[PICS & VIDEO] Hearts of goal: Juve FC treats youth to music and games

Hundreds of laaities gathered in Lentegeur on Thursday for a Youth Day event hosted by the Juventus Football Club.

Shortly after 11am, the large groups gathered on veldjie along Duinebessie Street where they danced and enjoyed various food stalls hosted by the club.

Club chairman, Ishmail Vermeulen, says the team that consists of over 250 members wanted to reach out to get youngsters involved in soccer games and off the streets.

“We have over 250 members from under-6 teams to over-35 teams and we help to foster the talent that exists in our community,” he says.

“We don’t even have a playing field, we use this area which they call the Juvie blad to practise, or whatever veldjie we can find.

“The Youth Day event is about raising funds for the club but also to reach out to the boys in our community to show them another way of life.”

The club was adopted by Simplified IT services, who hosted a show featuring Nur Abrahams and Faghrie Isaacs at Islamia College on Wednesday night.

Fahmi Jacobs says: “We adopted the club as our passion project because we learnt that some members are really struggling.

“After being introduced to Ishmail, we learnt that some children show up and they haven’t even eaten.

“So we hosted a show called One Night Only where we sold tickets for R200.

“Of the ticket sales, we donated R20 of every ticket and we matched that R20 and got new kits for 120 players.”

He says following the success of the event, they will host another show on 25 July to support the club and its players.

“The show was great, people didn’t want them to stop. This is about keeping the kids off the streets and uplifting the community.

“We don’t know what future superstars we will see coming from the club but if we help to change the life of just one child, it is worth it.”

During the event, mense enjoyed raffles for Father’s Day, cash prizes and performances by Nur, Young OG and others.

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