UJ Zimsoc Issue 2 | Page 28

For
 e
Lov e of
 e Gam e

© RopaM ash iri/

A rch b o ld J . Mk a n g a

A s the late f ormer S outh A f r ican F ootball,
pr es ident, N els on M andela, w ould
s ay, “S port has the pow er to
ch ange the w or ld”. This f amous
qu ote is of high s ignificance as it
is evident that the events that
occur in the r ealm of s por ts f amiliar is e people and unite them in
having s imilar objectives , be it in
s u ppor ting or taking p ar t. S por t
un ites people of differ ent w alks of
lif e. The ar t of s por t not only has
an impact on s por ts but it has a lot
of inf luence on the overall s pher es
of s ociety, be it politics , education, labour market and s o f or th.
Th e tr ans for mative and unif yin g
po w er of s por ts can be us ed to
make changes that pr otes ts and
diplomacy f ailed to make. The
love for s por t is a common value
w h ich I believe ever y per s on
s h ould pos s es s becaus e it has its
ow n unique and unexplainable
w ay of making people s et as ide
their per s onal agendas , ethnic or
gender diff er ences , or any other
f o r ms of diver s ities , and jus t
ap preciate its impact on their lives
an d how much it contr ibutes to our
ev er yday happines s .
A s s por t is an es s ential contr ibutor tow ar ds the uniting of nations
an d s ocieties , it is thus neces s ar y
f o r it to cons is t of a w ide range of
categor ies s uch as s occer, r ugby,
go lf , cr icket, the lis t goes on. M y
f av our ite has to be athletics as I
have been a athlete f or mos t of my
lif e. A lthough all thes e s por ts
f o r m coalitions f or contr ibuting
tow ards w hat s port off er s , ther e is
that one s por t that s hakes th e
major ity of the globe, football.

I mus t s ay, w e had f aith, but doubts
as mos t people know, is a
w ere highly dominant as w e did not
s p or t w hich cons is ts of a team of 11
ev en have the equipment that w as
players playing agains t another team,
needed f or the team. We w on the
w h ere the team that s cor es th e mos t
f ir s t game and dr ew the s econd one,
go als is the victor. The concept
all thanks to P r ide Buta, better
behind the f ormation of a ‘
team’thus
kn ow n as ‘
K ante’
, as he s cored both
gives r eas on f or thos e par ticular indithe goals that s ealed our victor y.
viduals in the s ame team to w or k
Th is w as a s ur pris e not only to the
together. S occer cr eates a f eeling of
s tr ong oppos ition, but to all our
being home, it motivates us to w or k
players . We had the intention of
tow ards impr oving our s tandar ds of
making it into the league but did not
per for mance f or the benef it of the
think w e s tood a chance of doing s o.
team. N ever in my lif e have I s een
I t w as then announced that w e had
s u ch joy as that w hich I s ee f r om s upto make s ur e that our team had the
po r ters of a w inning team. This f or m
neces s ar y equipment, kit, s occer
of s port is an ar t w hich is to be cher balls , etc. w ithin a w eek. This w as
is hed as it gives a r eas on f or hard
w h en
w e des igned our r ed and
w o r king habits , pas s ion, per s ever w h ite s occer kit, w hich w as s lightly
an ce, and s o f orth.
cr iticis ed f or being Croatian- like.
Th e time came that w e, as U J
O u r fir s t tw o games of the inter nal
ZI M S O C, had to r ealis e that w e could
league w ere uns ucces s f ul and w e
no t play s leeping giants f or ever and
ther ef or e decided to w or k har der
ther ef or e had to s tep up. The U niveran d ens ur e an impr ovement in the
s ity of J ohannes burg has a s occer
w ay things w er e done in the team.
league w hich takes place throughout
We then r es ponded s tr ongly by
the year. O nly a limited number of
getting our f ir s t w in, w hich w as
teams ar e allow ed into the league,
ag ains t G atew ay. A lthough it w as a
bas ed on how good their perf or mance
r ather br utal match it w as ver y
is and w hether they ar e able to def eat
much w or th it. We then pr ogr es s ed
other teams w hich may als o w ant to
to competing on the s ame level as
be par t of the league. We then decided
other league teams , s omething
to tes t w hether w e w er e the giants w e
w h ich s eemed impos s ible at the
claimed to be. I t w as an intens e,
op ening of the s eas on. I t is by the
s tr es s ful, challenging, and w or thLo r d’
s gr ace that I can s ay U J
w h ile exper ience. We w ere the under ZI M S O C F ootball Clu b, nicknamed
do gs as people had their ow n
‘
SOX’
, is a team to w atch out for as
pr econceptions about our team and
it has a lot to achieve in the near
w h at w e s tood for. We w er e told that
f u tur e.
ther e w ere 15 teams , other s ocieties
an d s tudent r es idents , that w anted to
be part of the league. We w er e then
divided into 5 gr oups , each group
co ns is ting of 3 teams , and only the
top team w ould make it into the
league.
U J ZIM SOC | ISSU E 2

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