Take a Football For Fun with you to Africa

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, an innovative charity is aiming to make a real difference to the lives of children in Africa by encouraging travellers to take a football with them when they visit.

The idea for Footballs For Fun came after it was announced that the FIFA World Cup would be held in South Africa in  2010 - the first time ever on African soil. Founder John Haycock, a London tour operator who hails from Africa, was used to being asked by people preparing to go to Africa on safari or business: 'What can I take as a gift?'.

"In the past the best answer had always been pens or T-shirts, good clean clothing and of course books. But each of those tends to be gifts for individuals and to be frank, can cause jealousy," says Haycock. "With the FIFA World Cup coming to Africa, it seemed that a football was the answer. So I designed three balls, each in the colours of the flags of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Now we can produce balls in the colours of every African state from Morocco and Egypt in the north to Swaziland and Lesotho in the south."

Haycock is encouraging travellers to take along a football in the national colours of the country they are visiting, or to buy one for Footballs For Fun to send on their behalf. The balls can be bought in Britain and in South Africa from their website.

Football (or soccer as it is called in Southern Africa) is Africa's sport, but millions play on dusty fields, on beaches, in townships and the open bush, often with home-made balls. By giving children proper footballs, Footballs For Fun aim to not only encourage and nurture talent, but also to raise funds for children in need.

"As I travel around Africa, I am constantly aware that football keeps kids off the streets, promotes a healthier life and provides an essential link in the greatest tenet of African life, UBUNTU, care for all humanity. Watch how Africans always share a gift, if they can, and enjoy the sight of hundreds of children playing football. It inspired me, seeing thousands in the foothills of the Drakensberg, on the Cape Flats, in the deserts of northern Namibia and on the still-bushy fields of Zambia; all playing with one of our balls," says Haycock.