YOUNGSTERS in South Africa have received football shirts in time to celebrate the opening of the World Cup, thanks to generous punters at two county pubs.

Children, many living in poverty in tin shacks, shouted and jumped for joy when they were given colourful football shirts thanks to two Worcestershire pubs – the Perdiswell in Droitwich Road, Worcester, and the Swan Inn, Worcester Road, Upton Warren, near Bromsgrove.

The shirts were donated as part of a charity campaign called Project Fair Play.

Katherine Sparkes, a marketing manager for the Orchid Group, which owns the pubs, went out to South Africa to hand over the shirts – of which there were more than 18,500 donated by 100 pubs across the country.

She said: “The children were ecstatic, they were so excited. Football is a complete way of life for them.

“A lot of their houses were just tin shacks and they were doing everything they could to stop them falling down. They literally had nothing.”

Matt Gardner, pub manager at the Perdiswell, said: “Thank you to the customers for their support. It’s a fantastic achievement.”

The scheme kicked off in February with a shirt amnesty asking locals to donate unwanted kit and the two pubs were overwhelmed.Almost 500 shirts have been collected between the two sites thanks to the generosity of local customers.

Each of the donated shirts was washed, dried, counted, shrink-wrapped, sealed and packed before heading off to South Africa in time for the World Cup.

Representatives of the pub visited two projects – in Masiphumelele and Red Hill, near Cape Town, to see some of the projects for themselves. Shirts were also distributed throughout townships in Johannesburg.

In addition to the shirt amnesty, the pubs are raising money throughout the World Cup to fund sports projects for disadvantaged children.

Half the cash will help local children through UK charity KidsOut and the rest will go towards building a new sports ground at the Ukhanyo School in Masiphumelele. “Alive & Kicking” footballs, which carry health messages about HIV to help educate youngsters, will also be supplied.