The 28 students from South Nottingham College arrive in Cape Town on Sunday 16th March to begin their tour of the townships distributing footballs and providing football coaching clinics for school-age children.

Below is an outline of the itinery for the trip.

Sunday 16th March - arrive Cape Town, morning tour of Table Mountain then evening football match against Ajax.

Monday 17th March - 8.30am start at Langa Township for morning of football distribution and coaching session. Then on to Picketberg Township for more footballs and coaching.

Tuesday 18th March – Early start again for the Grabouw Township in the morning and Bredasdorp in the afternoon.

Under 19s Premier Cup Tournament 19th – 24th March
Wednesday 19th March – Mayoral welcome for all teams taking part in the U19s premier cup football tournament hosted by the Mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille.

Thursday 20th March – Training and preparation for tournament.

Friday 21st March – 8am to 4pm football distribution and coaching sessions in Delft township. Includes a visit from the Western Cape Minister for Sport. The students will then take part in the opening ceremony of the tournament.

Monday 24th March – Tournament closing ceremony and visit to Robben Island.

Tuesday 25th March – Leave Cape Town and head for the Eastern Cape. Coaching sessions and distribution of footballs in De Doorns and Beaufort West townships (approximately 1500 footballs to be given out).

Wednesday 26th March – More coaching and footballs at Mossell Bay school and Oudtshoorn township then on to Port Elizabeth to play evening match against Bay United.

Thursday 27th March - Coaching and ball distribution in East London. Then on to meet with Dillon Woods of the Donald Woods Foundation in King Williams Town. Visit to Steve Biko Foundation, his grave and his home.

Friday 28th March – On to the Mbashe region where the students will do a 30 kilometre relay run retracing the route that 7 year old Nelson Mandela took with his mother to see medical doctor Lex Soga at the Miller Mission. When the relay is finished the students then move on the Cwebe nature reserve (Transkei region) which will be their base for visiting schools and townships in the region.

29th, 30th and 31st March – these 3 days will be spent erecting football goalposts and marking out six football pitches in the following rural villages and schools:
eLalini, Hobeni, Manganyela, eKunene, Hobeni Junior School, Geya

the work will include mixing concrete, digging out the holes for the goalposts and carrying goalposts from the road to the pitch site. In the evenings the students will, if they have any energy left, play a match against the local community team. And distribute footballs to the children from the area.

Tuesday 1st April – Morning visit to Mvezo open air museum, the birthplace of Nelson Mandela. Flight to Johannesburg for onward flight to Heathrow.

Wednesday 2nd April – arrive in the UK then on to Nottingham and home.

If you would like to contribute towards the cost of footballs then please send a cheque (made payable to South Nottingham College) to: South Nottingham College, Greythorn Drive, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7GA. Please write ‘buy a ball’ on the back of the cheque.

If you would like a copy of the DVD of last years trip then please email martin.scanlon@unitetheunion.com