Soccer-mad pub goers are being asked to dig out old soccer shirts for disadvantaged youngsters in South Africa, notes a Dorset Echo report. Two Weymouth pubs have joined forces to help launch the football-themed charity campaign ahead of the 2010 World Cup. The Old Rooms Inn and the Spyglass Inn want customers to donate unwanted jerseys for children in Masiphumelele to wear.
The days of having to travel long distances to access decent sports facilities will soon be a thing of the past for the tiny township of Mogwase, outside Rustenburg. This follows the historic launch of what is believed to be South Africa’s biggest grassroots football development programme, the first of many Football Turfs of the 2010 World Cup.
15 ‘dream fields’ before World Cup kick-off - 14/01/2010
With 917 DreamBags distributed to 13 755 children, eight DreamFields built and 76 DreamEvents in two years, the Dreamfields Project says ’it had a good year’ in 2009. ’We are just finishing our ninth and tenth (soccer) fields at the moment. Our total investments in disadvantaged communities will be about R13,5-million at the end of 2009,’ Dreamfields founder and CEO John Perlman, a well-known media personality, tells Engineering News exclusively.
Sandile Memela, marketing director at the Department of Arts & Culture: Nobody will really know what the legacy and heritage of the 2010 World Cup will be until after the event has taken place. We have a right to host the World Cup and make mistakes. We should be punished, if need be, less for trying and failing than for failing to try. The mistake of failing to use sport as a cohesive glue to weave the new soul of this nation together is at least the sort of mistake that is born of noble intentions.
The municipal manager of Mossel Bay, Michele Gratz, has confirmed the coastal town will no longer be hosting the Paraguayan soccer team during the World Cup. The Sunday Times has established that: The practice pitch had a camber almost double the prescribed level acceptable to Fifa and the pitch was looking dusty and bare when a Paraguayan delegation visited last month. The visit came two months after the town council replaced its 2010 World Cup co-ordinator - who declined to comment - with three municipal officials. Sources said the council had not stuck to Fifa guidelines for the field.
Nigeria invited to football for hope festival - 20/12/2009
FIFA and streetfootballworld have announced Nigeria and 31 other delegations that will take part in the ’Football for Hope Festival 2010’, holding from June 28 – July 10, 2010 in South Africa. Search and Groom youth for development centre (an official part of the Football for Hope movement) will be selecting the Nigerian team to South Africa. Other countries that will be in attendance includes Host South Africa, Brazil, England, Germany, Argentina, Senegal, Ghana, Colombia, Australia, United States, an Israeli/Palestine joint team, France etc.
Radebe and Bailey’s plan to save SA soccer – 06/12/2009
South Africa needs to build four world-class youth soccer academies in the major centres if Bafana Bafana are to become a force in soccer again, notes a Mail & Guardian report. Even if the academies were started tomorrow, it would take 10 to 15 years to produce world-class players for the country, according to former Bafana and Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe, and former England and Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey. Radebe and Bailey are concerned about the decline of the team and their prospects for the 2010 World Cup.
2010 will help Africa’s fight against Aids – 05/12/2009
The Football for Hope centre is out to teach kids about more than just the ’beautiful game’. The first of 20 such centers across Africa was opened Saturday, a day after the draw for next year’s World Cup, and 12-year-old Lihle Bonkolo was one of the children that learned about both football and how to combat AIDS. Playing a game known as ’Risk Field’, teams dribbled a football around a series of obstacles marked with AIDS-related signs. If they hit a cone, they got a red card and had to do sit-ups. The project is part of FIFA’s ’20 Centers for 2010’ campaign to build facilities to help young people in Africa. The next five centers will be built in Kenya, Namibia, Mali, Rwanda and Ghana.
David Beckham will not contrive to help England avoid anyone when he assists in the final draw of the 2010 World Cup at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town tonight, notes a report on the IoL site. &squo;No, there&squo;s no one we have to avoid,&squo; said the English football icon. &squo;At this point when you go into the World Cup, you don&squo;t worry about who you play.&squo; Beckham, who will be among the celebrities assisting in the draw, was in Khayelitsha - along with South African football legend Lucas Radebe - for a &squo;Coaching for Hope&squo; session with kids and their coaches.
A team of young, soccer stars have received a helping hand to get them fighting fit for the field. Bush Radio reports that the Lucky Stars from Gugulethu, Cape Town, have been sponsored by Mywage, the Southern African organisation dedicated to salary transparency, decent work for decent wages and career advice. Each of the 15 boys was given a full soccer kit, while coach Johannes Makiti received a special manager’s jacket. In addition, the team was provided with 20 footballs, soccer cones, bibs and a keeper’s kit. The sponsorship comes amidst the build-up to the 2010 World Cup.
Tuesday October 13 proved that 13 is, in fact, a lucky number. In aid of 20 Centres for 2010, FIFA’s social responsibility project, a VIP benefit dinner was hosted at the Benguela Cove Manor House near Hermanus, Western Cape. A star-studded guest list of 2010 World Cup official partners, sponsors and commercial affiliates ensured that no corner went unnoticed in the magnificent marquee. Business Day reports that the evening gave a taste of what the world could expect in terms of hospitality and entertainment from South Africans during the 2010 World Cup. An unthinkable R1,05m was raised in less than an hour, a solid kickoff to the much needed funds for the 20 centres.
The South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) is already benefiting from the 2010 World Cup. Sunday World reports that the board received a R28 500 financial windfall from the LOC of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area recently. The donated funds are to be used to buy golf clothing for youngsters in the Eastern Cape who have progressed past the beginner level in the sport’s development programme. Nelson Mandela Bay 2010 World Cup programme manager Sisa Tabata, said the programme should create benefits for local people beyond the World Cup and spread World Cup fever.
Football For Hope targets SA townships – 28/10/2009
South Africa has been seized by football fever ahead of the 2010 World Cup, and FIFA is making the most of a sport loved by children to attract them into the ’Football for Hope’ programme in the country’s poorest townships. SuperSport reports that every Monday after school, children in the heart of Johannesburg’s oldest shantytown Alexandra, take part in the unconventional training where the message includes boys being encouraged to respect their female partners. This is a crucial message in South Africa where a quarter of men admit to having raped at least once in their lifetime, according to a study done in August. Coach Catherine Khosana, an 18-year old who is herself still in high school, said the goal was to keep children off the street while teaching them to respect each other and take care of themselves.
FNB eyes another 2010 WC legacy project - 11/10/2009
Hardly a month after launching another artificial football pitch, backers First National Bank (FNB) are eyeing their fourth and final 2010 World Cup legacy project, notes a Sunday World report. The promise of what South Africa can expect from the event became a reality for Thohoyandou residents after FNB recently handed over the third completed artificial pitch in Makwarela township. An air of hope filled the tiny township as youngsters kicked about a worn-out ball as curtain-raisers in the friendly between Majimbos and Zimbabwe. The next pitch on the list is in George, the Western Cape tourist town, scheduled for early next year.
President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday pledged South Africa’s support to a global campaign to ensure education for all the world’s children. ’We are determined that the 2010 Fifa World Cup should leave a legacy for education on this continent,’ he said joining other world leaders’ messages of support for the campaign via satellite.
The 1Goal: Education for All campaign was aimed at ensuring the 75 million children not in school were provided with primary education. Half of these 75 million children lived in Africa. He was speaking at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium where world leaders sent messages of support that were broadcast across the globe via satellite link. Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan, co-founder and co-chairperson of the campaign, said more support was needed to ensure children grew up to fulfil their potential. FIFA president Sepp Blatter, speaking from Zurich, said the 2010 World Cup represented a unique opportunity to mobilise support around the globe to provide education for all children in Africa.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will urge world leaders to sign up to a campaign to use the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to promote an education for every child, notes a Cape Argus report. He will appear at a FIFA-backed 1GOAL event at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London, alongside international football greats to highlight the education drive. ’The World Cup focuses global attention unlike any other tournament and next year’s - the first ever held on African soil - provides an unprecedented opportunity to leave a lasting legacy,’ said Brown. 1GOAL will press governments for an extra $7 billion to achieve a place for the 75 million children globally who are out of school.
Investing in young soccer players is a key aspect to South Africa’s football future, says the newly elected SAFAPresident Kirsten Nematandani. ’Without developing players from the regional structures you cannot get talented players that you need in the national team. You need to invest at grass roots level in order to produce a pool of talented players,’ he said. According to Nematandani, this should be done with a development programme and coaches who understand the development of young players.
Local soccer ball ministry makes its way to East Africa – 28/09/2009
A ministry that sends soccer balls carrying a spiritual message throughout the world has gleaned some feedback from residents of Zimbabwe, East Africa, in a recent visit by Tatenda and Lucia Gunguwo of Zimbabwe, to Kansas City, where Moundville’s Mike Morris heard stories of their experiences with the soccer balls. Morris founded the ministry a few years ago, and in 2006 told the Daily Mail he had already distributed 5,000 of the balls himself and another 15,000 through the help of a friend. He said they are praying for 5 000 new balls to use to minister to their part of Africa during the World Cup in South Africa.
The 2010 LOC has commended the embassies of Latin American and Caribbean countries for helping develop soccer in South Africa. The Sowetan reports that LOC CE Danny Jordaan said the yearly Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (Grulac) Football Tournament had also created awareness of the World Cup. The LOC has once more linked up with 16 Grulac embassies to stage this year’s tournament at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria on Saturday. Sixteen local schools have been teamed up with the embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. They will represent their adopted countries in the tournament.
Current global conditions are an impediment but not a barrier to foreign tourists wishing to attend the 2010 World Cup, notes a FIN24 report. Interest in South Africa as a destination is on the increase as the tournament approaches. This is evident from a survey Visa conducted among 5 539 adults between 11 December 2008 and 8 January 2009 in eleven of South Africa’s most important tourist markets.
South Africa has yet to see real football development five years after the country won the rights to host the 2010 World Cup, notes a report on the IoL site. This is because SAFA hasn’t started implementing its development projects. ’South Africa deserves to be in the top 20 and we have a long-term developmental programme to improve the standards. Once it gets off the ground, we will see proper development,’ said SAFA spokesman Morio Sanyane. Sanyane was participating in a panel discussion on the 2010 World Cup legacy at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
Footballers, celebrities and philanthropists have pledged their support for a new campaign to tackle malaria. U2 star Bono, actress Ashley Judd, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates’s wife Melinda, David Beckham’s football team LA Galaxy and Spanish club FC Barcelona are backing the United Against Malaria initiative, formed by charities Comic Relief, One and Malaria No More UK. The Coventry Telegraph reports that the campaign will support the United Nations’ goal of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010. The initiative will launch in the UK on November 12, ahead of next year’s 2010 World Cup and will run until the end of the tournament.
Many will remember John Perlman as the erstwhile English soccer commentator on the public broadcaster, the SABC; others for his hard-hitting interviews on SAFM and his insightful column in the Saturday Star. According to a News24 report, with the World Cup coming to South Africa next June, Perlman dreamt of a way to contribute to the development of the beautiful game in the country. And this is how the Dreamfields Soccer Project came about. ’Back in 2007 I felt that I did not want to be directly involved with the World Cup (2010) as a journalist or as a participant. I wanted to do something different,’ he recalls. ’That was when I came up with the idea to start the project.’ Into its second year, Perlman and his team already have something to brag about.
’Today marks another milestone as “United Against Malaria, “ a campaign to kick out malaria by 2010 is launched.’ These were the words of Ugandan Health Minister, Dr Steven Mallinga, during the official launch of the anti-malaria campaign this week. The campaign is a partnership of footballers, non-governmental organisations, foundations, governments and corporations who have joined forces ahead of the 2010 World Cup to unite in the fight against malaria through football. The Daily Monitor reports that youth groups and Fufa will hold matches around the country between October and November to show solidarity with the campaign.
Collen Davids’s past is one of hard streets, glue-sniffing and begging for hand-outs from strangers. But his future is brighter - starting with his participation in the 2009 Homeless Soccer World Cup in Italy in two weeks’ time. The 18-year-old former street child was introduced to soccer at a homeless shelter. The seventh Homeless Soccer World Cup - featuring 48 teams - kicks off in Milan on September 6. The tournament uses football to ’energise homeless people to change their own lives’.
South Africa first took part in the tournament in 2004, when it was held in Austria, and hosted the tournament in 2006, when its team came 18th.
The Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, FIFA, Gary Lineker and footballers from across the globe launched 1GOAL: Education for All, a FIFA World Cup 2010 initiative focused on ensuring that all children receive an education. 1GOAL has one purpose: to ensure that the 75 million children out of school in Africa and the world’s poorest countries get access to classrooms, teachers and the future that education provides. 1GOAL calls on football fans to sign their names at join1goal.org and tell world leaders that education beats poverty.
South Africa’s Oscar Award winning actress Charlize Theron has linked her Africa Outreach Project to a Los Angeles soccer club, Chelsea, and plans to build community soccer programmes for underprivileged children in South Africa.
In addition to soccer fields, uniforms and equipment, kids involved in the programme will receive health education and services. The project will serve schools in South Africa’s Umkhanyakude District in northern KwaZulu\Natal, an area plagued by a high rate of HIV infection. Theron says she is hoping to have the first fields built by the time the 2010 World Cup kicks off.
Prisoners from Kutama-Sinthumule Correctional Service Centre in Makhado, Limpopo, will be part of the 2010 World Cup Legacy Projects through a soccer tournament to be held on Saturday. The Sowetan reports that the four-team tournament is the brainchild of one of the inmates, Stambo Mokoatedi, and is sponsored by the provincial department of sports, arts and culture. Departmental senior manager for sports development, Junior Ramusi, said the tournament would feature a team from the department and three teams from the prison. ’We believe that offenders have the right to benefit from the 2010 project as the project is about everybody and further that inmates can be easily rehabilitated through sport activities,’ Ramusi said.
United 4 Bafana Bafana campaign launched – 28/07/2009
The Official Bafana Bafana Social Project, the United 4 Bafana Bafana, ’Buy a Band, Donate a Rand Campaign’ was recently launched by SAFA together with SLAM, SAFA Master Licensee. According to a Moroka Swallows report, the Bafana Bafana Social Project is part of the national football team’s legacy programme for 2010 – their way of making a difference through a credible social programme, and at the same time leaving a positive mark in the community from now leading up to the World Cup. By purchasing a band, we as South Africans are not only showing our support for the team, we are also contributing to the success of World Cup 2010 and to social upliftment.
Alex to host Football for Hope Festival – 22/07/2009
The sprawling township of Alexandra will come alive in about a year from now when it hosts the Football for Hope Festival. Set to run from 3 to 10 July 2010 at Number 3 Square, the festival will be organised by the City and FIFA. Some 32 teams will be playing not only for the trophy, but for social and human development as well. The two-week festival will include a programme of cultural celebration between participants - a move that the City hopes will go a long way towards writing a new chapter for the township, which experienced some of the worst violence during the xenophobic attacks in 2008.
