Emotional visit to South African township
The World Cup is much more than just a football tournament and today we witnessed how sport can change lives.
Our day began with a visit to a pioneering community football scheme, operating in partnership with Charlton Athletic and Dutch giants Ajax. The project, which has been running for a number of years now, mirrors many of the successful community schemes that exist in English football. Like many of the schemes operated by our own SAFC Foundation, football is used as the hook to engage children in learning.
We then had the incredibly humbling experience of visiting a township. The visible poverty was distressing and the stark contrast between the excesses of professional football and the lives of these ordinary South Africans was quite hard to comprehend. These people had so little in terms of material possessions but they welcomed us into their homes like family. As we handed out t-shirts, footballs, scarves, pencils and a host of other gifts we were mobbed by hundreds of small children. The excitement and anticipation on their faces is something that will live long in all of our memories.
As we readied to leave the children flocked around us giving us the most wonderful heartfelt hugs and thanks – I unashamedly admit to shedding tears as we left.
In the short term the FIFA World Cup has brought jobs, tourism and a range of economic benefits to South Africa. In the longer term the improvements made to the infrastructure – new roads, rail links, hotels etc – will ensure that the legacy of the tournament carries this emerging country into a new and more prosperous era.
In 2018 Sunderland, the north east and England as a whole will hopefully be the ones enjoying the huge benefits of this global sporting phenomena, economically but more importantly by the difference it will make to the lives of everyone.
