Zambeef e18hteam bringing back football to the grassroots

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Hundreds of football fans and the public turned out in Kaoma and Mongu at the weekend to watch Zambeef’s screening of the award-wining football movie e18hteam.

The movie was on the fourth and fifth legs of the company’s epic nationwide “In Your Town” tour which has already attracted vast crowds in Kabwe, Chingola and Kitwe.

Next stop will be Choma this Friday (August 21), followed by Livingstone on Saturday (August 22).

The Zambeef team was on-site bringing to life Zambia’s football history recounting the remarkable story of the Chipolopolo Boys leading up to the AFCON championship of 2012.

“The Zambeef “In Your Town” e18hteam tour is really about bringing football back to the grass roots. And this is not just about showing the film in every part of Zambia, including the more remote places, but rather getting back to the basics of football; what it represents and why we love the game in the first place. It’s about re-discovering our love for football and the joys and frustrations that go with it,” said Zambeef Joint Chief Executive Officer Carl Irwin.

The award-winning short film sponsored by Zambeef, explores and captures Zambian football’s most defining moments – from the lows of the 1993 Gabon air crash to the highs of the 2012 AFCON, in essence a reflection of the extra-ordinary story of a country that is both truly and proudly Zambian.

Ngosa Chungu produced the film in collaboration with colleague Juan Rodriguez-Brisco in the hopes that Zambians would get a chance to tell their story from their point of view.

“It’s incredible to see people’s reactions to the movie. For some it’s been a walk down memory lane, for other emotional because of how far they, and we as a country, have come since the early days of football, and still others find hope in knowing and being reminded that this really happened and that Zambia did win the 2012 AFCON,” she said.

“Again and again, I’m amazed at the welcoming nature of the kids of each town we have gone to. I guess you can say it’s the Zambian hospitality coming through. It was also interesting when some of the women in Kaoma left their stalls at the market when they heard that Zambeef was giving away free chickens to some lucky winners. I’m just humbled and thankful for the whole experience because I get to see and experience Zambia in a way that very few of us ever do in a lifetime,” Ngosa further said of the eventful weekend.

Zambeef is an avid supporter of football and has sponsored football teams playing in leagues and at community level that have groomed footballers at the grassroots including AFCON 2012 squad member James Chamanga.

Zambeef’s own Zamleather division makes the popular Kaleza Z-12 model leather football boots, the first of its kind to be locally designed and manufactured in Zambia. It is also home to the Alive & Kicking employment-generation project, which makes quality leather soccer balls that carry health messages and are distributed to under-privileged teams nationwide.

Zambeef’s e18hteam tour will reach Choma on August 21; Livingstone on August 22; Chipata on August 29 and Mansa on September 5.

The film will be shown in Lusaka on August 24 at Freshview cinema in Manada Hill during the Barefeet Festival.

Follow the tour on the Zambeef Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Zambeef and Twitter @ZambeefPlc or with the hashtag #ZambeefInYourTown.

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About Zambeef Products Plc
Zambeef Products Plc is one of the largest integrated agribusinesses in Zambia and the region. The group is principally involved in the production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chicken, pork, milk, dairy products, eggs, stock feed and flour. The group also has large row cropping operations (principally maize, soya beans and wheat), with approximately 15,700 hectares of row crops grown under irrigation and a further 8,000 hectares of rain-fed/dry-land crops planted each year producing 120,000 tons of grain annually. The group is also in the process of rolling out its West Africa expansion in Nigeria and Ghana, as well as developing a palm project in Zambia. It slaughters more than 60,000 beef cattle, 5.5 million chickens and 54,000 pigs per annum, while also processing 11 million litres of milk and producing 110,000 tons of stockfeed and 48 million eggs per year. The company has 138 retail outlets throughout Zambia and West Africa, along with four wholesale depots.
More information is available at www.zambeefplc.com.