Moorosi Tsiane
The Maluti Mountain Brewery (MMB) on Thursday unveiled a M260 000 sponsorship of its annual high schools football tournament.
The three-day competition, which the MMB is sponsoring through Marotholi beverages, began on Friday in Maseru and ends today at Setsoto Stadium and is being organised by the Lesotho Institute for Sports Associations (LISA).
Dubbed the COPA Coca–Cola tournament, the event is featuring 12 high schools—Masitise (defending champions), Lesia, Sefika, St Saviours, Likuena, St James, Mapoteng, Thaba-Tseka, Mapholaneng, Rasetimela, St Paul and Bereng—and has become one of the most important features on local schools’ sporting calendar.
According to the MMB Corporate Affairs Director Mosuoe Mapetla, the sponsorship includes playing kit, transport and food for all the teams, a floating trophy for the winners and the refurbishment of the winning team’s football pitch.
Last year, MMB injected M240 000 into the tournament, which Mapetla said is aimed at helping in the overall development of students and also the company’s way of giving back to the community.
“We are hoping for a very good tournament this year, as there has been an increase of M20 000 from last year’s sponsorship.
“The sponsorship includes playing kit, transport and food for all the participating schools, while the winners will walk away with a floating trophy, and there would also be about M40 000 for the reconstruction of the winners’ pitch,” Mapetla said.
“This is a very important tournament, through which we are aiming to develop tomorrow’s football stars. This tournament is very important when coming to the development of football in this country and as MMB, we promise we will always sponsor it,” said Mapetla.
On his part, the LISA president, Caswell Moru, thanked MMB for the sponsorship, which he highlighted is playing a very big part in the development of football in Lesotho.
“As LISA, we would like to thank MMB for this sponsorship. The great improvement that we now see in our national teams is partly due to this tournament because it helps to nurture talent from an early age. We also use this high schools tournament as part of our football development because we do not have youth leagues and football academies in this country,” Moru said.
Moru urged the MMB to continue sponsoring the competition as sport also helps students to keep focused on their studies and out of mischief.
“Sport is very good for our children, which is why we appeal to MMB to continue supporting this competition as it keeps the youngsters off the streets, where they might be tempted to engage in mischief,” said Moru.
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