Israel Saria
English Premier League club, Sunderland AFC, is making its mark in Africa as community football in Tanzania continues to make great strides.
A collection of local football clubs in Tanzania have been working with Sunderland AFC’s Head of International Football Development, Graham Robinson, over the past week to not only discover new ways to improve their performances on the pitch but off it too.
Kabela City, Mwendakulima Ward, Ambassador FC and Buzwagi Mine Team were all invited to participate in the footballing masterclasses, thanks to Sunderland’s partnership with Acacia Mining.
The off the pitch lessons were designed to help the clubs in financial planning and budgeting with Graham also delivering a number of footballing sessions focussing on areas such as possession, shooting, passing and ball control.
Graham said: “The overall aim is to help the different clubs create a more sustainable environment for its players and staff by creating a plan that not only benefits the club’s performance on the pitch but also the business side off it.
“Each club showed a lot of passion and were very forward thinking and keen to learn. Hopefully the lessons they have learned over the past few days will have a positive outcome and benefit not only the club but the communities in which they operate.”
Through its many partnerships, relationships with football clubs and grassroots activities, Sunderland AFC continues to establish itself as one of the most recognised and respected English Premier League clubs across Africa through the work it is doing.
The club’s football partnership with Acacia Mining has seen the club support the organisation’s CSR programme, delivering Sunderland’s globally recognised community sports initiatives to community sites across the north-west region of Tanzania.
