LONDON, March 3, 2009 - The passers-by stopped and stared as Laureus World Sports Academy member Sir Bobby Charlton posed for photographs outside the Palace of Westminster dressed up in the armoured chest protector and helmet of a member of a landmines removal squad.
People queued up to shake the hand of the England World Cup-winning footballer and to ask him why he was dressed in such unusual garb in the heart of London. The answer was that Charlton was about to make a presentation to UK members of parliament about the evils of landmines and to ask them for their support in his mission to improve means of detection.
Charlton visited the Spirit of Soccer landmines awareness project in Sarajevo, Bosnia in August 2005, which was supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. By providing football coaching and mine risk education to children and young adults, the project has been able to affect positively the attitude of Bosnia's young people to the threat of landmines. Then in July 2007, he visited a second Spirit of Soccer project in Northern Cambodia, also supported by Laureus, where three decades of war have left landmines littering the countryside. As a consequence Cambodia has one of the highest rates of physical disability of any country in the world. Landmines claim new victims daily.
Sir Bobby Charlton said: "I accepted the invitation to go to Bosnia and Cambodia and no doubt I'll be going somewhere else soon because this is such an important thing. In Bosnia there were mines everywhere and children were losing their legs and losing their life and I thought this is ridiculous. At the rate they are clearing mines it may take 200 years in Bosnia. Something must be done to stop it.
"I found that children were told not to go into certain areas because there were mines, but they loved their football and they were prepared to take the risk. They were going into minefields and they were being killed and losing their limbs. Spirit of Soccer decided to do coaching sessions on the pitches that had been cleared and at the end of it the kids were all taught what to look for and what to do in an emergency if they ever came across a mine."
On his visit to Cambodia, Charlton met a young man clearing mines with a metal detector who turned out to be from a company in Manchester, England. When he returned to the UK, Charlton also discovered that another Manchester company, Rapiscan, was expert in the technology of x-ray security screening systems at airports.
He said: "You see Rapiscan at airports and their scanners stop people from taking drugs and weapons on to planes and I thought surely if they can do that, then they can detect mines as well. We have talked to professors from Manchester and Lancaster Universities to try and find a better way of detecting mines and some of the responses and results that we're getting at the moment are really heart-warming."
Charlton, who is a Director of English Premier League club Manchester United, said he had received support from club manager Alex Ferguson and all the players at Old Trafford. "We have had mine safety warnings and we have had pictures taken of the players and they are delighted to support this. Any club in the world would. If you're a footballer one of the worst things that can ever happen is you lose your leg. This is happening to these little kids without them even having the chance to be a footballer."
Sir Bobby Charlton was supported at his presentation by fellow Laureus World Sports Academy members Sean Fitzpatrick and Daley Thompson and the event was hosted by Rob Flello, Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent South.
Rob Flello said: "It's appalling that we can use a weapon that has limitless victims and has no discrimination whatsoever. It is something that is there to maim, to kill indiscriminately. I think Sir Bobby's campaign is brilliant because it brings his charisma to a very, very important issue and I applaud him and all the other organisations that are working in this area doing what is very dangerous work but absolutely vital work."
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