Bring your spare boots and help underprivileged kids
9th May
Swans fans are being urged to bring their unwanted pairs of football boots to Sunday's final home game against Manchester City to help a local charity support a football academy for underprivileged children in Gambia.
Fans are asked to donate their boots (for hard ground only) to the Afia Banjul Children's Football Academy Foundation - a charity formed and championed by local couple Craig and Isabel Goodman.
A transit van supplied by Low Cost Vans, one of the biggest local sponsors of the Swans, is being manned by Craig and Isabel near the Liberty Stadium club shop on Sunday to take delivery of the spare boots.
The couple formed the charity after a holiday to Gambia three years ago. Touched by the passion of local children for football despite a lack of kit or facilities, the couple formed the academy, which has now grown from just 25 children to more than 250 children.
The couple have also opened up a branch academy, Afia Sanchaba, in another part of Gambia. With both academies, there are now almost 300 members.
Through continuous appeals and fundraising activities, Craig and Isabel manage to ship out several boxes of kit and unwanted football boots each year. But, with the academy growing in both numbers and shoe size, the demand is constant.
Isabel said: "We would like to give the Swans a massive thank you for allowing us to do this. This boot drive will hopefully allow us to provide boots for the all academy members for the next few years. I also want to thank Low Cost Vans for donating a van for us to use on the day to collect the boots."
A Swans spokesman said: "Isabel and Craig are doing fantastic work in Gambia and as a club we are only too glad to help.
"Swansea's own Gambian international, Modou Barrow, has also given his support in the past to fundraising events and is a big fan of the work they are doing with the football academy.
"Modou will be bringing along an old pair of his own boots to donate and we would urge Swans fans to do the same on the day.''
Rod Lloyd, managing director of Low Cost Vans, added: "When we received the call asking if we could help with this fantastic cause, we were more than happy to oblige. The company is a big supporter of the Swans in every sense and we are also proud to help a charity doing such fantastic work making a difference to underprivileged children in Africa."
If anyone would like to help with the shipping costs for all these boots or would like any further information, please email the couple on afiafootball@gmail.com or ring 07825 842981.
