WeeklySA_Admin
A sun-kissed Spring yesterday saw the first stopover showcase of the UEFA Europa League Trophy at Johannesburg’s Melrose Arch.
Hosted by the Woodford Group and Enterprise Rent-A-Car South Africa, the Joburg leg of the tour – also scheduled for Cape Town’s V & A Waterfront – entailed an official news media conference featuring erstwhile English Premier League footballers and South African football legend Lucas Radebe. Other dignitaries were Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel (both the sponsoring companies’ representatives). The venue was Miha Restaurant. The included a watch party on the Melrose Arch piazza, beaming a Europa League fixture between Olympiakos of Greece and West Ham United of England on a centerpiece huge screen.
During the shindig, Mikel – both a UEFA Champions League and Europa League winner with Chelsea FC, as well as a Super Eagles of Nigeria player and skipper – proved a popular figure when horsed around before admirers clamoring for his attention.
At some stage during the walkabout, whilst carrying the trophy from the restaurant to the piazza, he playfully approached a little boy accompanied by his mother inside Melrose Arch Mall, to let him have a closer glimpse of the shiny ‘holy grail’.
Once at the piazza’s viewing area, the Nigerian and Radebe, the former Leeds United FC skipper, proceeded to indulge drummers by performing an impromptu dance – much to the delight of onlookers
