The Saul Hull Under 13 tournament drew to an exciting climax this weekend in the Kenyan bush! Sixteen teams made up of GAFFER’s youngest talent have been battling it out to see which village has the finest youngstars! Alongside the football action Sexual Health professionals were on hand to offer advice and testing for HIV.

The tournament is played annually in honour of Saul Hull, one of GAFFER’s greatest supporters. It takes teams made up of players in every village in the area GAFFER works and splits them into four groups with the top two of each going through to the final stages. The competition this year has been intense and the high level of training given by the team coaches under the supervision of GAFFER’s head coach, Titus Eluid, has ensured the standard is improving week by week!

The third place playoff saw Kale FC take on Makwasinyi village in an action packed encounter that went all the way to penalties! Makwasinyi held their nerve and took the victory and the 3rd place prize of a good sized goat! The final was to follow and saw two of GAFFER’s most improved young teams fight it out! Sasenyi and the local boys Itinyi lined up to see who would be crowned champions of 2011!! The game was intense and after Itinyi took an early lead Sasenyi had chance after chance to level the score. But some good luck and goalkeeping heroics prevented Sasenyi breaking the deadlock and the boys of Itinyi ruled the day!

After the celebrations had died down it was time for GAFFER to announce the names of the best players from all the teams who would go on to a week long training camp to create GAFFER Youngstars U13. This team has been invited to a Province wide tournament in the Coast in a couple of weeks time! Good luck to them!

As well as the football St Josephs of Voi provided four professional HIV counselors. Sixty people now know their HIV status which is vital in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Well done guys!!

All this is made possible by an annual fundraising party attended by all who know and love Saul. Thank you guys!

The Sixth edition of the Men’s Inter-Village tournament came to a climax at Marasi Football ground. After months of tough competition it was finally time to declare the winner! The games also saw GAFFER’s all conquering Youngstars take on an under-13’s team from the big city as HIV testing set new records in the background…

The games began with the 3rd Place play off between Rukanga and Kale villages. After a tough fought game an injury time winner from the younger of Kale’s in form Katana’s brothers added to his big siblings opener and Kale took the game 2-1! GAFFER Youngstars wanted to show the assembled the massive improvements in form that have seen them go from village pitches to city stadiums in their rapid rise as young footballers! They challenged Jomvu United who had traveled from Mombasa. A brilliant display from both sides entertained the crowd and GAFFER’s youngsters impressed with a 2-0 victory. The Jomvu coaches invited GAFFER to a rematch in Mombasa which promises to be a great day out for all involved. Hundreds of supporters turned up for the final game and cheered their teams on. After taking an early lead Samba Boys spent much of the game under pressure and a last minute penalty converted by Tom Kilonzo took the game to extra time! Deep into extra time local boy Joshua Kitiro had a “Pele moment” with a 20 yard drive to ensure the cup stayed with Samba for another year!

Whilst the games were played, St Josephs of Voi provided trained HIV Counsellers to test people on a voluntary basis. James Ruwa and the rest of the GAFFER Health team organized and by the end of the proceedings over 120 more local people knew their status. A massive achievement for all involved!

Blog by Titus Eluid

Eventually, after much anticipation, the GAFFER final for both the Andrew Murch Memorial Tournament and KCL4 have been played.

With Mr Benny’s arrival in Kenya a week before the event, it was always bound to be a Final to be remembered and there were certainly no disappointments.

In the week leading up to the big day there was much to do but also many people to lend a hand. James Ruwa, one of our previous employees who has been studying for the last year, made a trip home especially and he had barely stepped off the bus when he was sent off to engage in some goat bartering, which is no light hearted matter in Kenya. Luckily he had Inaki, a work college of Ben’s who was also available to lend a hand and generally provide lots of Spanish enthusiasm. Mr Mo was in charge of making sure we would be able to feed around 200 hungry fans and players on the day, calling for the buying of mountains of onions, potato and so forth. That just leaves myself, Titus, who has recently taken up the role of GAFFER’s man on the ground. I won’t bore you with a list of all the things I did, save to say running around like a crazy person was the order of the day.

During the day itself everything ran really well - tents were pitched by 7am, the football pitch was cleared, and by 8am the entertainer of the day - Kasuku bin kicheko , a brilliant musician come comedian, had arrived. The commentator of the day was our own, Mr Mo, and filming was done by Inaki.

The first match of the day was between the two men’s teams who had lost at Semi Final stage. This match would decide who would take third place in the league. Kiteghe and Jora both played brilliantly, resulting in a penalty shoot out being needed. It was during this shoot out that Kiteghe eventually achieved the victory they had been looking for, and it was their goalkeeper who truly took the role of man of the match as he dug deep and managed to save two out of the five penalties taken.

Following on from this dramatic match was the Kids final between Rukanga and Makina. It was amazing to see such young players from both teams showing us all what fantastic kids football really looks like. Rukanga scored a great goal, with one of their youngest players dribbling past two defenders near the eighteen yard box and unleashing a strong shot which left Makina goalkeeper on one side as the ball went through on the other side. The Makina team tried to change the situation, but their opponents fought to the end, and at full time it was joy for Rukanga as the results was 1 – 0.

After two matches and a considerable amount of eating and dancing, it was time for the last match of the day – the Men’s Final between Black lions and Sorbibor. Black Lions had the advantage of being the local team and hence having the upper hand when it came to supporter enthusiasm. However Sorbibor is not a team to be underestimated, with a high percentage of young Somali talents, they are feared for their high skilled football and accurate passing After half time the teams were neck and neck but during the second half of the match Black lions started to shine, with their coach’s decision to make two substitutions in the last 10 minutes paving the way for their eventual 1-0 victory; a victory leading to mass celebration from supporters and players a like.