The National Lottery Distrib-ution Trust Fund (NLDTF) has granted R81-million to the 2010 FIFA World Cup legacy programme to assist in grassroots football development in rural and township areas.

The grant is in support of the 2010 Artificial Football Turf programme in which 27 FIFA one-star artificial turfs will be built over the next three years.

The NLDTF says that it is confident that the grant will have a positive impact on the areas of our country that are forgotten, but where the love of the game reigns supreme.

“Sport has a good effect on the lives of our youth by proving to be a constructive way to spend free time to keep our youth occupied and will prevent them from engaging in other ills of society, such as crime and drug abuse,” said NLDTF media liaison manager Sershan Naidoo, last week.

The synthetic surfaces reduce the cost of upkeep and it is proposed that each facility will also have a clubhouse and an office for use by the local football community.

“One of the worst legacies of sport under apartheid is the dearth of football facilities in disadvantaged areas and the complete lack of recognition and support by the apartheid government of the sport,” said Local Organising Committee (LOC) CEO Danny Jordaan.The LOC has identified nine sites for the year in each province.

“We need to strengthen grassroots development by providing quality football fields to accelerate the generation of world-class players. The 27 fields will be the catalyst to build a new generation of footballers and I am delighted that the 2010 FIFA World Cup can contribute to this important development,” explained Jordaan.

The NLDTF places emphasis on areas of greatest need and greatest potential, so that all South Africans can gain from and contribute to the country’s development.

The NLDTF, which relies on funds generated by the National Lottery, currently has in the 
region of R2-billion a year to 
distribute to registered nonprofit organisations in the fields of charities, arts, culture and national heritage, and sport and recreation that meet the qualifying criteria.

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