By BAKANG MOKOTO
The North West MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation, Collen Maine said they had a fruitful session with South African Football Association (SAFA) president, Dr Danny Jordaan at SAFA House in Nasrec, Johannesburg. Maine said he engaged SAFA to consider North West amongst provinces that have the capacity and willingness to host both national and international games.
He further said the province has not hosted in while, which presupposes that there is under utilisation of the stadiums in the North West. Maine added that this is adversely affecting the development of sports, as well as tourism in the province.
“We pleaded with Jordaan that it is crucial for SAFA to consider hosting games in our province because that will give the people of North West a civic pride, and that will also facilitate improvement in the development of the province with regard to infrastructure, growth in investment and tourism.
“We both also placed heavy emphasis on the school sport programme, because under 15 and 19 academies are recruited from inter-school sport competition games. The province will be hosting a Premier Cup soon, which is a culmination of Mayoral Cup tournaments into final provincial cup games,” he said.
Maine said North West has talent and they plead with the confederation to come to the province to scout talent. He said they appreciate the opportunity to meet with SAFA and they are looking forward to further discussions around hosting agreements, and to is leave the legacy for the people of North West.
Meanwhile, Jordaan made a commitment to Maine that Royal Bafokeng and Olympia Stadiums amongst others, will be considered to host in the upcoming national and international matches.
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