Rollers, Gunners clash in Unity Cup tonight

Men and Boys for Gender Equality hosted and organised a workshop for Township Rollers and Mochudi Centre Chiefs players last week. They held another workshop for Extension Gunners’ players this Tuesday.

The workshops, according to the Non-Governmental Organisation, are aimed at educating players on issues of violence against women and the impact of social media in players’ lives. The workshop took place after a few local stars were in the media for the wrong reasons. Local stars proved to be vulnerable to issues of gender based violence. 

Men and Boys claim that they wanted to target perpetrators of violence. The two clubs are arguably the most supported and the highest paying clubs in the country. 


Footballers Union Botswana Life (FUB) President Diphetogo Selolwane expressed his gratitude to Men and Boys for imparting knowledge to the players. According to the FUB honourary President, players are human beings and they have an opinion. “As players we also face challenges that ordinary men go through”, Selolwane warned. He said they want the programme to accommodate all 16 BPL clubs.

The former GU star explained that he also went through same temptations as the current crop of players. “I am also a young man who faced the same temptation, it is difficult, it’s not easy but it can be done”, the former Zebras striker said. Selolwane acknowledged that players do learn from their mistakes.

He advised players to understand that the community looks up to them in many ways and charged them to be mature and responsible. “You have to be a good person whether you like it or not. We need to focus and be the best person you can be, listen, open up for advice, read, follow what’s happening around the world”, advised Selolwane.

He challenged players to be concerned for other people more especially women because they deal with them on a daily basis. “We have to try to do our best around them, some of us are fathers and we don’t have to be fathers from a distance”. Men and Boys held the workshop to reach out to players so as to use them to convey the message to the rest of the footballing public.

Team leader at Men and Boys for gender equality Desmod Lunga said they are working closely with Footballers Union Botswana to reach out to the footballing audiences. “We started with these two teams,” Lunga said, adding they want players to learn to know how to treat themselves with respect, as brand, and be sellable to the public. He advised that players must create a relationship with the community.

According to Lunga they want players to be part of the solution on these issues. Lunga explained that “when it comes to issues of gender based violence, considering that players have a lot of following and they influence other people in the society”.

The organization has agreed with the two clubs to play a challenge match during the 16 days of activism against gender based violence campaign. Chiefs and Rollers were expected to play each other at the National Stadium tonight at 7pm, but Chiefs withdrew and the game will now feature Mapantsula and Mapalastina.

Tickets are already on sale at the web tickets centers around the country, P80 grand stand and P40 elsewhere.