16 Jul 2014

Botswana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Roy Blackbeard has commended Bristol City for being the first UK-based football club to visit Botswana.

Speaking at a media briefing, Blackbeard said expectations were that not only football clubs would benefit but investors would also take advantage of the visit.

Bristol City will play friendly games against Extension Gunners on Monday, July 21 at the National Stadium, and on July 24 they will face the senior national team, Zebras.

Blackbeard said Bristol City’s visit was a blessing because they would also focus on helping different communities in Botswana. The High Commissioner also revealed that Botswana had signed a memorandum of intent with Spain’s Real Madrid. 

“The memorandum of intent is not about soccer but what Real Madrid can do to the community, and their target is school going children,” he said.

He said expectations were that Real Madrid would come to Botswana between September and October; the aim of the visit would be to build children’s character.

Extension Gunners, chairperson, Kitso Dlamini said football could change psychological aspect of the community, and therefore as Gunners, they would learn from Bristol City and their community trust.

He said Extension Gunners was a community based team and the most supported club in the country in terms of numbers, adding that Peleng was underprivileged and consequently their partnership with Bristol City will ensure that Lobatse would be turned into a football hub.

Dlamini further said giving back to the community was the most important thing in any football club, and in addition they would also learn a lot from the Bristol City community trust which would be travelling with their team.

“Not only Extension Gunners will benefit from this partnership, other sporting code should take advantage as well, we are prepared to arrange meetings with the trust,” he said.

Bristol City majority shareholder, Steve Lansdown said their main visit in Botswana was to share knowledge and formulate how best the two teams could improve the sport.

He said their intention was to leave some new ideas that Botswana would nurture given that their tour was a catalyst to also establish business links.

Lansdown said Bristol City Community trust staff and volunteers would be in Botswana for 10 days from July 15 to 25 and they would volunteer at several projects.

Kitso Media organised this pre-season tournament and the inaugural friendship cup game would provide a platform for the participating teams to prepare for the 2014/2015 season.

The tournament would also contribute to the exposure for local talent to international scouts and had potential to be a mutually beneficial collaboration or partnership with international teams. 

Along with the team squad, Bristol were also bringing 33 of their supporters and Community Trust team members who had already provided coaching and leadership programmes for more than 50 000 young people in the UK. 

Meanwhile tickets will be sold at Extension Gunners office at Lobatse, Shoprite outlets, Super Save in Mochudi and Entrance fee is P100 grand stand, Panda, North and South stand is P50.00

Extension Gunners game on July 21 starts at 1530 hrs, whereas Zebras game on July 24 would kick of 1900 hrs. ENDS