 Alex is
site of Football for Hope
Played alongside the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, the Football for Hope
Festival promotes the use of the sport for peace, change and social
development.
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Workers busy at Number 3 Square constructing a soccer field for
the Football for Hope Festival |
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The Football for Hope Centre
is taking shape |
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.
Workers busy at Number 3 Square constructing a soccer field for the
Football for Hope Festival On Friday, 10 July, FIFA named the
participating teams, among which are organisations that use football
to address ethnic violence in Israel and Palestine, environmental
pollution in the slums of Kenya, HIV/Aids education in South Africa,
landmine education in Cambodia and gang culture in Ecuador.
Included among these organisations are traditional football
powerhouses like Germany, Cameroon, Brazil and Argentina as well as
football teams from India, Lesotho, Tahiti, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Australia, Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
The teams were selected not only for their skill on the pitch but for
their contribution to social change in disadvantaged communities
around the world. During their stay in South Africa, the teams will
take part in workshops and activities where they will learn from each
other and improve their work.
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 May 2008.
Commenting on the Football for Hope Festival on the FIFA website ,
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the tournament would be a unique
opportunity for organisations using football as a tool for social
development to interact with each other and showcase their programmes
on the same stage as the football world's biggest sporting event - the
2010 FIFA World Cup™.
"We look forward to welcoming them to South Africa and experiencing
together how football is contributing to building a better future."
Number 3 Square
Number 3 Square, located in the heart of Alexandra, will be
transformed with a specially constructed stadium. Mixed teams of boys
and girls aged between 15 and 18 years will compete in a unique,
fast-paced tournament - unique in the sense that there will be no
referees and any disagreements between the teams will be resolved
through dialogue.
The Football for Hope Festival is part of the Football for Hope
Movement, a FIFA and Streetfootballworld initiative that aims to
increase the impact of the sport as a tool for peace, social
development and change.
Christa Venter, Johannesburg's 2010 operations director, said that in
November 2007, a delegation representing the movement visited
Alexandra to assess the viability of staging the festival in the
township.
"The delegation focused on key issues like accommodation, venues,
facilities, and safety and security. In February 2008, FIFA formally
announced that the Football for Hope Festival would indeed take place
in Alexandra during the 2010 World Cup."
Located in the north of Johannesburg, a stone's throw from the
affluent suburb of Sandton, Alexandra is one of the city's poorer
communities. It has recently undergone a revamp, however. Once a sea
of shacks, Alex, as it is affectionately known, is now a much more
organise settlement with new, colourful residential buildings.
With its cosmopolitan nature - it is home to people with diverse
cultural backgrounds - Alex is a fitting venue for the festival, which
is expected to deepen the township's already rich cultural character.
Forum
The Football for Hope Movement focuses on children and young people
and uses the sport as an instrument to promote participation and
dialogue. Besides the festival, it also runs a Football for Hope Forum
every four years to tie in with the FIFA Confederations Cup.
The Football for Hope Centre is taking shape The main aim of this
year's forum, held in Vanderbijlpark between 23 and 25 June, was to
find new solutions to social issues using the power of football. It
brought together organisations using the world's favourite sport to
address problems such as landmines in Cambodia, homelessness in
England, ethnic conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and HIV and Aids
education in South Africa.
Blatter and Irvin Khoza, the chairman of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Organising Committee, attended the forum, where key players who are
using the power of football to change the world off the pitch, held a
diverse range of workshops and seminars to discuss social issues.
At the opening, Blatter said that through the Football for Hope
Movement, FIFA supported organisations that used the appeal of the
sport to promote social development, education, health and
integration.
"It [the movement] is the key element to develop projects on the
ground, in which football is the common denominator," he said.
Centres
Another element of the movement is the Football for Hope Centres, a
FIFA legacy project that uses the momentum of the World Cup to build
infrastructure that will benefit local communities.
In 2010, African countries will benefit from Football for Hope, with
20 football academies to be built on the continent. Dubbed the 20
Centres for 2010, five will be built in South Africa, with one at
Number 3 Square.
The centres will each consist of a mini-pitch with surrounding
grandstands as well as facilities that will provide local communities
with access to counselling, health and education services.
According to FIFA, the centres will ideally be located on the sites of
existing implementing partners, strengthening their activities in the
community to improve basic education, prevent disease and promote
health as well as encourage the social integration of minorities and
disadvantaged populations. |
