Football 4 Peace on Lebanese Border

14 volunteers from Chelsea School finally made the annual trip to Israel to run the 2006 project.The group spent 5 days working with 180 children from 18 different communities on a residential camp 5 kilometres from the border with Lebanon. The children took part in a programme of team and partner activities designed to bring those from different communities together, challenge them and instil trust and a shared experience. The children were then spent two days in mixed community groups following the Football 4 Peace values based football coaching programme.

The Football 4 Peace coaching programme highlights the social attributes of football in such a way that the participants not only develop ball skills and specific football knowledge but also consciously and unconsciously adopt, practise and endorse the fundamental principles of fair play, inclusion, respect, neutrality, trust, responsibility and equity.

The three day event culminated in a tournament where the children played in mixed community teams against each other. There were no referees as the children had to police their games themselves. The event went smoothly proving that in such a short time a lot of progress had been made.

The December project came about because of the conflict in northern Israel and Lebanon in the summer of last year, it was decided to postpone the July project until it was safer for volunteers to return. Those on the trip were heavily disappointed. Whilst they were queuing to check in at the airport, missiles fell on Nahariya and Nazareth , two of the cities where coaches would be based.

Graham Spacey, the project co-ordinator stated “The safety of the volunteers and children came first and it was agreed by all staff and partners involved, both in Israel and the UK, to move the date of the project to when the situation in Israel and Lebanon was stable and safe. It was a hard decision as at the time no one knew when that would be.”

Football 4 Peace is now planning 2007 and beyond