Columnist Gasant Abarder Launches 're-boot' Initiative To Provide Football Boots For Underprivileged Children

Columnist Gasant Abarder has started the Re-Boot initiative, which aims to provide gifted underprivileged children with soccer boots in Cape Town's Woodstock in the Western Cape.

Abarders football journey began in his youth when he played for the Blackpool Sports Club in Salt River, a historic community club in Cape Town with ties to Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis and AmaZulu defender Tauriq Fielies .

His inspiration for the initiative came after receiving a call from a local children's home in need of soccer boots for boys joining Blackpool - where his love for sports started.

'I grew up in Woodstock and went to school in Salt River. No one in my family played sport and when I was 10, I was desperate to play a sport. It started in the summer of 1988 when I first joined Blackpool Sports Club playing baseball.

'My first pair of boots were hand-me-downs, and I loved it. My parents werent convinced I would stick to football, so they wanted me to try it out first. I now 37 years later play and coach the game. But Ill never forget that first pair of pre-loved boots.'