'The Ball' Passes Through Botswana

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent | Monday June 7, 2010 00:00

'The Ball' is a FIFA project that is used to raise awareness about the Special Olympics for the intellectually-challenged through football and it is part of the World Cup activities.  'The Ball' passed through over 100 countries and over 16,000 people signed it. Teams made from intellectually-challenged children will also make part of the World Cup activities and Botswana will send two children to South Africa to join the rest from other countries to make a complete football team. 

Speaking at the ceremony to receive 'The Ball' at Solomon Dihutso Primary School in Mogoditshane, director of Sports and Recreation, Falcon Sedimo, said though Botswana would not be among participating countries, the nation was privileged to also have the opportunity to feel 'The Ball'. 'We are privileged to be among the 31 countries through which The Ball passed and we shall forever cherish this moment,' Sedimo said.

He added that the fact that many people of different races signed 'The Ball' was a demonstration of the power of sport, especially football. Sedimo also said the country would be looking forward to receiving 'The Ball' in future when the World Cup is organised in other parts of the globe.

The worldwide journey of the ball started 146 years ago in Battersea Park in London, United Kingdom (UK), where the first game of modern rules started in England in 1864. Every four years, the ball travels to the World Cup-hosting country.

This year it is estimated to have covered 15,000-miles to South Africa through West Africa and East Africa. The 2010 ball was hand-crafted in Kenya by Alive and Kicking - a non-profit making organisation.  In Africa, the ball passed through Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d' Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Namibia before it reached Botswana.