We held the girls’ football tournament in Kibera on the middle Sunday of the trip. Teams from Girls’ Soccer in Kibera, Mitumba, Mathare, Masai Villa, Hamlet, and Sadili took part and Samba also had 2 games: one against the coaches, and one against Sadili boys, which was 11 a side and had a kind of Samba invitation 11 playing.
The tournament was held at a school in Kibera. The pitch was plenty big enough for 7 a side, but a bit small for 11! The markings were laid out by hand – Coxie and Sean pitching in. It wasn’t the straight lines you’d see in the Premiership, or even on our Hylton Road pitch! Added colour was provided by a hill to one side down which the ball went on numerous occasions through the day. The games were watched by people from the Kibera community, who stood by the railway line passing close by. We could have been on a good earner charging for tickets.
The tournament was a great success; a hard fought final was eventually won by Girls’ Soccer after a foul which led to a fairly close-range free kick. Pioneering use of video technology proved successful in determining the outcome of a shot which seemed to go in under the bar (well, the string of the jury-rigged goal that had been repaired that morning) in an earlier game. Credit to Coxie who was refereeing and got the decision spot on.
Entertainment was provided by a Kibera performance group made up of children and young people who danced, did acrobatics, and sang for the gathered teams watching. Big thanks to Maureen for doing the local organisation and getting the different teams involved.
The teams were very appreciative of the presentations and we were able to give balls to each team that took part.
It was an added bonus that Lawsy was given a clean bill of health from the doctor – it was confirmed he’d had food poisoning – and was feeling better after being given some tablets to kick it into touch.
That night we had to pack for Naivasha, and trim our luggage down significantly in order to make sure it would all fit on the matatu (the local Kenyan public transport in the form of 8- or 14-seater minibuses).
The tournament was held at a school in Kibera. The pitch was plenty big enough for 7 a side, but a bit small for 11! The markings were laid out by hand – Coxie and Sean pitching in. It wasn’t the straight lines you’d see in the Premiership, or even on our Hylton Road pitch! Added colour was provided by a hill to one side down which the ball went on numerous occasions through the day. The games were watched by people from the Kibera community, who stood by the railway line passing close by. We could have been on a good earner charging for tickets.
The tournament was a great success; a hard fought final was eventually won by Girls’ Soccer after a foul which led to a fairly close-range free kick. Pioneering use of video technology proved successful in determining the outcome of a shot which seemed to go in under the bar (well, the string of the jury-rigged goal that had been repaired that morning) in an earlier game. Credit to Coxie who was refereeing and got the decision spot on.
Entertainment was provided by a Kibera performance group made up of children and young people who danced, did acrobatics, and sang for the gathered teams watching. Big thanks to Maureen for doing the local organisation and getting the different teams involved.
The teams were very appreciative of the presentations and we were able to give balls to each team that took part.
It was an added bonus that Lawsy was given a clean bill of health from the doctor – it was confirmed he’d had food poisoning – and was feeling better after being given some tablets to kick it into touch.
That night we had to pack for Naivasha, and trim our luggage down significantly in order to make sure it would all fit on the matatu (the local Kenyan public transport in the form of 8- or 14-seater minibuses).
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