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new home for usuthu

Mary Papayya

Mary Papayya

KwaZulu-Natal Premiership team AmaZulu, alias "Usuthu", will have a taste of its new home at Ulundi Stadium on Saturday when they square up against two Zululand opponents in friendly games, which are expected to attract thousands of soccer-starved fans.

In the first encounter, starting at 11am, Usuthu will face Ulundi Stars, a Vodacom League team, and in the final game they will come up against formidable Island FC, known as "Izilwane", last year's KZN Vodacom Promotional League champions.

Commenting on the coming games, the mayor of Zululand district municipality, Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi, said: "As a municipality, we are ready to host these important encounters to celebrate the history of our district. We are certain that a large number of spectators will witness these games, because many people from this side of the Tugela River are very passionate about the game of soccer, and also due to the fact that AmaZulu FC draws most of their supporters from Zululand.

"By organising these games, we also want to inspire our youth to participate in sports in order to keep them away from the streets. I believe that sport, if well managed and well promoted, can be a powerful tool to unify and build our nation.

"Also, if players are well groomed at an early age, they can become professionals and earn a living on sport. That is why we are doing our best to promote sport ... With the 2010 World Cup Soccer bid safely in the bag, my greatest desire is to have at least one player coming from our shores [Zululand], representing our country".

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