Summer football tournament

The photo shows the school playground during the tournament, in the summer. Photo: Zlatko Ristov.

Categories: culturetourismsportother

Organizers: Mayor of the Municipality of Konche, together with representatives-volunteers from each village in the municipality

Lokacation: Primary municipal school, Gotse Delchev, municipality of Konche, North Macedonia (41.49753364549195, 22.377714369674695)

Where good practice takes place: outer space

About good practice

A description of the location

The practice takes place in the schoolyard of the primary municipal school Gotse Delchev, located in the municipality of Konche, which is a sub-municipality in South-Eastern Macedonia. The municipality of Konche is located in southeastern Macedonia, approximately 150 kilometers from the capital, Skopje. Municipality Konche belongs to the Radovish region and statistically to the Southeast region.

The reason for the emergence of good practice

The school yard is equipped with a large playground, which the students use during lessons. But when it's summertime, that playground is closed and empty. With this practice, the playground and school yard get a new function in the summer time, a place where the local villagers, as well as the whole community, gather in the evenings to socialize and cheer for their teams. The function changes, and in the summer it becomes a gathering place where people have the opportunity to show their home products in addition to the football match.

The operation of best practice

The practice is quite old (20+ years). The football tournament lasts for 2 weeks. Participants from all age groups participate in this tournament: children, adolescents, young people, and adults. Women groups also participate. All the teams in this tournament are from all the villages that fall under Konche municipality, as well as from several other villages from Radovish municipality, as well as from the city of Radovish. During these two weeks, different teams play every night. Some other events are also held during this time, such as art exhibitions, wrestling competitions, races, exhibitions of traditional Macedonian food, performances of traditional Macedonian dances and songs, etc. This practice, in addition to the municipality, is also supported and carried out by too many volunteers in the whole municipality. With all these activities, even in the summer, people get a place where they can hang out, learn something, and have a good time. Despite this practice, people know that the school playground and yard can be used for socializing and hanging out, and recognize it as a public space, not only in the summer, but throughout the year when the children who study there have no lessons and are not using it.

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