24 Jun 2024

The 90 minutes tournament will double the participating number of teams from the previous eight.

The tournament is an initiative by Men for Health and Gender Justice Organisation in conjunction with social soccer teams.

The tournament will be played on a date to be set yet, with all the 16 participating teams playing a knock-out format over two weekends.

Launching the tournament, in Gaborone Saturday, Men for Health chief executive officer, Thatayotlhe Molefe said the tournament still retained its core objective of trying to mobilise men to take action on their health.

“We are especially looking at HIV and AIDS as well as sexual and mental health issues. We decided to target men because they do not usually voice out their challenges,” he said.

He said this might be because of the patriarchal expectations from the society.

Molefe said mental issues were the underlying cause of many male ailments such as stress and even impotence.

He said his organisation, through the tournament also contributed in community mobilisation to address other issues such as gender based violence and prevention of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension among others.

“This is the reason the tournament targets teams in the communities, deemed as social football clubs,” he said.

Men for Health communications and marketing officer, Tsotlhe Basimanebotlhe appreciated the working relations between the organisation and the teams since the tournament started in 2022.

“The teams have been meeting all the requirements and that contributed to the growth of the tournament, which saw the addition of curtain raising teams, and the addition of eight more teams this season,” he said.

For their part, the teams that have been participating in the past tournaments also appreciated the engagement by the organisation, and indicated that it also gave them a chance to give back to the community.

Most team representatives also pleaded with the organisers to introduce a minimum age limit for players to ensure that the tournament befitted Sunday soccer teams status.

The organisers also indicated that the sponsors for the tournament would be revealed later, although the prizes would not be monetary. ENDS