For the past eight years the Irish volunteers of the Niall Mellon Township Trust and the children of the townships in which they build, have kicked ball in the sand amongst the miles of ramshackle shacks.

Today, inspired by the sheer joy on the faces of the children at the sight of a football, the Trust opens its first football pitch in Wallacedene township, where 950 volunteers have just handed over 200 houses for families living in shacks. The volunteers were in Cape Town this week on the 8th Niall Mellon Township Trust Building Blitz.  The Trust is the largest not for profit builder of social houses in South Africa and has built 12,500 houses for families living in shacks since it first started.
The pitch is situated at Enkululekweni School which has 1,200 pupils and both the school and the community will have access to this new facility. There is a huge passion amongst the community of Wallacedene, Masizakhele 3 for soccer.

Niall Mellon, founder of the Trust said, “The Irish soccer team has lots of new fans here in South Africa with the children cheering on the Irish, as we prepare to take on France on Saturday. With the World Cup coming to South Africa in 2010 it is a great time for the pitch to be given to the community. The people of South Africa have Ireland in their hearts and we are all hoping that our team will make it here to the finals.”

Niall Mellon added, “The Trust firmly believes that sport is a vital element in its bid to improve the lives of people of the townships. We are delighted the World Cup is coming to South Africa in 2010 and hopefully this will provide an opportunity to grow and contribute further to changing the lives of people in the townships, helping them move from a shack to a house.”

The Trust is hoping to work in partnership with the Ministry of Sport in South Africa and look to the FIFA “Vision Africa” programme to continue its work of providing sporting and recreational facilities for the children of the townships.

For further information call Karen Hession, 0027 72 180 2947.