On Saturday 24 September, more than 250 boys under the age of 13 came together at the Chris Campbell Memorial field in Khayelitsha, to celebrate South African Heritage Day. The day offered a combined quiz and football tournament, which gave the participants the chance to learn about South Africa’s heritage in a fun and informative way.

With the opening of the gates early in the morning, the field was crowded with children, and despite the very lively atmosphere, the teams showed great discipline and enthusiasm in studying the facts for the educational quiz. In the spirit of Heritage Day, the 32 participating teams were asked to choose team names significant to South Africa such as, ‘Cape United’, ‘Zulu Warriors’ or ‘Aba Pedi’, to name a few.

Throughout the tournament, each team not only had to prove their footballing skills, but also had to answer as many quiz questions as possible. The questions covered facts on South African history, geography, sports and government.  Before the start of each match the teams had to challenge their opponent in the quiz. The team which answered more questions correctly would then go into the match 1-0 ahead. Therefore, not only the teams with the best players, but also the ones with the best ‘quizzers’ stood a chance to win the Heritage Day tournament.

After a tensed 15mins of regulation-time, the final had to be decided through a penalty shoot-out, of which Real Madrid triumphed over Terry Stars a.k.a ‘North West’. For this achievement Real Madrid took home the coveted trophy.
Whilst unfortunately there can be only one winner, the day was a huge success for everyone. AMANDLA EduFootball would like to thank all the teams for their participation and engagement during the day!