Editor's Column - Clint Roper
Editor's Blog by Clint Roper
Football often gets a very bad rap in the media. Most of the biggest headlines involve scandals, player misdemeanours or other stories that make our jaws drop in astonishment and our heads shake. Of late we have read about the outrage from some of South Africa's agents over the new 3% law that could come into effect very soon. Many a Soccer Laduma supporter must have shaken their heads upon hearing about the apparent greed in soccer and the huge sums of money involved when it comes to players and agents. It is for all of these reasons that I want to tell you this story. It's a feel-good story, so it will not get thousands of reads when we post it online. And it certainly won't get hundreds of comments. But, in my opinion, it's one that needs to be told with as much gusto as the stories about the bad people and the negative events in football today. About two weeks back, I received the following email from Phillix Matome, a Soccer Laduma Supporters Club member. Hi Mr Roper This is Kokwele Phillix aka (Phillix Matome) @Matome_Kay. I'm from Limpopo and that's where I'm currently at. The thing is, I'm playing and managing an amateur football team around here and we've been looking to buy a new kit. We've looked everywhere around the province but we couldn't find much. We use Red and White/White and Red colours (Ajax Cape Town/Arsenal kind of colours). I thought you could help me get a kit since you're involved with football. I'm actually involved with guys who misuse their spare time and I try to keep their minds off things by keeping them in the field, but it's getting harder by the day as thy guys are not doing that good. I realized that a new kit could be a good motivation for them. Hopefully it will keep them focused fully on football and kick out substance and drug abuse. I'd appreciate it a lot if you could help me find a kit for the guys. Thanks in advance! So we reached out to a couple of people to see if we could help Phillix. These days it's hard to get anything for free, so I was not sure what to expect, but, to be quite honest, I didn't expect very much. I sent a couple of emails out to organisations I thought were possibly in a position to help. I even sent an email to Ajax Cape Town to ask if maybe they had a spare kit, knowing it was a long shot. But, almost immediately, I received a return email from the Head of Marketing at Ajax Cape Town, Dion Mostert. Howzit Clint- hope all good mate. I am going to check on that kit for you - what size are you looking for? So this kit will be with full branding on it. I would imagine you do not want any player names /numbers on the back of shirt either? If you can come back to me shortly I will check and see what I can do for you. I replied. Wow that's incredible! Whatever you have available will work I think. If you only have with names, I'm sure the kids there will not mind. Thank you so much! Sure enough, two days later Dion delivered a junior Ajax CT kit from last season that they were no longer using to the Soccer Laduma offices, just for Phillix and his team. I was blown away! We still had the challenge of getting the kit from Cape Town to Limpopo, but once again someone was willing to come to the rescue. A huge thank you to DHL for coming to the party and agreeing to get the kit to this special team that Phillix is trying to keep going! On Monday night, as I was driving home, I got a call. "Clint, it's Phillix here. The kit has arrived! The kit has arrived! The boys are so happy! Please tell Ajax and DHL thank you so much from all of us! Here… my captain wants to talk to you." The phone was then handed the Captain, "We can't believe you guys did this for us! From all of us we want to say thank you to Soccer Laduma Supporters Club and to Ajax and DHL! We never thought this could happen!" I told the captain that it was an absolute pleasure and that they now needed to go win the league and send us the pictures of the team with the trophy. I can honestly say that, that phone call… hearing the absolute excitement and gratitude for something as simple as getting a kit… was as exciting for me as speaking to Benni McCarthy and doing a cracker of an interview. It was as exciting as breaking a big story. It was that 'ahhh moment' for me that showed how powerful the Soccer Laduma Supporters Club could be. By doing small things through soccer we can make a huge impact on people's lives. When soccer's stakeholders in this country come together, we can make a difference! Now I'm not saying we can get a kit to every amateur team in the country in need, but we will try our best when requests come in to help, through football, to make things happen. To Ajax Cape Town and DHL, a huge thank you! If there are any clubs out there in the PSL or NFD who have old kits and would like to participate in getting kits out to teams in need, please email me on clint@snl24.com/soccerladuma. To those of you not yet on board with Soccer Laduma Supporters Club, make sure you join today! All the details are on page 20. We look forward to making more positive stories with you! Shappa Clint
