Bronkhortspruit - As part of the nation-wide celebrations to mark the one year anniversary of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the South African Football Association in Gauteng on Sunday unveiled yet another multimillion rand legacy project associated to the tournament.
SAFA president Kirsten Nemathandani and his deputy Danny Jordaan handed over a state-of the art artificial foot ball pitch for the use by the community of Ekangala, outside Bronkhortspruit.
It is one of 52 artificial pitches that world football body FIFA promised to help South Africa build as among many legacy projects coming out of the first ever world cup tournament to be held on African soil.
Six of the turfs have been completed to date, with two more under construction, on a project which ultimately aims to install an artificial turf in each of SAFA's 52 regions.
Other artificial pitches have been built in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, Upington in the Northern Cape while North West and the Eastern Cape have also recently welcomed theirs. The project also involves the construction of community football centres around specialised turf fields and aims to give marginalised communities access to quality, FIFA certified turfs whilst building the centres into meaningful hubs of social development.
Speaking at the event on Sunday, Nemathandani said the facilities will go a long way in ensuring the speedy grassroots development of football in the area. Tomorrow will mark exactly a year since the World Cup final match at FNB stadium on 11 July 2010 wand a series of celebrations have also been planned throughout the country.
"Today as we celebrate another milestone since our country hosted the world cup last year, we are saying this is one of many legacy projects that will go a very long way in developing our game. It is for the first time that in this part of the country, we will be able to develop football in its grassroots nature," he said.
The facilities which are made possible by the partnership between SAFA and the National Lotteries Distribution Fund, allow youngsters in poor areas to develop their soccer skills in a professional environment. The benefits of the high-tech artificial turfs are greater resistance to climatic conditions, low maintenance costs, longer playing hours, multi-usage for sport and cultural events, improved and consistent conditions and a hub for football and community development.
Nemathandani said the world cup may have come and gone, but the legacy of the tournament is set to continue in many of South Africa's most disadvantaged communities in every corner of the country.
"I believe that apart from the economic spin offs created by the world cup, the people of our country need to see benefits that come to them directly and this turf we are handing over here today is an example of that legacy we have always been talking about," he said.
Jordaan urged the locals to ensure that the infrastructure did not turn into a white elephant. "We want to urge the people here to own this and treat with the care it deserves we don't want to come back here and see it vandalised, its for football development and thats what we want to see."
