| Second chance for SA’s homeless - 08/06/2007 |
James Steenberg (18) has spent most of his life in a Cape Town shelter for homeless children — but next month he flies to Denmark to represent SA. Steenberg is one of the stars of the eight-strong SA Homeless World Cup football squad that will be officially named by deputy mayor Charlotte Williams in a ceremony. ’I’m really excited about going to Denmark. I’m expecting something big. The furthest I’ve ever been out of Cape Town is to the Eastern Cape,’ said Steenberg. According to a report on the Sunday Times site, Steenberg is one of hundreds of at-risk children from the drug and gang-infested slums of Cape Town who are being offered the chance of a better life by the organisers of the Western Cape street soccer league.
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Full report on the Sunday Times site
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| Calls to prioritise youth development - 07/06/2007 |
As part of Youth Month activities, the Limpopo Legislature on Friday hosted a youth debate at a multipurpose centre in Modimolle. Hundreds of youths from the five regions of the province took part in the event. The SABC reports that the issues debated, include amongst others, skills development, drug trafficking and its impact on youth in SA. Lawmakers from the Limpopo legislature were also present to give direction. During his opening address, Rogers Tshivase, Limpopo’s Youth Commission chairperson, appealed to government to prioritise youth development in its planning of the 2010 World Cup. A call was also made for government to consider challenges faced by disabled persons when rolling out infrastructure. There are concerns that recommendations made by the Youth Parliament are not implemented.
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Full SABC report
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| Major overhaul for amateur soccer - 06/06/2007 |
As one of the legacies of the 2010 World Cup, the Nelson Mandela Bay region of Safa is embarking on a major overhaul of amateur soccer. ’The starting point is that we have formed a partnership with the Nelson Mandela University to run a series of courses for our 10 local football associations,’ said Pakamile Daca, regional secretary. ’It will be an all-inclusive process. We are going to bring the referees on board because we want our amateur soccer to be run in a more professional way to attract big business.’ The Sowetan reports that Daca said plans were in place to help local football associations to have their own offices with a computer with Internet access. He said it will help their executive committees to keep data of all registered players and match officials. ’Our vision is to see more youngsters coming through our development ranks to play for Majimbos, Amajita, the U-23 national team, Banyana Banyana, Basetsana and Bafana Bafana. It is good that the World Cup is coming to our shores in 2010, we have to grab the opportunities coming with it to promote our soccer and take it to greater heights,’ he said
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| ’Stars of today, Legends of tomorrow’ tournament launched - 01/06/2007 |
Amos Masondo, Johannesburg executive mayor, has introduced a development soccer tournament which he hopes will be one of the 2010 World Cup legacies. Dubbed ’Stars of today, Legends of tomorrow’, the Joburg Mayoral Soccer Tournament is for U-17 boys and girls. The winners will receive R10 000, the runners-up R5 000, while third- and fourth-placed teams take home R3 000 and R2 000, respectively. The Sowetan reports that it is a joint venture between the City of Johannesburg, the South African Football Association Johannesburg region and 70/80 Legends.The new tournament will be used to select a team from Johannesburg that will take part in a yearly Easter tournament in Cape Town.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| AU ministers to discuss 2010 - 28/05/2007 |
The four-day AU conference of ministers of sport in Ethiopia next month is to discuss issues around the 2010 World Cup. The issues will include consideration of the 2010 Africa Legacy programmes. The ministers are to be briefed on progress made in preparation for the 2010 World cup. According to an allAfrica.com report, the agenda will also consider the Programme of Activities of the International Year of African Football 2007. In January 2007, the AU in Ethiopia launched 2007 as the International Year of African Football, an initiative that was welcomed by the UN as part of its global drive of linking sport with development. The overall goal of the International Year of African Football was to honour the important contribution of African football and the Confederation of African Football in particular, to the well being of the continent. It is expected that a number of programme activities in AU Member States will be taking place with a view to share the pride that a 2010 World Cup spectacle will be held for the first time on this continent.
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Full allAfrica.com report
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| Modise salutes FNB - 23/05/2007 |
Tim Modise, director of communications at the LOC, has commended First National Bank for making soccer development one of their priorities. Speaking at the launch of the Soccer Classic Clash at Norkem Park, Modise said Bafana Bafana won’t have quality players if development was neglected. The Soccer Classic Clash is a new development tournament for schools in all the nine cities where the 2010 World Cup will be played. The Sowetan reports that the games will be played in Johannesburg and Pretoria. They will move to Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane and Rustenburg. It started in April with more than 864 soccer players from 48 schools taking part in a total of 24 matches. The tournament ends on October 6. The success of the pilot project will see the giant banking institution rolling out the tournament to more schools in the country.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| EC youth to benefit from R1m investment - 21/05/2007 |
More than 70 unemployed matriculants from the Eastern Cape have been placed in learnerships at the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ). The R2m learnership programme forms part of a massive training initiative, which is being driven by Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela. Through this programme, Balindlela aims to place 72 youths in jobs in the manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure development and tourism sectors. The Dispatch reports that the overall cost of the programme is about R100m. SA is currently facing a skills shortage, especially in basic technical skills. This shortage was especially highlighted in the light of the anticipated boom in construction activity in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup. According to previous reports, the government needs to train 50 000 artisans by 2010 – requiring an annual increase of 7 500 artisans.
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Full report in The Dispatch
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| Homeless World Cup in search of new sponsors - 21/05/2007 |
The Homeless World Cup, the street football tournament that raises money for homeless projects, is seeking sponsors to support this year’s event. The fifth annual cup will take place in Denmark in late July. According to a Marketing Week report, the event, which is already supported by Nike and UEFA, gives homeless people around the world the opportunity to represent their country. This year will see 48 countries take part. The event was launched by Mel Young, the co-founder The Big Issue Scotland, and Harald Schmeid, the editor of Austrian street paper Megaphon, in 2003. The tournament will move to Melbourne in 2008, Europe in 2009 and South America in 2010.
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Full Marketing Week report
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| 2010 beckons SA’s youth – 18/05/2007 |
A player discovered by a unique education through a sport initiative involving Sowetan, Reckitt Benckiser and Metcash can feature for Bafana Bafana in the 2010 World Cup. This is possible, especially when we heed the words of mathematician, and philosopher Albert Einstein, who once said: ’There are two ways to live; you can live as if nothing is a miracle; (or) you can live as if everything is a miracle.’ Instead of imagining and doing nothing about the vision of helping unearth SA’s future soccer stars, Reckitt Benckiser and Metcash heeded the words of another strategist Jim Rohn, who once said: ’The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; (but) it is only available by labour.’ Reckitt Benckiser and Metcash then acted on their vision, and conceived this initiative, known as Shona Khona, in December 2005. Sowetan joined the programme last year as media sponsor, and sees Shona Khona as a suitable addition to the youth and community development activities of the Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Fifa donates $165 000 to Kenya Premier League - 17/05/2007 |
Fifa, has pledged support worth $165 000 to the Kenya Premier League to help strengthen clubs’ operations. Fifa development officer Ashford Mamelodi said the money was part of the Win in Africa for Africa project initiated by Fifa to help strengthen African leagues in the run up to the 2010 World Cup. According to a report on the allAfrica.com site, the money, spread over three years, will be used to purchase equipment, sponsor training courses and provide information, communication and technology support. ’Fifa wants to see an improved premier league in all the African countries after the World Cup. Our aim is to see African countries with a top professional league operating after the World Cup as part of the legacy of the World Cup coming to Africa,’ Mamelodi said. The Fifa official, who was speaking at a press conference after meeting KPL clubs, however, warned that Kenya stood to lose out on the Win in Africa for Africa project if they got suspended again.
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Full allAfrica.com report
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| De Beers to promote SA football – 12/05/2007 |
Diamond-miner De Beers has announced an initiative to promote a youth champions league in diamond mining communities surrounding De Beers’ mining operations in SA. De Beers MD in SA, David Noko said the company would partner with communities and top SA football personalities to coach and motivate young players, as well as offer academic support to talented footballers in the mainly rural diamond mining communities. Business Day reports that the investment was not only limited to sponsorship, but was also a strategic intervention to foster both football talent and build community capacity, in particular, in SA regional and rural areas which do not receive the same degree of sponsorship attention and organised football support compared to the major urban centres.
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Full Business Day report
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| Young Swallows fly to Germany - 08/05/2007 |
Two youngsters from Moroka Swallows’ development programme will jet out of the country this morning to take part in the Drive-Junior Dialogue in Berlin, Germany, this week. They are Ramahlwe Mphahlele and Thulani Ngcepe who will be accompanied by the Birds’ CE Leon Prins and team manager Bernard Mtshali. The Sowetan reports that they have been invited to the event by International Business Magazine . Antoinette Pospischil from the sponsors said they would like to support SA’s preparations for the forthcoming World Cup in 2010.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Calls for better soccer fields in townships - 03/05/2007 |
Siyavuya Ntabeni is one of an estimated 16 000 people who play amateur football on hard, pebble- strewn surfaces. He said: ’The condition of our pitches is bad, and every time you walk onto the field you worry about being injured. But they (soccer officials) let us play on the better fields for big games.’ Ntabeni works for Grassroots as a facilitator teaching youths about HIV/ Aids, leadership, life skills and soccer to youngsters in KwaZakhele and Zwide townships. Grassroots soccer, a non-profit organisation that uses soccer as an educational tool, plans to Fifa to build a soccer pitch in Zwide as part of Fifa’s 2010 legacy. Grassroots soccer co-founder Kirk Friedrich said: ’We plan to run a youth soccer festival for teens from organisations around the world which use soccer as an educational tool.’ The youth festival would run alongside the 2010 World Cup.
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| A million soccer balls for underprivileged – 01/05/2007 |
TV3 SuperSport’s Let’s Play, Kaya FM and other radio stations joined forces at the Kaya FM studios in Newtown yesterday to raise funds with which a million soccer balls will be bought for underprivileged and communities. The Sowetan reports that the aim of the initiative, being undertaken in conjunction with Unicef, is to encourage children to take part in sporting activities and provide them with soccer equipment and facilities in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup. At the event, attended by players and coaches from several soccer clubs, Kaya FM managing director Charlene Deacon said Let’s Play’s?intention was to enable children to lead active, healthy lives.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Silver for SA in ISF football championships – 27/04/2007 |
SA’s School of Excellence soccer team helped SA collect the silver medal at the 2007 International School Federation (ISF) football championships in Santiago, Chile. According to a report on the Pretoria News site, Dan Semake, the School of Excellence coach and a former Mamelodi Sundowns defender, was full of praise for the youngsters who also collected the ISF Fair Play Award for their conduct on and off the field. Their biggest scalp was beating Brazil 3-0 in the semi-final of the 24 team tournament. Safa NEC member Mandla Mazibuko hailed the team’s performance as a good sign for the 2010 World Cup. ’We are proud of the boys who have clearly worked very hard to move us up from eleventh place in 2005 to second this year. They have done SA proud.’
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Full report on the Pretoria News site
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| Swaziland urged to implement development programme – 27/04/2007? |
Fifa has advised the National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) to embark on a development programme in order to improve the country’s standard of football. The Observer reports that Fifa’s Assistant Development Officer Benjamin Koffie said the country needed to develop the youth to attain good results in future. He was speaking at the Sigwaca House during a discussion on the Long Term Development Programme (LTDP). ’Develop the youth and don’t take a short cut to the World Cup because you will be kicked out early,’ he said. ’So long as there is no development on the youth, the senior national team will stay where it is forever, he added. Koffie said the teams should be well established throughout the country and be trained correctly. He said this could even lead the country to qualify for 2010 World Cup.
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Full report in The Observer
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| Football as a tool to tackle AIDS - 24/04/2007 |
In Durban, a Welshman far from home is using the international language of football to tackle the blight of HIV and AIDS. The Guardian reports that Marcus McGilvray, co-founder of the charity Africaid, launched the Whizzkids United programme in April last year as a means of engaging young people whom the HIV prevention message might not otherwise reach. Football is the most widely played sport in SA, which in 2010 will host the game’s next World Cup. ’These kids love football, and by using that as a medium to teach, there’s not a child that comes along that doesn’t want to be there,’ says McGilvray. The football is more than simply a means of attracting children to the sessions; it plays a central role in communicating the programme’s lessons. ’We’re teaching a programme where they’re very involved in it and they have to participate in it. What we’ve done is to take the different skills that you teach in football and then apply them to life skills,’ McGilvray explains.
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Full report in The Guardian
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| City focuses on youth culture - 24/04/2007 |
There was a point when Johannesburg was seriously disintegrating and people didn’t feel comfortable or safe to be in the city centre. This, according to the director of the Unlearn Agency and dynamic DJ Dominique Soma, is what caused recent years’ exodus from the inner city. The Star reports that to remedy this, the Agency will partner up with Ritual Store and Sprite to host a Freedom Day party in a bid to bring the spotlight back to the Jozi CBD as the creative hub for the youth. Soma maintains that those young people who refused to leave ’the grimy spaces which are all of a sudden becoming trendy again due to the conception of 2010 (World Cup)’ have been forgotten by the corporates. Using hip-hop as a tool to reclaim these inner city spaces, the mother of all hip-hop showcases, the Back to the City Street Festival, will be held this Friday in Newtown.
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Full report in The Star
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| Bottling company increases soccer sponsorship - 22/04/07 |
Century Bottling Company, the franchise manufacturers of Coca Cola products in Uganda, has increased it’s sponsorship to the national post primary soccer tournament from Shs 163m to Shs 224m. The Monitor reports that Coke officially unveiled their package for this year’s 15th edition at Lugogo during a press gathering. ’We expect more schools this year, and that’s the reason why we have put in an extra Shs61m. And on the side of developing football, this is our humble contribution on the way to SA in 2010,’ Coca Cola’s Promotions Manager Kennedy Mutenyo said. Coke started sponsoring the annual tournament, dubbed the Schools World Cup in 1993 with Shs 5m. This year’s tournament is expected to attract over 1 400 players from the 78 districts of the country.
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| JAG Legacy Challenge launched - 19/04/2007 |
The JAG Sports and Education Foundation and Pro-active Living have their sites firmly set on the development of soccer ahead of the 2010 World Cup. The two organisations have now partnered to put together a new football initiative for the Western Cape to be called the JAG Legacy Challenge. The event will act as a selection tournament to another initiative to be known as the Cape Legacy Cup. This initiative has been designed to raise the profile of football in the Western Cape and offer amateur and semi-professional footballers from the area the opportunity to display their skills against some of South Africa’s top Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams. In addition to this there is also the potential for international teams to be hosted in the future.
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For more information on the Legacy Challnge
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| Opportunity of a lifetime for SA youngsters - 19/04/2007 |
Three SA boys, who were born in 1994, will get an opportunity to train at the state-of-the-art Aspire Academy in oil-rich Qatar under the watchful eye of the legendary Brazilian Pele. Kickoff reports that the Aspire Academy is the largest indoor sports arena in the world. Its main aim is to identify, educate and train talented athletes to compete in professional sports at the highest levels. Starting in late May, 6 000 staff of the academy will screen more than 500 000 boys born in 1994 in seven different countries - Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and SA. In the first phase, the best 50 players from each country, identified in the selection process, will go for a week of trials in the capital city of their respective nations.
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| Sebapole goes back to his roots - 16/04/2007 |
Former Bafana Bafana and Jomo Cosmos winger Motlatsi ’Dopsi’ Sebapole has returned to his roots in Matlosana to help in the development of the beautiful game. The Sowetan reports that Sebapole has been employed by the City of Matlosana to head up their soccer development programme. He returned to Matlosana after quitting National First Division League side University of Pretoria where he served as a player-assistant coach. ’Part of my job also includes preparing the city in terms of the preparations for the 2010 World Cup,’ he said.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Cape Winelands and PSL join forces - 12/04/2007 |
The Cape Winelands Municipality and the PSL soccer club Ajax Cape Town have agreed to join forces to lift the profile of soccer and to promote the game in the Breede Valley and Witzenberg areas through a well-developed outreach programme. According to a Standard report, the Executive Mayor of the Cape Wineland Municipality, Cllr Clarence Johnson, and the CE of Ajax Cape Town, John Comitis, met with members of soccer clubs in Worcester and surrounding areas. Comitis said that his team, Ajax, wanted to establish stronger links with clubs in the area. Johnson said that the agreement would add substantial value and required experience for when the Cape Winelands needed to prepare the training and break-away facilities for teams to compete in the 2010 World Cup.
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Full Standard report
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| An opportunity for SA youth to work abroad - 12/04/2007 |
Job placements abroad and skills transfer are the aims, as SA Student Travel Services (Sasts), begins its search for 35 Sasts Youth Brand Champions. The Daily Mail reports that the initiative will see young people, aged between 19 and 27, being matched with corporates that will be expected to ’power’ as many Youth Brand Champions as they can for a contribution of R5 000 per candidate. Sasts managing director Rashid Toefy says the aim is to provide opportunities for young South Africans, especially those who would not otherwise have had such a chance, to enter into short-term job placement abroad. Toefy says the ’bigger picture’ vision is that this and other initiatives by Sasts will play a role in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, making it possible for many South African youth to be prepared for 2010-related employment.
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Full Daily Mail report
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| UN agency teams up with Fifa - 10/04/2007 |
Ahead of the World Cup in 2010, the UN tourism agency is teaming up with Fifa to help promote development, including eliminating poverty and supporting sustainable tourism, across the African continent by using the sport as the driving force. ’The World Cup constitutes an opportunity that the countries of the region can seize in order to obtain the maximum socio-economic, promotional and cultural benefits. It should also contribute to strengthening the image of Africa’, said UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli. According to a report on the allAfrica.com site, the World Cup, through the assistance provided by UNWTO and with travel and tourism as its main thrust, represents an opportunity to promote the whole of Africa to international markets, to reinforce the image of the continent as a safe and significant tourism destination and to help people develop closer relations.
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Full allAfrica.com report
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| Theatre group looks to 2010 - 08/04/2007 |
As the theatre season slowly gathers steam Barbara Nyika, the brains behind the B Nyika Mbira Academy, has unveiled plans to broaden her institution’s scope to cover theatre. And she is firmly focused on the 2010 World Cup. The Sunday Mail reports that she revealed that the recruitment of students for the theatre school has already started with some staffers at her academy already having visited several arts villages on a talent identification programme. ’We are also looking at having some regional influence and in pursuance of that we have opened up twinning negotiations with some South African and Swaziland-based arts centers. The coming on of regional artistes will help us gauge where we are in terms of quality ahead of the 2010 World Cup in SA,’ said Nyika.
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Full Sunday Mail report
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| New soccer institute for North West University - 02/04/2007 |
North West University is to launch a soccer institute on the Mafikeng campus in April. Sir Dave Richards, chairman of the English PSL will be the guest of honour. The Citizen reports that the event will feature a match between the soccer institute’ s team and the under-19 team of Mamelodi Sundowns. The English PSL is one of the major sponsors. The institute will offer existing academic diploma and degree programmes and a diploma in Sports Science, with the focus on soccer. ’ Through the institute, the university aims to use soccer as a catalyst for educational and community development and to contribute towards the 2010 World Cup,’ a university spokesperson said.
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Full report in The Citizen
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| Shona Khona making dreams come true - 23/03/2007 |
Boys and girls aged between 10 and 16 can realise their wildest soccer superstar dreams through Shona Khona, the education- through-sport initiative. The Sowetan reports that the initiative is designed to empower pupils from poor communities by providing opportunities and life-skills that will equip them to become leaders in their communities. Initiated by Reckitt Benckiser and Metcash, in partnership with the SABC and Sowetan, Shona Khona is expected to continue beyond the 2010 World Cup. The project is growing yearly and has received the blessing and support of Safa and the United School Sport Association of SA.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Football kicks against painful past - 21/03/2007 |
Charlton chairman Martin Simons surveys the arid scene with a restless eye. This is Tafelsig, a dusty sports ground forming a natural junction between Cape Town’s vast townships of Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, and throughout this week the setting for an ambitious project to take football - and the World Cup message of social responsibility - to the area’s forgotten youth. However, the task in Cape Town is daunting in the extreme. For it is here, at one training day in one corner of one city that the dark side of the 2010 World Cup is seen in microcosm - where children’s beatific faces betray an uncertain future, and where their enthusiasm for sport’s possibilities is often not enough to protect them from a maelstrom of alcohol abuse, domestic violence and gun crime. The Telegraph reports that the imperative for Fifa, in bringing the World Cup to SA, is to end this self-perpetuating cycle.
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Full report in The Telegraph
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| A win-win scenario - 20/03/2007 |
When you combine passion for a beautiful game that exists everywhere in SA with an innovative life-skills and job-readiness programme, you are guaranteed a win-win situation. And that is what national recruitment consultancy the Ridout Group is achieving via a social-responsibility initiative it is conducting in Joburg’s Alexandra Township. The Cape Times reports that the group’s management team brainstormed corporate social-responsibility ideas and decided that in light of SA hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and in recognising the plight of the youth in disadvantaged communities, they would sponsor a township soccer team.
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Full Cape Times report
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