Freeway Football and Nokia tell stories of hope

18 May 2010

Nokia partners with Freeway Football

Sport is used globally as a vehicle to empower communities and individual’s lives as it is able to unite people around one common goal.  Nokia, in a drive to empower communities, has partnered with Freeway Football, an organisation telling stories of an informal football league through visuals and photography.

Just under a year ago, Colin Habberton, founder of Freeway Football, noticed a group of children playing soccer right next to the N2 highway in Cape Town.  ‘At first I thought it was a bunch of kids kicking a ball around,’ says Habberton. ‘However, after taking the time to watch the games they were playing, I realised that this was in fact a football league, with coaches, teams, equipment and training,’ he explains.  This casual observation led Habberton to develop stories through photography about these informal leagues.

The cornerstone of Freeway Football’s business concept is the development of community-based photographers and videographers, providing mentoring and training whilst they capture photography of similar stories in their own areas. The aim for all involved with the concept is to tell the true story of townships which is not one of misery but rather of hope and aspiration.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the project, Habberton approached a few like-minded people and within a few months a team of professional photographers, footballers and business mentors sharing the same vision was established.  ‘The vision of Freeway Football is to create a project based on enterprise principles where technical, business and life skills can be transferred to budding photographers and footballers.  At the same time we are providing an agency through which these talents can be promoted and ultimately assist these individuals in generating an income stream through the use of their talent,” says Habberton. “This is about more than simply donating money.  The individuals we are working with will be able to run viable businesses within their communities and ultimately branch out into other communities to build themselves a sustainable future.”

Nokia has been involved with both elements of the project.  On the photographic side, Nokia hired Freeway Football photographers and videographers to document the Nokia All Stars Cape Minstrel Band and the Nokia Tulips, a choir from the Cape Flats.  In terms of football, Nokia has sponsored the All Stars U-15 team.  The Nokia All-Stars is a team made up of the top young players from all the teams that participated in the Khayelitsha Cup tournament which was held on the 16^th and 17^th January 2010.  These 15 players form the base of the Freeway Football Academy and the players will receive football and life skills training as well as stand the chance of being drafted into the premier youth team in Khayelistha.

For information on Freeway Football please visit http://www.freewayfootball.org/

• Category: Mobile Devices
• Tags: football, stars, nokia, sport