16 May 2016
Welsh channel S4C has teamed up with charity Street Football Wales to raise awareness and money for an organisation that helps homeless and socially excluded people in Wales.
S4C is organising a nationwide tour of Welsh clubs to celebrate that the Wales football team has reached the UEFA Euro 2016 Championship in France this June and to raise cash for the SFW charity.
The sports-mad channel will be broadcasting Wales’ three Group B matches against Slovakia, England and Russia as Bale, Ramsey, Williams and co make history by representing Wales in its first major football tournament since 1958. The live match broadcasts will be accompanied by a pitch full of great programmes about football and Wales’ love for the beautiful game.
By using football, Street Football Wales, which is hosted by the Pobl Group, aims to re-integrate people into mainstream society and inspire them to lead healthier, more physically active and mentally well lives. SFW are behind such schemes as Wales’ Homeless team, currently preparing for the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow in July.
For more information about SFW, go to www.streetfootballwales.org. If you wish to donate to SFW through the S4C appeal , go to www.localgiving.org/fundraising/thehill
Stars from S4C’s presentation team will visit Llandudno, Bangor, Bala, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen in May to hold football training sessions, a question and answer forum and a fun quiz at the invitation of the five Welsh Premier League clubs. The events will also be an opportunity to raise money and awareness for Street Football Wales.
S4C Director of Content Dafydd Rhys said, “We are delighted to be working closely with a charity that through football is helping to reintegrate homeless and socially excluded people into society. It shows the power that sport has in inspiring us and bringing people together. We hope that this S4C tour will help increase awareness of the charity’s important work.”
Project Manager for Street Football Wales Keri Harris said: “The Homeless World Cup is a pivotal moment in our sporting calendar. As a charity we rely upon donations to help us attend such sporting events. To be included in the celebrations of Wales reaching the UEFA Euro 2016 is a big honour for the players and I am delighted that with the help of S4C the work we carry out to support our players, all of whom have experienced homelessness, is also being highlighted so that Wales can see that Street Football Wales benefits those we work with.”
Presenter Dylan Ebenezer or the commentator Nic Parry will host the evenings, and they will be joined by ex-Wales internationals, Malcolm Allen, Iwan Roberts and Owain Tudur Jones, and supporters are invited to join in free of charge.
The tour will be visiting the clubs on the following dates, starting at 5.30pm every evening: Thursday, 19 May - MBi Llandudno; Friday, 20 May – Bangor; Tuesday, 24 May – Bala; Wednesday, 25 May – Penrhyncoch; Thursday, 26 May - Carmarthen.
Young fans will be given the chance to show off their skills and receive tips from the ex-internationals in a series of age-group kickabouts, while football freestyler Ash Randall – the holder of 16 Guinness World Records – will be displaying his jaw-dropping tekkers.
