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KFC Mini-Cricket Returns To Soweto As 40-Year Celebrations Reach Fever- Pitch

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JOHANNESBURG – KFC Mini-Cricket will wrap up the 2022 / 23 season and it’s 40 th anniversary with an exciting festival back at the first home of the hugely successfully development cricket programme in Soweto on Saturday, 22 April.

Since its first introduction in Soweto in 1982, the KFC Mini-Cricket programme has provided a productive entry into the basics of batting, bowling, and fielding in an enthusiastic six-a-side format, while also nurturing a host of volunteer coaches and administrators.

Over the last 40 years, Mini-Cricket has also produced a host of Proteas, SA U19 and domestic cricketers, with the annual participation exponentially growing to over 126, 000 players, 13, 000 coaches and more than 6, 000 schools.

Themed ‘Back to our Roots”, the celebration will pay homage to Soweto, where the programme started. It will also acknowledge the impact it has had in communities; producing outstanding citizens who are today proud to have been moulded by the discipline espoused by the programme.

More than 400 boys and girls between the ages of 6 – 13 years old will simultaneously take part in multiple fun-filled Mini-Cricket matches at the Elkah Stadium, which also houses the Soweto Cricket Club (CC) in the heart of south-west township in Johannesburg.

The schools taking part in the festival will include Soweto’s Thabang Primary, St Angelas Primary and Lodirile Primary as well as Samuel Mangala Primary, Senyamo Primary and Dr Mary Malahlela Primary School.

The Mini-Cricket kids will be joined by legendary figures of the game who have played an integral role on and off the field, including former player and Easterns head coach Geoffrey Toyana, former cricketer and administrator, Anton Ferreira, and Soweto CC and Central Gauteng Lions favourite Johnson Mafa, amongst others.

Proteas Men and Women players along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) staff and executives will also be present during the day’s cricket extravaganza before the festival ends with a trip to the famous Vilakazi Street.

CSA Chief Executive, Pholetsi Moseki commented:

“KFC Mini-Cricket forms part of CSA’s core vision of providing access into the sport of cricket for South Africans from all walks of life, standing the test of time over the last four decades to become the longest-running sports development programmes on the continent.

“In an exceptional 40-year anniversary season that saw the programme’s records broken during a mega festival at the start of the season and the objective of playing 70, 000 matches throughout the season, the campaign is aptly culminating with a close-out event at the initiative’s native home in Soweto.

“On behalf of the countless players, coaches and administrators who bore the fruits of the Mini-Cricket programme and have gone onto reach great heights within the game and in life, I would like to congratulate everyone involved on a remarkable 40 years and may the future hold great success,” he added.

The festival will be streamed live on the CSA YouTube channel.

Cricket came to South Africa during the Napoleonic Wars and with the British forces occupying South Africa. The first match recorded was in 1808 in Cape Town between two service teams, for a prize of one thousand rix-dollars.

The oldest cricket club in South Africa is the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, founded in 1843. Few clubs in the world can boast such a long existence. The first championship was held in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in 1876 for the “champion bat.” Competing teams were Cape Town, Grahamstown, King Williams Town, and Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). It was won by King Williams Town and the year after that too.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.