Former and present office bearers and life members of the Rygate LFA who attended the centenary dinner, from left, Bennett Bailey, Faizel ‘Boeta’ Samaai, Mustaq Edros, Nasser Abdullah, Shoukat Mia, Abdul Tajoodien, Abdullah Parker, Graham Dirks.
Several former administrators were honoured for their contribution to the Rygate Local Football Association (LFA) at a centenary gala dinner held at the Cape Town Civic Centre on Saturday.
Among those recognised was Nasser Abdullah, stalwart of the Thornhill United Football Club, who was awarded life vice-chairman of the LFA in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the association despite him not serving in the any capacity on the executive of the LFA for decades.
Abdul Tajoodien, president of the LFA, paid tribute to Abdullah and described him as voice of reason.
“When we joined the LFA more than 30 years ago, I found Boeta Nasser working tirelessly for his club. I later met up with him during a meeting when I was a delegate for my club. We had, and I must add some robust debates, and I found him to be the voice of reason.
“He has never served on the exco, but I know every person who has ever visited or been associated with the LFA will know of his dedication and loyalty. We saw it fitting to confer life membership on him,” said Tajoodien.
Boebie Solomons also paid tribute to Abdullah and said he played a leading role in the Thornhill Club as player and administrator. “Nasser played in the Thornhill team which won the Virginia league and served the club both as a player and went on to become the chairman of the club,” said Solomons.
According to Tajoodien, who is serving his third year of his first term of four years, the association is in good financial standing and recently received a cash injection of R1.5 million from Lotto.
“This will mainly be used for capacity building and help improve infrastructure. We are also on the path of growth as an all-inclusive association and have recently accepted membership of walking-football. We have also awarded bursaries to some of our members who study sport management. I must also add some of those who we awarded bursaries are from other LFA’s. So it is all about creating opportunities for all ,” added Tajoodien.
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