18 Sep 2018

Tonota Men Sector has recently hosted a two-day football tournament at Makobo in order to encourage men to test for HIV.

The tournament, held last weekened, was dubbed Know your status and featured eight teams from Makobo, Jamataka and Natale villages and was sponsored and organised by the Tonota sub-District men sector.

In an interview with assistant district AIDS coordinator, who was also the coordinator of the tournament, Mompati Segare said they decided to target men and encourage them to test for HIV through the tournament as they had realised that men liked football.

He said for a player to participate in the tournament he was required to have tested for HIV, adding that the tournament was played at Makobo because the village had more men who tested than the other two villages.

Segare also added that they managed to tests and counsel 291 people in the campaign.

He added that before the tournament started they addressed kgotla meetings in all the three villages to discuss with residents issues such as drugs and alcohol abuse and how it related to HIV, gender violence and multiple concurrent partnerships.

He also noted that such tournaments were previously hosted at Gojwane and Mabesekwa, adding that they helped them to achieve their objective.

He said it would be helpful for men to encourage each other to take part in HIV testing when they gathered at football matches, adding that men were always behind when it came to HIV testing or health issues in general.

Gotlaasiama, Tlapaneng, Smiling Boys and Green Boys managed to advance to the semi-finals and Gotlaasiama settled for position three after defeating Green Boys 4-3 on penalties after the two teams drew 2-2 in normal time.

The well attended final match between Smiling Boys  and Tlapaneng was tough and interesting with both teams matching each other pound for pound and showing football talent.

In the end Tlapaneng managed to win the game and the tournament by a solo goal.

Gotlaasiama won two balls and a whistle for emerging third while Smiling Boys won a set of nets, a ball and a whistle for being runners-up and the champions Tlapaneng won a printed football kit.

Green Boys, Gotlaasiama, Black Stars, Rolling Boys and Kopano Sporting Club were each awarded a ball and a whistle for taking part in the tournament. ENDS