30 Mar 2021

Zodiac Collabo Girls women’s football club has pleaded with the Lobatse community to support their endeavour to promote women’s football in the town.

Formed in 2017, ‘Mazothi a Bandleng’ as they affectionately call themselves, are the only women’s football club in Lobatse at the moment.

They have already achieved plenty of success in the short time of their existence, such as winning the women’s southern regional league in the 2019/20 season and several tournaments.

They notably defeated Township Rollers ladies, one of the women’s football powerhouse in Botswana, to win the Lobatse women’s day tournament last year.

Speaking during the club’s raffle draw recently, Zodiac chairperson Lawrence Nare said they still face many challenges, mainly financial, despite their success on the pitch.

“The club aims to empower girls and women who want to participate in sport, especially football. But we are facing many challenges. But I am encouraged by the potential shown by the players,” Nare said.

Through the raffle, the club was looking to raise funds to sustain itself. Omphemetse Mmolai, the club’s public relations officer, said the raffle ran from February to March with members of the community buying tickets for P10 and standing a chance to win either a cow (first prize), goat (second prize) or four chickens (third prize).

“We are going to use the funds raised through the raffle to buy necessities like toiletry for our players and also buy sports equipment that we need,” Mmolai said.

She said the team had 45 players. Mmolai appealed to the Lobatse community and businesses to assist the club in its mission to empower the girl child in Lobatse.

She thanked individuals who donated prizes to be won in the raffle and those who assisted in making marketing the raffle. She also thanked members of the community who bought the tickets, saying the club was grateful for the support. The representative from the Sports Volunteers Movement in Lobatse, Oshoma Mfetane thanked the club for promoting the development of women’s football in Lobatse. He said women’s football required a lot of support to grow.

“I wish to encourage you to put more effort into your project with an open mindset. Sport is a wellness activity for both physical and mental aspects. Not only those but also a career. Many youngsters benefitted from sports and of them sustain their livelihoods through it,” he said.  ENDS