Africa benefits from Sir Bobby Robson.
Posted on June 14th, 2010 | 288 Comments |
We are all aware of the loss of Bobby Robson, the loss of a man like that cannot simply be forgotten. The pure outpouring of grief, not just around Tyneside but also around the football world, is something that will live long in the memory of many fans. St James’ Park turned into a shrine in the week after his death as fans from all walks of life, from different clubs and even different countries, left their own tribute to one of the greatest English managers of recent time. These tributes came in the form of bunches of flowers, teddy bears, scarves, football shirts, anything that people felt they wanted leave in show of a tribute to the man who took us into the Champions League and brought joy to the people he knew and met.
Those are the scenes that still astound me today, the sight of St James Park (as pictured) being transformed into a place of worship, a place to pay respect to someone. People were very willing to show their appreciation for one of their own, but what has happened to those tributes now?
Well thanks to The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, all those shirts and teddy bears that were left as a tribute have found a new home in some of the most under-privileged parts of Africa. It was first covered by the BBC who filmed the occasion, which you can watch here, but following on from that, Bobby Robson’s son, Mark, has been talking about the whole project on the club’s official site.
Mark Robson said;
“We had a very successful week, and visited some desperate places. Fortunately on our travels we had the assistance of the British High Commission in Nairobi without whom the trip would not have been possible.”
“It is difficult to describe the feelings on handing out such things to these people. The school we went to in Kibera had 530 kids, 438 of which are orphans, and a lot are also HIV positive.”
“As well as this trip, my brother Paul went to Liberia with CAFOD to hand out the shirts, KitAid also took several boxes to Tanzania and Gambia. Basically every shirt/scarf/teddy bear that was left after Dad died made it to a child in Africa.”
A heart-warming story, and just the kind of thing that Sir Bobby would have wanted. It will ensure a little slice of Tyneside lives on in Africa, all because of the charity that his name was used for. Kind of puts things in perspective really, doesn’t it?
Two former teams of the great man meet on the first anniversary of his death at St James’ Park as Newcastle play host to PSV Eindhoven on the 31st of July, but don’t expect any great fanfare with celebrities playing football and such. It will just be about two sets of fans, and perhaps more besides, coming together to pay tribute to a genuinely great man.
RIP Bobby, but your memory lives on.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
What a great idea!
Bobby woulda loved this.
It’s just sad that these kids have nothing in their lives.
I’m moved.