Football for peace returns to Sussex

15.03.2005

On 20-24 March the University of Brighton, in partnership with the British Council, is running a training camp for volunteers who will be working as part of the latest Football for Peace (F4P) project in Israel in July. This is the second year in succession that the university has run the training week.

F4P is a values-based football coaching programme that aims to promote conflict resolution, reconciliation and peaceful co-existence between otherwise divided communities.

Working out of a Youth Hostel in the village of Alfriston, 30 young Arab and Jewish community sport leaders will join with volunteer coaches from universities in England, Northern Ireland and Germany to participate in adventurous team-building activities and football coaching sessions.

The training event is designed to prepare them for the main project in Northern Israel during the summer. This will require them to work in eight linked projects, involving up to 1,000 Jewish and Arab children drawn from 20 towns and villages in the Galilee region.

The University of Brighton’s project co-ordinator, Professor John Sugden, said:
“We learned last year that the introduction of the UK training event was a key foundation for what turned out to be a hugely successful enterprise in Israel.

“Surviving raft-building in the Cuckmere River, orienteering through Friston forest, helping one another to develop coaching plans, and working with local school children, encourages the volunteers to bond and is particularly effective in building bridges and relationships between neighbouring Jewish and Arab community sport leaders.”

F4P’s aims and objectives resonate with recent efforts made by the Football Association (FA) to help their Israeli counterparts to develop strategies for combating racism and sectarianism in Israeli football – which is why they are supporting the project. The FA’s head of International Relations, Jane Bateman, said:

“The FA is supportive of initiatives such as this which show how football can be used as a vehicle to bring people and communities together. Football for Peace reflects the FA's own vision of ‘using the power of football to build a better future' and we wish this project every success.”

On the evening of Wednesday, 23 March there will be a dinner for all participants and guests at Dean’s Place Hotel in Alfriston.

ALL THE KEY MEMBERS OF THE PROJECT TEAM WILL ATTEND THE DINNER AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR MEDIA INTERVIEWS FROM 6.30PM ONWARDS.

Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton, 01273 643022