Project: Nacro volunteers attending Ballance 2006 in Germany Mission: To promote tolerance and integration through football Funding: 9,000 from Ballance
On Saturday, five young volunteers and four staff from crime-reduction charity Nacro will be among the thousands of football fans cheering England on against Paraguay in Frankfurt.
The volunteers, aged 18 to 23, were invited because of their involvement in Ballance, a project to promote tolerance and integration among young people across Europe through the beautiful game.
The Nacro group will join about 140 other volunteers from similar organisations in Poland, Italy, Norway, France and Germany that use football to promote fair play.
The volunteers were selected because of their long-term commitment to the charity's community sports projects. About 500 volunteers help about 15,000 young people who are either at risk of crime or have been victims of crime at 35 Nacro sports projects, which are heavily funded by the Football Foundation.
Ballance was established as a not-for-profit enterprise shortly after Germany was asked to host the World Cup. Because Nacro has been involved from its early days the young volunteers, who are from projects in Essex and Suffolk, were told they would have the opportunity to go to Germany, watch a World Cup game and take part in a festival in Frankfurt a couple of years ago. But they had no idea they would get to see England until December's draw.
"The volunteers work with us on almost a daily basis," says Ian Hands, national football partnerships manager at Nacro. "They are committed helpers who have been to Germany before, but they have been excited ever since the draw was made."
