Today was the official opening of the Ruyterwacht Circle, which was being celebrated with a tournament for anyone that wants to come down.
Since July last year, Joe, and many other members of the Ruyterwacht community have been cleaning up and redeveloping the circle in the heart of Ruyterwacht, which used to a nice pond, but had been the scene of gangs, crime and drug related activities. In order to turn kids heads away from that lifestyle and towards a better, more productive lifestyle, Joe and the Ruyterwacht community decided to turn it into a mini football pitch, where kids would be free to use it whenever they like, to have a kickabout, and have fun.
Safe to say, compared to what it used to look like, it looks incredible now. It's all completely different. Joe and co did a fantastic job on the circle.
After getting to the learning centre, and setting everything up, we got underway with the tournament. We split it into a juniors and seniors competition. With the juniors, under 14's, going over to Martin on a separate pitch we made up, and the seniors, over 14's, stayed on the centre pitch with me.
So began the tournament. The plan was to have a winner stays on tournament, with the 4 teams with the most wins going into a semi final, then ultimately a final. But on my pitch, on of the coaches "helping" me out, called Densel, decided he wanted to change the format, and changed it to something completely different, confusing everyone, including me and Joe. After a lot of lengthy discussions, the winner stays on rule was back in place. Thankfully it all went well from then on, and some really good football was played. It got more and more popular aswell. We started off with 6 teams overall, and ended up with 15 different teams, 6 juniors and 9 seniors.
At around 12:30 we stopped for a break, before the start of the semi finals and finals. In the break, members of Joes church, along with his friend Joey, gave a talk about how he used to live a life of drugs, and how he turned his life around. Then a few others from their church gave their testaments, before Joey performed a rap song, which was like a cover of 'Turn Down For What', and was actually pretty good. They then finished off with a sketch from the drama group, which showed the type of lives led when kids get involved in drugs and gangs and crime. It was all really interesting and amazing to see.
Before too long, it was time to get down to business. The juniors and seniors semi finals and finals. Both were played on the centre pitch where the seniors had been playing all morning, and the level of football was actually really good, it was great to see. Finally, it all came down to it. The senior final. Yonicks team, the All Stars, had made it, and were up against a team call the Emirates, who had based their name off me and Martin, which was a nice touch. It was a quality game. Emirates were 2-0 up, but soon enough, All Stars had clawed their way back into the tie, and equalised to make it 2-2. It was looking as if the game was heading to penalties. But just before time, Emirates scored a quality winner to make it 3-2. Martin and I were given the privilege to use the mic and commentate on the game, and we went nuts it was brilliant!
It was then time to give out the prizes, R150 for the junior winners, the Schoolboys. R250 for the senior winners, Emirates, and a pair of Puma boots for the man of the match, the Emirates keeper, who had pulled off a few amazing saves to help Emirates win it. All in all it was a good tournament, and everyone should be really proud that it went so successfully. Credit goes to Joe, and his family too for organising it all and making it such a success.
After clearing everything up we all went back to Joes for dinner. Joey new a place that did really good chicken, and he was spot on. Chicken, chips and salad, and it was all amazing. Really good stuff. But Martin and I didn't stay too long after, as we were both exhausted. So after dinner we left, and got home in time to watch the second half of the Man City - Newcastle game, where City won 5-0, after a quality performance. To top off a good day, we beat Palace, and United lost to Swansea, so we're up to 3rd, with Southampton to play Liverpool, and Spurs playing West Ham! Happy days!
Harry
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