Annual MML Cup Football Tournament Starts with a Buoyant Opening Ceremony
The second annual edition of the MML Cup Football Tournament kicked-off on Monday, 30 January 2023 at the Lunsar Central Football field with a Ladies match between employees of Marampa Mines Limited (MML) and the company’s Contractors.
Marampa Mines Limited produces high grade iron ore concentrate, branded Marampa BlueTM for export. With many of the Marampa mine’s 2,500 employees and contractors residing in the surrounding town of Lunsar in the Port Loko District of North-West Sierra Leone, and as MML’s workforce has expanded, the company aims to not only meet company targets or key performance indicators, but to encourage a better employee work-life balance, organizing social and sporting events for staff and contractors. These include annual end-of-year events and football tournaments.
Over the coming weeks, a total of Fourteen (14) teams, including Seven (7) MML inter-departmental teams and Seven (7) teams comprising the company’s contractors will battle for supremacy.
To demonstrate the value MML places on gender equality, the football tournament kick-started with a live band and a thrilling encounter between the women’s teams of MML employees versus contractors. Like the ladies’ match in the maiden edition last year, this match was as competitive as it was fun-filled, with either side cheering on their respective teams.
The tournament comprises a Preliminary Round, Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Grand Final. At the preliminary round, 7 matches will be played, with the winner of each match and a ‘best-performing loser’ progressing to the quarter finals. The tournament will be played over a period of 3 weeks; with the Finals held on the 16th of February 2023, and the winning team will be awarded a trophy.
MML personnel have been working with employees, contractors and primary host community members to organize these events with the aim of continuing to strengthen social bonds between the Company’s management, staff and business partners, and to promote and encourage physical and mental health and well-being. Aware of the power of football in bringing people together, the tournament is usually held within the Lunsar community, home to a large number of employees, with the aim of enhancing relations with and among locals.
Like the maiden tournament last year, this year’s MML Cup has received massive support from members of the Company’s host communities, who have been supporting various teams as sport-loving fans and cheerleaders of their respective friends and family teams.
Though this is a tournament that is regularly organized to foster social relations between company employees and contractors, the competition is no less competitive, as each competing team is desperate to win the coveted trophy and earn bragging rights until the next tournament. Expectations are running high as supporters and players are determined to progress to the next round.
