Well doesn’t time fly? It barely seems like a few months had past since the inaugural event in the short life of Give4Strips last July, but he we were a year and a bit on, about to do it all again.
Once again the setting was Benjamin William Mkapa High School, once again it was another belter of a day and once again it was early. 7am to be precise.
It wasn’t long before the teams started to arrive, youngsters first with the U12’s knock out first on the programme. It was heartening to see a couple of teams turn up in the Sunderland strips, given to them the previous year and on talking to one or two of the young players it was pleasing to hear that they were still following the fortunes of the greatest club ever to be managed by a Roy Keane.
Memories are funny things and its often the case where time seems to make events somehow better – Mickey Gray’s 40 yard screamer against Birmingham or Michael Bridges nutmegging Steve Bruce 5 times in his own six yard box being a prime examples, and I had wondered if the quality of the football played by some of the young children last year (that I had raved about to anybody that would listen ever since) might have been one of those instances. It didn’t take long to realise that the images of the sublime skill, trickery and football that was technically every bit as good as anything you’d see in any boys club in the UK, only with the unique African flamboyance thrown in for good measure were exactly how I had recalled however.
Because of the demand for places in this years competition we had decided to open it for more teams which meant scheduling the tournament over a weekend with the knock out games on the Saturday and the finals taking place the following morning. This was no problem, the more football he better as far as I was concerned and it more than made up for what we were missing back in the North East, which, as it turned out wasn’t a great deal!
The stages were split into three age categories: Under 13’s, Under 15’s and Under 16/17’s with the finalists of each age group winning a set of new kits to wear during the final and then use for their respective clubs. After a slight delay while the man charged with marking the pitch nipped out to buy some chalk from the market the football was underway. Once again it was great to see the kids giving it their all and clearly desperate to progress to the finals the following day. We were also amazed to discover that one team had set of at sunrise from Morogoro district, some 2 and a half ours away by minibus, just to take part.
The opening game was a tasty fixture between two teams sporting Liverpool and Chelsea kits only there was no war of words or mind games in the build up, simply handshakes and pleasantries. Jose and Raffa could have learned a thing or two about sportsmanship had they been observing.
As the kitchen staff worked overtime to provide the players with rice, salad and goat meat we opted for our own Tanzanian favourite of chipsi mayai (a sort of chip omelette creation) with lashings of chilli sauce before settling down to watch the afternoon matches.
The games themselves were tight affairs with no fewer than six ties having to be decided by penalties, much to the delight of the considerable crowd of 500 or so. The highlight of the day had to be the local derby between Mkapa school and another school form across town, who had brought with them an army of supporters who, after having a last minute equaliser disallowed could not contain their joy when they finally grabbed their decisive goal with the last kick before going on to defeat the hosts on spot kicks. This warranted not one, but two pitch invasions – all in good spirits of course, although it did cause a slight delay!
Sunday was finals day with those still in the competition just one victory away from a set of new strips. More penalty shoot outs meant more joy and heartbreak in equal measures. I don’t know if it’s an England or a Sunderland thing, but I just don’t like penalties and really feel for the losers every time. Seeing one poor lad – the captain and smallest player on the team in floods of tears was particularly moving, so much so that although they lost we gave him a set of Sunderland strips to present to his team mates anyway. The coach later told us that the players were so happy they’d forgotten about their earlier disappointment which was nice. They clearly hadn’t heard about the nightmare season Sunderland had just gone though back home!
The three finals saw teams decked out in brand new Sunderland home and away strips, with England and Liverpool also heavily represented. Each teams goalkeepers were given brand new colourful goalkeeper jerseys kindly donated by Blackburn Rovers.
In the main final the U16/17 category the two sides, William Mkapa and River Heroes were competing for new Liverpool FC Champions League kits, complete with shorts and socks, again donated by Liverpool Football Club. It’s fair to say that with Liverpool’s following in Africa and certainly in Tanzania this was very much a sought after prize and probably provided a little edge to the final, not that the black Sunderland away strips on offer to the runners up were anything to be sneezed at!!
As seemed quite fitting the final game was also to be decided by penalties, although by this point we had overrun by several hours and rather than catching our bus to Morogoro to meet up with the rest of the family wewere heading for a second long afternoon of penalties and chipsi mayai. Finally the tie was settled with River Heroes deservedly winning the cup to the disappointment of many in the crowd who had again turned up to cheer on their team.
The moment of the weekend came right at the end when the winning captain came up to collect the Liverpool strips and footballs and the scenes that followed as the teams celebrated their triumph could only be described as mental! It is great to see such happy scenes and makes the hard work and tiring couple of days extremely worthwhile.
Events and moments like this of course are impossible without the generosity of football fans that have dipped into their pockets, sent us gear and memorabilia and the support of the football clubs and retail outlets that have done their bit. You know who you are and we thank you again and look forward to future events with your interest and support.
For more information or if you would like to get involved in Give4Strips we’d love to hear from you. Email info@give4strips.org.uk
Modified:17 September 2006