Diocese of Cape Town Football Festival

On Wednesday 1 May 2024 St Johns Church Wynberg soccer team won the Silver Section of the Diocesan Soccer Festival. We give God the glory.

The team was made up of young men who all live, or come from, the Military Base of Wynberg right next to St John’s Church. Building up to this festival I (St John’s Church) received an invitation to initially attend the first meeting (Diocese Football Festival Committee Meeting) not knowing whether I had the capacity or not to be involved in the tournament.

I then realised that there would be an opportunity to walk alongside young people and it was the perfect opportunity to build relationships using sport as a tool and to share the Gospel in a loving way. When I say the Gospel I mean by imitating the life of Jesus.

In the weeks building up to the tournament we quickly got young leaders involved like Ashley Visser and Khanya Klaas, both from the Military Base and both Youth Leaders at St John’s Church. Before we knew it a team was put together.

Prior to kick off day we spent two Sundays after church meeting, completing registration and doing devotions together and we also shared a meal together which was amazing. These players even met in their spare time to practice together to make sure they were ready to compete in the soccer festival.

Soccer Festival Day came and the St John’s team really played some amazing soccer. It was a joy to watch and spend time with these young men. We ended off 3rd in the group stages which meant we played further in the festival in the Silver Section instead of the Gold Section. We went on to win the quarter finals 3-1, won in the semifinals on penalties. We played in Silver Section Finals and we won 2-1. This was truly an amazing achievement especially for the team and St John’s Church.

I want to take this moment to applaud Ashley Visser for his amazing leadership of not only being the captain on the day of the tournament but also representing St John’s Church so well in any space that he serves.

Angelo - serving in the way of Jesus

I then just want to share that I still sit with a heart full of gratitude with the award that I received as the team manager of the tournament and an award in honour of Basil Davids for 2024 (For serving in the way of Jesus).

A huge thank you to the people of St John’s Church that made sure that the team was hydrated well throughout the day with fresh and cold bottled water. The team was blessed with breakfast, lunch and snacks including donuts which I think was a secret ingredient to winning (jokes) and this was all through members of St Johns Church.

A special thank you to St Johns Church for financially contributing to all of the needs that were required prior and on the day.

Lastly and a special mention that on the day of the tournament that St John’s was kitted out and played in a kit that was borrowed from Goal50 Unite in Heideveld on the Cape Flats. On the front of the t shirts, it is written Mother City Kitchen. This organisation feeds and makes sandwiches and serves all the schools in Heideveld and surrounding areas. An interesting fact is that they spend R350 000 every month to make sure that they are able to run the feeding scheme and support needs to be raised in giving and donations for kids to be fed. A special thanks to Mario Van Niekerk from Goal50 and GCU for offering the kit to play in for the day.

I think this soccer festival holistically builds and contributes to the growth of the St John’s faith community.

Blessings & grace

Angelo Hannival