You do not have to spend much time in Masiphumelele to realise how popular a game of soccer is among the locals. Long-time UK-based Masicorp supporter Rachel Bohannon was well aware of this when she recently visited Cape Town for a conference. Before heading back home she called into Masiphumelele to drop off a donation of fair trade footballs. Sue Alexander at the library introduced her to the Fish Hoek Pirates, who run teams from youth to adult level (including ladies) with players drawn from across Masiphumelele.

Rachel and Sue are seen here delivering the footballs to the Pirates committee members on a training night at Sun Valley School. They handed over a range of different sized footballs – from youth to adult.

Importantly, all of the footballs are fair trade certified. The mass manufacture of sporting equipment has unfortunately been associated with very low wages, unfair working conditions and child labour. These footballs were all made for fair wages in Pakistan under the international Fair Trade scheme. Read more about the story of fair trade footballs HERE.

Can you help?

Rachel has many more footballs back in the UK just waiting to be delivered to needy sports clubs in Masiphumelele. Please get in touch if you visiting from the UK and have space to bring over a few footballs. They are all deflated and safely packaged to minimise the space required (see picture below).