RAF Odiham will once again assist Hampshire FA, by transporting the kits donated at each of Hampshire FA’s hub sites in the county including Stoneham Lane Football Complex, Front Lawn Community Hub and Winklebury Football Complex to RAF Shawbury.

All kits and donations will be transported to RAF Shawbury, in Shropshire, where Neil Hope, founder of Lottie’s Way and former Wing Commander of RAF Shawbury, coordinating the RAF-backed operation - ‘Taking Football to Africa and Beyond’ charitable appeal.

Discussing the involvement of RAF Odiham with Hampshire FA, Flt Lt Aidan Robinson, the current OIC Football at RAF Odiham, says:

“RAF Odiham is once again proud to be able to support this appeal - a fantastic way of using football to support an extremely worthwhile cause. There are so many people in need of support, and if we can help in just a small way, we always will.”

ABOUT THE APPEAL:

The Taking Football to Africa and Beyond charitable appeal has been in operation for over 17 years, originally organised by Wing Commander Neil Hope MBE in late May 2006. The appeal operates from RAF Shawbury, in North Shropshire, through the RAF Football Association, providing aid to impoverished areas of the world through donated items. Neil Hope and Squadron Leader Mark Smales, will jointly lead and coordinate the entire operation and distribution.

Since its inception, the appeal has been a great success, delivering over 388000 items, including more than 109000 shirts to 64 countries worldwide! This is largely thanks to the tremendous generosity of the appeal’s many donors over the years, who have improved the lives of so many less fortunate people across the globe in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Items have reached small African villages as well as the huge ‘Slum’ towns of Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria, as well as to mountain villages in the Peruvian Andes, refugee camps on the Syria/Turkey border, war torn Afghanistan and Iraq, diverse areas in Pakistan, India and across the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

More recently, the appeal has also managed to deliver items to war-struck Ukraine. The items have assisted people across all genders, faiths and beliefs portraying the truly diverse and inclusive reach of football and its ability to bring people together.

The appeal has been fortunate in having a huge number of donors, from individuals to clubs throughout the grassroots landscape, right up to elite organisations such as Premier League clubs and the FA.

Once again, you have a chance to join the appeal’s army of fabulous donors…

Hampshire FA has been supporting the annual appeal since 2014 and has continued its support ever since. This season, we once again open our doors to the grassroots football community and encourage everyone to support the appeal by donating any unwanted football boots and kits. Information on how to donate can be found below.

HOW TO DONATE:

Hampshire FA is accepting donations of any unwanted kit to support RAF Shawbury’s, ‘Taking Football to Africa and Beyond’ charitable appeal, from 1^st of August – 19^th of August.   

All Hampshire FA Hub Sites (listed below) will be open and accepting donations of unwanted football boots and kit from 1^st of August – 19^th of August. As a minimum, all sites will be open from 9AM - 6PM (sites may be open late, however, please contact the hub site via the contact details on the links below to confirm your arrival).

• Winklebury Football Complex

Address: Winklebury Football Complex, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8BF.

• Stoneham Lane Football Complex

Address: Stoneham Lane Football Complex, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO16 2PA.

• Front Lawn Community Hub

Address: Front Lawn Community Hub, Somborne Drive, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO9 5AN.

Please drop in at any point within this window with any kit that you can spare for this fantastic cause. We are particularly keen to collect:

• Playing or training clothing items
• Bibs
• Football boots or trainers.
• Footballs

The small gesture of passing on your unwanted items can make a huge difference for so many less fortunate people across the globe.

While we appreciate that kit will be in a used condition, we kindly ask that you please check the condition of all kit before donating to ensure that it is still in a good, useable condition. It would also be incredibly useful for the Hampshire FA and RAF FA teams if you could sort items into bags, labelled with the contents, club/donor name, and details.

Thank you in advance for your support. This is greatly appreciated by all at Hampshire FA, RAF FA and Lotties Way, as well as the hundreds of thousands of grateful recipients of your items across the world.

For more information, please email Communications@HampshireFA.com.