Football shirts signed by England hero Sir Trevor Brooking and treble winning 1999 Manchester United team are being auctioned in aid of a sports college’s work in South Africa.
The signed Manchester United, Celtic FC and replica 1975 and 1980 West Ham shirts have been donated by Sir Trevor and Ipswich manager Paul Jewell to raise money for the Bambisanani Partnership.
The partnership, between St Mary’s Catholic High School in Menston and Mnyakanya School in Kwa Zulu Natal, uses sport to promote education, health, global learning and leadership.
The Menston school is inviting people to make bids on the shirts.
Sir Trevor, known as a good friend of St Mary’s and the partnership, donated signed replica shirts from his FA Cup winning appearances for West Ham in 1975 and 1980.
And keen to support the project, Paul Jewell donated the Manchester United and Celtic shirts which were given to him in his testimonial year.
These include a shirt signed by the Manchester United side which won the 1999 European Cup, League title and FA Cup, and a Celtic FC shirt from the same season, in the Henrik Larson era.
St Mary’s assistant headteacher, David Geldart, founder of the Bambisanani Partnership said: “Our project in South Africa is making a significant difference to the lives of many people.
“Sport has proved to be a fantastic medium for helping promote education, health, global learning and leadership. During our visit in the summer, students from St Mary’s used sport to great effect to develop leadership skills with Zulu students and also teach reading.
“It is fantastic that Paul and Sir Trevor have donated these unique shirts to support our work. Yet again we are seeing how sport and people from sport can make a difference.”
Mnyakanya School is in the remote rural and extremely poor Nkandla region, where there is 90 per cent unemployment, a 60 per cent adult illiteracy rate and one in three of the adult population have Aids or are HIV positive.
The area has one of the highest percentages of Aids orphans in the world.
The shirts have been framed by the Art Works in Otley free of charge to support the work of the partnership.
To make an offer for any of the shirts, e-mail Jackie Ash at sports@stmarys.co.uk.
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