the tournament you will go out to encourage the ladies to play soccer. We are happy and proud to see the community supporting the tournament and for having embraced us in this way. We wish all the women to continue to celebrate and enjoy Women’s Month. As the Club we will continue to support in the development of women in different spheres of life.”