Africa told too poor to play in UK

FIVE African football teams all set to travel to the United Kingdom yesterday to take part in the Homeless World Cup, the global street soccer tournament kicking off global poverty, have been refused entry to UK by the British government.

Just days before they were due to travel to Edinburgh for the event, entry is refused on the basis that they do not have sufficient funds to support themselves whilst visiting the UK. The street soccer teams from Kenya, Zambia, Burundi, Cameroon and Nigeria were all set to make their debut in the third Homeless World Cup tournament, being staged in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens July 20 to 24, just weeks after the G8 Summit where discussions about eliminating poverty in Africa were the focus.Co-founder Mel Young said: “The G8 saw the British government lead the way in discussing grand gestures and pledges for Africa.They have now missed an opportunity to lead the world in taking real action towards making poverty history and creating significant real change.”The Homeless World Cup is designed to support and encourage people to transform their lives, to lift themselves from poverty and it has had significant success, with 70 per cent of players in the last two world cups going on to improve their situation.To deny homeless people access to the UK on the basis that they are too poor is ridiculous.It raises some serious questions around the British Government’s commitment to taking action towards alleviating poverty in Africa.”Despite organisers of the five teams making every effort to fulfil all the British government’s entry requirements over the last six months, the news was broken to the teams only a couple of days before they were set to travel, allowing no time to appeal the decision.The Burundi Homeless World Cup Team, formed from street children from the capital Bujumbura, were given information initially which indicated that they should travel to Uganda in order to have their fingerprints taken to apply for British visas.However, they were eventually offered Rwanda as an alternative and had to make a six-day round trip for fingerprinting and interviewing.This was both arduous and expensive.The Homeless World Cup team from Nigeria was turned down after embassy officials decided the players would not have enough money to support themselves in Scotland.This was despite assurances from team officials and the Homeless World Cup office in Edinburgh that all player needs were taken care of during the tournament in Edinburgh.The players had accommodation at Edinburgh University’s Pollock Halls of Residence, free meals and the German street paper BISS had donated a daily allowance to all the African players.The Homeless World Cup is a street soccer tournament uniting teams of homeless people from around the globe to kick off global poverty.Organised by the International Network of Street Papers, the HWC is sponsored and supported by Uefa, the United Nations and Nike from the corporate sector.-Streetsoccer.orgThe street soccer teams from Kenya, Zambia, Burundi, Cameroon and Nigeria were all set to make their debut in the third Homeless World Cup tournament, being staged in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens July 20 to 24, just weeks after the G8 Summit where discussions about eliminating poverty in Africa were the focus.Co-founder Mel Young said: “The G8 saw the British government lead the way in discussing grand gestures and pledges for Africa.They have now missed an opportunity to lead the world in taking real action towards making poverty history and creating significant real change.”The Homeless World Cup is designed to support and encourage people to transform their lives, to lift themselves from poverty and it has had significant success, with 70 per cent of players in the last two world cups going on to improve their situation.To deny homeless people access to the UK on the basis that they are too poor is ridiculous.It raises some serious questions around the British Government’s commitment to taking action towards alleviating poverty in Africa.”Despite organisers of the five teams making every effort to fulfil all the British government’s entry requirements over the last six months, the news was broken to the teams only a couple of days before they were set to travel, allowing no time to appeal the decision.The Burundi Homeless World Cup Team, formed from street children from the capital Bujumbura, were given information initially which indicated that they should travel to Uganda in order to have their fingerprints taken to apply for British visas.However, they were eventually offered Rwanda as an alternative and had to make a six-day round trip for fingerprinting and interviewing.This was both arduous and expensive.The Homeless World Cup team from Nigeria was turned down after embassy officials decided the players would not have enough money to support themselves in Scotland.This was despite assurances from team officials and the Homeless World Cup office in Edinburgh that all player needs were taken care of during the tournament in Edinburgh.The players had accommodation at Edinburgh University’s Pollock Halls of Residence, free meals and the German street paper BISS had donated a daily allowance to all the African players.The Homeless World Cup is a street soccer tournament uniting teams of homeless people from around the globe to kick off global poverty.Organised by the International Network of Street Papers, the HWC is sponsored and supported by Uefa, the United Nations and Nike from the corporate sector.-Streetsoccer.org