Obama Boyz Football Club has begun their campaign. The U.S. Embassy staff-supported football outfit has started a new football season driven by purpose in the expanded Harare Professionals Soccer League (PSL) where they will rub shoulders with various commercial companies based in the city. This year 18 teams registered to participate in the PSL and it promises to be an exciting season. A citizen journalist gives AMHvoices this story.
“We are not taking anything for granted, we come from a philosophy that makes us believe; and true to form we know we can,” explains Sizani Weza, team president. The Obama Boyz started off as a team of Embassy staff in 2011 but has since blended in with Harare youth, mostly from the Belgravia and Alexandra Park. The youth- who used to play football at a roundabout- have given the team a competitive edge. In 2012, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) provided a grant that was used to purchase the branded uniforms to promote male circumcision as an option to reduce the spread of HIV, which causes AIDS.
On Saturday March 15th, the team played and won their first match in the PSL at Barclays Sports Club against a determined Truworths F.C. Now in their second year in semi-professional football, the Obama Boyz proved their mettle last year coming second in the then 16-team PSL dominated by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (Zim Lawyers). The lawyers started the season strongly winning 15- 0 against the cabinet makers- Shellwood F.C.
“Soccer is a pastime- it comes with its highs and lows. It’s the adrenaline that comes with competition created by being part of a league. That desire to win matches, the frustrations that come with losing one and the creativity generated by learning about your next opponents,” says Weza.
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Compiled by John Mokwetsi.
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