KNOT VIOLENCE :: FUTBOL FOR PEACE

The Knot Violence Futbol for Peace campaign was piloted and launched in partnership with Portsmouth Football Club and with the support of PFC and England goal keeper David James. Knot Violence Futbol for Peace aims to engage young people in proactive alternatives to violence and challenges them to be creative when it comes to conflict resolution. The pilot phase of the campaign attracted a feature from the BBC's Match of the Day you can view a segment of the BBC film.

The primary objective of the Knot Violence Futbol for Peace campaign is to initiate the largest youth outreach education program during the World Cup in South Africa and beyond, creating a legacy of peace and non‐violence for African youth and for the youth of the world.

During the soccer world cup in South Africa, and in collaboration with the Western Cape Education Board and the Gauteng Department for Sports, Arts and Culture we will develop an outreach education program for young people who will not be able to watch the matches live – or even have access to watch these on TV. They will comprise, youths from local townships in Johannesburg, Soweto, Cape Town and Durban. The Knot Violence Campaign will include daily tournaments mirroring the World Cup schedule, implementation of the Knot Violence Educational Program, life skills training and a proven 'Train-the-Trainers' program which will secure continuity long after the final game has been played in Johannesburg on the 11th of July.

The project has already started and the Get The Point Foundation have already trained some 200 Safety Resource Officers in Cape Town and Johannesburg as well as 20 football coaches in Soweto to be “trainer, coaches and train the trainers” during the event. We will also paint a certain number of non‐violence symbol replicas in selected countries team colors.

All the participating team members will be invited to sign the global pledge for peace. We have so far secured David James (England), Ryan Babel (Netherlands), Wilson Palacios (Honduras) and Michael Ballack (Germany) to paint sculptures. The sculptures will be auction out on July 10th and proceeds to be used to implement more Knot Violence educational programs in local schools. The project will reach out to approximately 1,000 schools during the event and some 100,000 kids will be able to participate in the “mini tournaments” ‐ this part of the project is handled by the Western Cape Education Board and the Gauteng Department for Sports, Arts and Culture.