The project kicked off in February with a ‘shirt amnesty’ asking locals to donate unwanted kit.  A staggering 18,500 football shirts were received clearly demonstrating the passion for footie that exists amongst locals in pubs across the UK.

Celebrities and football stars also got on board including Justin Lee Collins, Bianca Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley and Alex McLeish, all donating shirts to the campaign.

Peter Beardsley  MBE says, “It’s a great idea to recycle unwanted kit to people in South Africa who may never get the chance to buy their own.  Project Fair Play aims to bring football to children in the poorer areas of South Africa to make sure they don’t miss out.”

Each of the donated shirts was washed, dried, counted, shrink-wrapped, sealed and packed!  We're pretty sure this is the biggest ever football project taking shirts to South Africa. 

To give you an idea of scale, the total pile of shirts collected...

- Weigh the equivalent of 68 Steven Gerrards

- If they were hung on a washing line, they'd travel 9 miles - or 15 times around Wembley Stadium

-  45kg of washing powder was needed to clean all the shirts

- The most donated shirts were Aresnal and Chelsea

These shirts are already on their way to townships in Johannesburg as well as disadvantaged youngsters in Cape Town in time for the World Cup.   The Orchid team visited Masiphumelele and Red Hill last week to see some of the projects for themselves.

The pubs are also undergoing a massive fundraising campaign to build a new sports ground at the Ukhanyo School in Masiphumelele which will also be used by the local community.  Here, they’ll supply Alive & Kicking footballs which carry health messages about HIV and Malaria to help educate the kids through the medium of football.

Not forgetting our local kids, the campaign will also fund children’s charity, KidsOut’s sports projects for disadvantaged youngsters across the UK.

Pub Manager Rita Pidgeon from the Ship Inn, one of the participating pubs in Rainhill says: “What better way to raise funds than through our biggest passion.  Project Fair embraces the passion for football that exists amongst our locals in pubs up and down the country.”

She adds, “This is going to be a huge summer for sport and it’s great to know our customers will help bring the World Cup to disadvantaged youngsters both here and also in South Africa.”