We present to you: THE WORLD CUP CHALLENGE.
We're
organising a 5-a-side charity football tournament to coincide with the World Cup in South Africa. It will take place in the Cape Town region, probably in
Stellenbosch or Somerset West some time between
June 28th and July 8th.
Not only are we looking for donations to help our charity partner Starfish do what they do best, but also for TEAMS to take part!
Greetings!
Delighted you're having a gander and checking out our plans.
Colin Perry and I are good friends from Edinburgh (Scotchland) and are heading out with a group to South Africa to take in the huge spectacle that will be the first ever Soccer World Cup on African soil.
After seeing our respective teams, Northern Ireland and Scotland, fail to book their seats on the plane to SA, we're just there for the footballing extravaganza.
All of our group applied for tickets to World Cup matches in Cape Town where we'll be based, and to cut a long story short, we ended up bagging way too many tickets!
So, after reining in the initial "gold mine!" thoughts on our mind, we have decided to do the decent thing, and give our tickets away to some sick and underprivileged kids in Africa and allow them the opportunity to see some big matches in their own back garden!
That sparked an idea to raise some funds to help children in South Africa who have been orphaned and made vulnerable as a result of the AIDS pandemic. With five guys in our group going out to South Africa, we had the makings of a 5-a-side football team... we figured if we could get a 5-a-side tournament organised we would have a good chance of getting sponsorship for it. Our major charity partner in this project is Starfish, who work in South Africa to provide home visits, counselling, community initiatives and access to education and social grants for children whose futures hang in the balance.
We're aiming for 10 teams as a start point, so if you will be in Cape Town around the general time, and can get 6 players together to raise a team (5 plus rolling sub), then please please get in touch.
Also please join our facebook group to help get this message out to international world cup supporters who might be able to enter!
Ideally we would like to see teams entering from different World Cup nations, to represent their home country... if you're going out to Cape Town but as part of a smaller group, let us know and we can see if we can hook you up with other compatriots - also, try putting the feelers out on the facebook group discussion board.
Our website www.theworldcupchallenge.com provides more info and will be updated regularly. It features a blog where you can follow progress reports we will be making a video journal of the project as well!
*** It's £5 per player for international registration (with an optional £5 encouraged to keep the running total climbing) and we'd hope that all teams will do some sponsor searching and collecting, directing donations to our JustGiving page - and so on to Starfish!
*** We are seeking corporate sponsors as well as individuals. Please take a look a our website and email us. Corporate sponsors are invited to sponsor us per player we can manage to get to get to register for the tournament by signing a pledge form and paying on completion. Alternatively, immediate donations can be made here.
This project was only conceived in February and activated in early March with less than 100 days remaining before the World Cup was due to commence. The very organising of The World Cup Challenge is a helluva challenge in itself with a lot to be done in a short space of time, and from 10,000km away!
Hope you can help.
Thank you, thank you and once again, thank you.
Chris and Colin
