Carlos Alberta Parreira was just one of the guests of honour at this year’s Fiat School Games held at the Fiat Sports Centre in Meadowlands, Soweto. Tremendous jubilation (and surprise) was caused by the arrival of the “Bafana Bafana” coach on Saturday afternoon when he was called upon to present the winning soccer team with the Trophy bearing his name. The famous and much respected soccer coach also presented each of the players with a winner’s medal. Mr Parreira congratulated all on the first-class sporting initiative.

Other dignitaries that contributed to the festive atmosphere were the MEC for Sport, Art, Culture and Recreation Barbara Creecy, His Excellency the Ambassador of Italy Alessandro Cevese, Councilor Morgan Gomati, the Managing Director of Fiat Auto SA Mr Giorgio Gorelli, the Managing Director of CTM Mr Gianni Ravzotti and the Chairman of Soweto Panthers Mr Albert Mokoena.

But, the annual Fiat School Games is about much more than just soccer. In total, 10 local schools together with two invitational schools participated in four other sporting codes, namely athletics (including high jump and long jump), netball, basketball and volleyball. Over 1,200 children – all kitted out in uniform – participated in the 2007 games with more than 100 officials and organizational staff presiding over the activities.  Equipment to the value of R85,000 such as balls, chronometers, and whistles were made available for use on the day. 4,800 meals were catered and provided to guests, competitors, officials and members of the local community throughout the two-day event with over 6,000 bottles of liquid refreshments for the participants. A highlight on Saturday morning at the official opening of the games was when over 8000 red, green and white balloons took to the skies.
 

At the same time as the balloons were released the South African and Italian flags were hoisted while the two National Anthems were played. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were presented to all victorious teams as well as individual winners, with each participant receiving a certificate, confirming their participation in the 2007 Games.

The Fiat Sports Centre celebrates the transformation of what was essentially a rubbish dump, into a first-class sports’ facility boasting a club house, change rooms, stadium seating, a dedicated soccer pitch, a specially-prepared athletics track as well as netball, basketball and volleyball courts. The amazing transformation was made possible thanks to the generous support of a number of Italian Companies including CTM (Ceramic Tile Market), Marble Classic and the Associazione del’Amicizia.  Additional support was also received from Iveco, Magnetti Marelli, Giuricich, Jaz Logistics, Fiat Financial Services (a Division of Wesbank), Italdev and Hollard Insurance.

Mr Giorgio Gorelli, Managing Director of Fiat Auto South Africa, said that Fiat is very proud to be associated with an event like this that “fosters the talent of young people in such a positive way.” Mr. Gorelli added that Fiat Auto SA remained fully committed to the initiative and that plans for the 2008 games would commence shortly after the completion of the 2007 games.