The MTN8 Last Journo competition was open to all members of the media from 15 August and closed on 5 September. Journalists participated in an online football trivia and had to answer eight random questions (100 unique questions per week). Each week, two participants who answered all eight questions correctly, and within the shortest space of time, made it to the elimination round. The eight journalists who made it to the elimination round were Matshe (The Star), Jonty Mark (The Star), Neville Khoza (Pretoria News), Nyiko Sithole (Munghana Lonene), Beverly Mapahangwa (Metro FM), Sisa Majola (SAPA) and Tiyani Mabasa (Kick Off). Over the four weeks of the competition, 400 questions were broken down into MTN8 (50%), PSL (20%), Africa (10%), Manchester United (10%), Europe and World (10%).

MTN South Africa’s senior sponsorship manager, Desiree Pooe, says “There are various dimensions that make the MTN8 Wafa Wafa tournament the success it is. Members of the media are very much important stakeholders of the tournament and thus we saw it befitting that we put together a competition that would reward them for their support for the MTN8 and local football in general. MTN SA would like to congratulate Matshe for becoming the first MTN8 Last Journo Standing.”

The MTN8 Last Journo competition was by no means an easy quest to conquer and required participants to have extensive knowledge of football and sometimes a hint of good memory. Some of the questions asked are ‘which Golden Arrows player received a yellow card in the 2009 MTN8 final against Ajax Cape Town’ and ‘which Ajax Cape Town player scored an own goal in the 2009 MTN8 final?’ The eight finalists wrote a gruelling 50-question trivia on Monday, 12 September at the MTN offices to determine who the last two journalists will be that will face-off for the winner-takes-all prize. In the end, the final showdown would be between Matshe and Mabasa.

“I’m still shocked, it hasn’t sunken in that I have won,” said an emotional Nkareng. “I sympathise with my opponent Tiyani Mabasa because he got the most difficult questions. Nonetheless I’m excited that for the first in my life I will see one of the world’s biggest derbies, being Manchester United against Manchester City. As journalists we are often restricted to covering local and African matches. I would like to thank MTN for providing me with a great opportunity to cover the Manchester derby live at Old Trafford."

Matshe also congratulated his fellow members of the media for taking part in the competition especially those who made it to the last eight elimination round. He highlighted that media needed to see more of such innovative competitions in local football.