Across South Africa, football fans are experiencing the spectacle of a lifetime as the 2010 FIFA World Cup continues. In an effort to ensure this is an event for all South Africans, SCORE – a South African-based Sport and Development non-profit organisation – has developed a unique holiday programme, incorporating soccer, life skills training and a competition called the SCORE Cup. SCORE South Africa has been supported by UK Sport for a number of years and is delighted to be playing its part in enabling them to deliver this programme.

Far removed from the major centres, disadvantaged children and youth, many still living in poverty, will also have little to occupy them during their six-week school holidays this year. How will these children and youth experience this “once-in-a-lifetime” event?

“We have a moral obligation to assist in bringing the excitement and benefit of the FIFA World Cup to communities across the country” says Betty Lallie, from the NGO SCORE. “We don’t want people to feel left out. We want the children and youth in the communities in which we work to feel part of this big event, to be able to say ‘I was there!’ even if they never had the chance to go to a match.”

SCORE’s programme has been designed to share the excitement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup with ordinary South Africans in the rural and disadvantaged communities in which SCORE operates.

The campaign was officially launched on March 31st in Khayelitsha, by the Western Cape Director of Sport, and will culminate in the SCORE Cup finals on June 26 in all participating communities. The SCORE Cup aims to involve more than 9000 children and youth in more than 45 communities throughout Southern Africa.

This unique soccer tournament will see 32 mixed teams (boys and girls) each one drawn to represent one of the 2010 FIFA World Cup nations.

Debbie Lye, UK Sport’s Director of International Development said: “UK Sport is proud to be a partner to SCORE South Africa. The SCORE Cup is using the excitement of the first ever African World Cup to enable thousands of disadvantaged children to access sport. As well as playing football for fun and receiving coaching, the children will gain from life skills training to increase their awareness of health and social issues and boost their confidence.”

The holiday programme will include extensive life skills training, fun group activities, football coaching and matches that follow the official match schedule, taking place the next day. Making use of cell-phone technology, participating communities will easily be able to upload pictures and updates to an interactive website designed specifically for the campaign.

Local and overseas visitors are invited to experience a different side of football in South Africa by participating in an informative and interactive sport and development tour to one of the communities participating in the SCORE Cup.