The Pibor Football Club was crowned the winners of the Awiel Martyrs Football Tournament on Sunday as part of the first edition of an ecstatic soccer carnival.
The ceremony to hand over the trophy was attended by many dignitaries and fans and officiated by Investment Minister Dr. Dhieu Mathok amid music and entertainment performances.
Paul Paul Deng, the chairman of the Aweil Sons Sports Forum in Juba who chaired the organizing committee of the Aweil Martyrs Football Tournament, said the competition aimed to support all sports clubs from Aweil in their participation in various national and other championships.
“The tournament was an opportunity to market and showcase players,” he said.
He added that they extended invitations to the team from the neighboring West Gogrial and also invited a team from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area which is the furthest place in South Sudan.
For his part, Victor Lawrence Lual, the secretary of the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA), revealed that they agreed to hold the tournament at Buluk Stadium in Juba to develop and highlight the talents from various regions of South Sudan.
“The federation always encourages the holding of such community tournaments following certain controls and holding them in the period between the beginning of June and the end of July and the end of December so that this does not conflict with national and local tournaments and the participation of various national teams in foreign tournaments,” he explained. “However, there is a widespread culture among players of their preference to play for their community teams in community tournaments instead of official clubs.”
Meanwhile, Minister Mathok described the riots he witnessed as very unfortunate, completely unacceptable, and not a culture of the people of Aweil. He said the goal of the tournament was unity, working in fusion, and reflecting the positive aspects of the Aweil communities.
“Aweil is known for its tolerance and it is one of the values and things that called on people on social media to deny this matter (riots) because everyone in South Sudan knows that Aweil is considered a tolerant and peaceful region that does not seek problems,” he stressed.
The Aweil Martyrs Championship Cup was first organized by the Aweil Sons Sports Forum last June under the slogan “The blood of our martyrs is redemption for the homeland,” with the participation of eight teams in the six Aweil counties.
The chaos by the fans caused confrontation between Pibor and Aweil North teams in the final game of the tournament which had to be canceled in the 92nd minute when Pibor scored a second goal.
Aweil North fans stormed the pitch to protest against Pibor’s second goal and they demanded the referee cancel the goal.
The tournament organizing committee announced in its meeting after those events the adoption of the final report of the match referee, which declared Pibor team as champion, Aweil North team as runner-up, and Aweil West in third place.