Football students from South Nottingham College went to South Africa to compete in a prestigious Under 19 Youth Cup tournament in Capetown in April 2006 and provide football coaching for school-aged children in the townships.

The 'Balls to Poverty' project sponsored by Amicus, the UK's largest private sector union,saw twenty South Nottingham College students, aged 16-18,deliver coaching clinics to over 1,000 schoolchildren in the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town townships.

The students also donated replica football kits and 3,000 Amicus footballs, pens, paper and rulers to the schoolchildren.

Amicus is involved as part of its campaign to expose young people in the UK to the activities of trade unions and deliver positive help to developmental projects in Africa. So far the College are the only representatives from the UK taking part in the South African Youth Cup tournament. Their involvement may pave the way for other colleges to take part in future years.

This is the second year that South Nottingham College has been involved in the event and the team are hoping to repeat their success of 2005 when they reached the last sixteen in an event that was won by Ajax Capetown, a feeder club for Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam.

'Balls to Poverty' is the brainchild of South Nottingham College Director of Football and Nottingham Forest Academy Youth Coach, Joe Sargison, who first coached in Johannesburg two years ago. Speaking about the project, Joe said: "I was really touched by my visit to South Africa and wanted to give something back to the country. I had some footballs left over from Euro 2004 and I wanted to distribute them in a way that would involve our students.

"When the offer came for the College to take part in the tournament I thought the whole trip would have an incredible and long-lasting effect on our students.  Last year proved just that and I, along with the students selected to go next year, cannot wait to go back."

Derek Simpson, General Secretary of Amicus, sponsors of 'Balls to Poverty', said: "Amicus is proud to be involved in such a fantastic and innovative project. 'Balls to Poverty' fits perfectly with Amicus' aims to help expand the horizons of young people from the UK's inner cities and help some of the poorest people in the developing world in a really positive way. 
 

"As well as using sport to help break down cultural and socio-economic barriers 'Balls to poverty' will allow school aged children to be introduced to the activities of trade unions."

The South Nottingham College squad also aim to play an exhibition game against last year's finalists Tuks at the National Institute for Sports Medicine, as well as games against Moroka Swallows and BK Callies during their stay in Johannesburg.

Joe Sargison added: "The importance of this trip has been highlighted by the involvement of our new partner Amicus and as a result of their support we are now in a position to increase the number of students, staff and cities visited for this year.  In addition, with the relationship the College now has with Hucknall Town FC many of the students will have been exposed to a higher quality of football.  I am very optimistic that these experiences coupled with our higher level of team skills will enable us to perform well in next year's tournament."

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1.   Interviews with Joe Sargison, the South Nottingham College students and Amicus officials can be arranged on request.  A DVD of last year's trip is also available. Media are also invited to follow the students' progress as they fundraise and prepare for their trip.
2.   South Nottingham College's Football Performance Programme (FPP) has been established for five years now and offers students the chance to continue with their full-time education as well as receiving up to ten hours a week professional football coaching and playing competitive games in local and British College leagues.  The College side have been training twice a week with Nottingham Forest U18s at the NFFC Academy and have had three recent notable graduates of the Programme - Nottingham Forest star Wes Morgan, Notts County's Jake Sheridan and Tranmere Rover's Simon Francis.
3.   Amicus is the UK's largest private sector union but also represents members in the public and not for profit sectors. Amicus has 1.2 million members across more than 20 industry sectors and professional groupings, from pharmacists to clergy and from energy sector workers to banking and insurance.  

For more information please contact Chris Stephenson, Marketing & Communications Manager for South Nottingham College on 0115 914 6339 or Catherine Bithell, Amicus' Head of Media and Campaigns on 020 7 402 8909 or 07958 473 224