Bringing soccer dreams to Newcastle kids

Innocentia Buthelezi, Group CSI Manager - Corporate, says: “These young kids will get a taste of the beautiful game that we hope will be the start of a powerful era in their health and development.”

“The tournament is about introducing soccer to previously underprivileged schools where in some communities or school system, it has never been formally introduced before,” she says. “Making soccer an everyday activity at school level will help initiate a healthy lifestyle in those schools and contribute significantly in taking kids off the streets.”

Each school team will receive a DreamBag, which contains complete soccer kits. Teams of boys and girls will compete with each other in a round of matches culminating with the announcement of the winning team at Arbor Park on Saturday.

John Perlman, founder of DreamFields says: “This is the third time that Edcon has invested in DreamEvents, a gesture which once again shows the value and merit of our project to use soccer as a positive influence in children's lives.”

Last year, Edcon donated DreamBags to 17 primary and high schools in Humansdorp (Eastern Cape) as well as to 16 schools in Potchefstroom.

But while those two events were linked to the opening of Edcon stores in those areas, this is not the case with the Newcastle tournament, which focuses more on changing school children's lifestyles for the better.

“This time, we want to contribute to raising the self-esteem of the kids by giving them top quality soccer equipment, which will put them on par with soccer teams of better-off schools,” says Buthelezi.

The Newcastle tournament kick-starts DreamFields' projects for the year. Last year the organisation staged 25 DreamEvents, handed over 414 DreamBags and built four DreamFields (soccer fields). It also entered into a partnership with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). An investment of R6-million is expected to inject more soccer facilities and infrastructure into impoverished communities.

The schools taking part in the Newcastle DreamEvent are: Sondelani Primary Boys, Sinqobile Combined Girls, Sinqobile Combined Boys, Mullers Pass Primary Boys, Ncandu Combined Girls, Ncandu Combined Boys, Mvunyelwa Primary Boys, Ekubongeni Primary Boys, Ekubongeni Primary Girls, Emthunzini Primary Boys, Ingogo Primary Girls and Ingogo Primary Boys.