Unifying Lines: Community Cohesion through the Integration of Sport and Education Facilities

Abstract

Football is the most popular sport in South Africa with an estimated 2 million people playing the sport (South African Tourism, 2024). The sport was first introduced to the country by the British colonizers and was organized by racial segregation. Once Apartheid came to an end and with the introduction of a democratic government, the segregation regime was demolished and all races were allowed to play competitively against each other (South Africa Sports, 2024). The sport therafter became very popular in the black community as it represented an opportunity for the underpriviledged to make a living despite their lack of education, it opened up a new field of work as now all races could play the sport professionally, and it is a sport that doesn’t require expensive equipment to play (in the townships bins are placed to create goals and newspaper and elastic bands are formed into balls). Today, professional football in South Africa is made up of prodominently black players and supporters - “this demographic is predominantly composed of black individuals (87%)” (Eighty20, 2024) - which gives the underprivileged youth hope that they can become professional footballers. Amateur football clubs have many underprivileged children traveling from townships all across Johannesburg to develop their football skills in the hope of one day playing professional football. Unfortu- nately, it is extremely difficult to make it professionally in the sport, and the majority of players don’t end up making it. Due to many children have dedicated their lives to making it professional, their education is often put on the sidelines - thus affecting their grades and leaving them with poor marks to fall back on. The issue of poor grades or lack of education leads to one of the most prominent issues in the country at the moment which is the unemployment. The project looks at integrating sport and education to create a facility that increases the opportunities for the underprivileged children in South Africa. With the addition of an education centre on an existing football club - Linhill Celtic FC - the football club can promote education and instill the values of education to its players, as well as provide the underprivi- leged players at the club with the facilities to receive extra lessons from volunteer tutors and students and provide the children with resources for research and homework. There is a large education gap between government and private schools, and most children attending government schools cannot afford extra lessons to help them with work they are struggling with, and many children fail because they don’t have the same resources as the children in private schools. If we can provide the underprivi- leged with resources that will help them get through their schooling, we can bridge the gap between the public and private edu- cation sectors and increase the educational success rates in the country - which in turn will decrease the unemployment rate.