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A football initiative teams Special Olympics athletes with celebrities to raise awareness and build a legacy as part of the 2010 World Cup.
SPECIAL Olympics Africa launched its Football Initiative with Celebrity Support, which pairs Special Olympics athletes with celebrities, with a friendly unified football match.
Celebrities on the pitch included radio personalities Darren "Wackhead" Simpson and Bongani Nxumalo; football stars Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish and Shaun Bartlett; and Banyana Banyana player Janine van Wyk.
Celebrity Support aims to make Special Olympics synonymous with football
"I am really excited that something like this is being done for people with disabilities. It goes to show that there is absolutely nothing wrong with people who live with disabilities," Van Wyk said.
The initiative was launched at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton on 30 November.
Special Olympics Africa will be participating in a number of activities leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. These include sending a team to the FIFA Football for Hope Festival and partnering with Spirit of Football, which is also known as The Ball.
The Ball takes various football teams to foreign shores, where they play matches against local teams.
According to a Special Olympics spokesperson, "Special Olympics' vision is to transform communities by inspiring people throughout the world to open up their minds, accept and include people with intellectual disabilities and thereby anyone who is perceived as different."
Radio personality Jeremy Mansfield, who was master of ceremonies at the launch, said: "The mission of this initiative is to make Special Olympics synonymous with football, recognised as a professionally organised movement that deserves the support of the football community to continue improving the lives of people with an intellectual disability around the world. This movement should not be seen as a disability movement, but rather an ability movement."
Football star Lucas Radebe turned out for the celebrity team
The World Cup created a unique opportunity for awareness of Special Olympics in Africa, he added. This would leave a lasting legacy through the development of the Special Olympics Africa Football Initiative.
The initiative is supported by DHL Sub-Saharan Africa and Alive and Kicking. In 2010, The Ball will leave from Battersea Park in London, England - the home of modern rules football - and embark on its most ambitious journey yet, a 16 000-kilometre pilgrimage through Africa to the World Cup in South Africa.
Special Olympics Africa has a team taking part, and has programmes in over 30 African countries that will be running till the World Cup in June and July 2010.
The 90-minute launch match between the Special Olympics team and the celebrity team ended in a 10-all draw.
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