While Africa takes her beautiful game to the world through first world technology and new generation design, it’s easy to forget that elsewhere on the continent, the beloved game is played as passionately with hand-made balls and bare feet on dusty stretches of earth.
In 2004, artist Athol Moult photographed just such a scene in the ruins of a missionary church on the banks of the Zambezi River. Inspired by this image, Athol recognised that balls like this were symbolic of the essence of football in Africa and determined that the ‘bare foot ball’ could speak this message of passion and love of the game, louder than any fan’s cry. A project took shape in his imagination.
Seeking amongst the many displaced African people in Cape Town, all bent on finding some fortune in the economic opportunities presented by the tournament, Athol’s gut feel proved that from Nigerians to Malawians, Cameroonians to Zimbabweans – the skill in making a football from just about anything was part of the fabric of their lives. Bringing together these skills and the abundance of available waste materials, Barefootball is a project that won’t deliver the dreamt-of fortunes, but it will sustain the life of the ball maker a day at a time, for each ball produced and sold.
David Goldblatt, author of ‘The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football’ wrote
“Football is available to anyone who can make a rag ball and find another pair of feet to pass to. As if making a rag ball were a simple matter… rather, it is emblematic of the inventiveness, diligence, creativity and single-minded focus of Africans in particular, but of poor communities everywhere".
This became apparent to Athol while conducting research for his project with Pelé. ‘Bolla de meia’ or ‘ball of socks’ has become one of the most emotive symbols in the story of Pelé’s life. When presented with a Barefootball, Pelé’s response was emotional and spontaneous – here was an opportunity to give back to the community in Africa. To this end, Pelé has expressed the wish that the proceeds from the sale of the Barefootball carrying his signature be donated to the Barefootball project.
Athol and the project’s partners aspire, through Barefootball, to extend the legacy of the project from the ball makers to their communities. Through the web site www.barefootball.com, the project’s global reach invites individuals to ‘play the game’ of sustaining life and re-using Africa’s waste by purchasing a Barefootball online.
