Duty of Care In Action – as seen in Cape Town

“Ian you are going to have a challenging few weeks ahead – you need something to look forward to; give yourself a break at the end of it.” It was a thought I had in January and is why I have found myself in Cape Town on a week’s holiday.

There are two people I know here and as I intended to travel on my own they were “the bridge” that got me to a city that has always been on my “bucket list.” I knew I’d get a Capetonians perspective, and I have had an insight into life here beyond the tourist perspective. I am grateful. 
 
One of my hosts is a friend of over 20 years standing, Norman Brook, a man I credit with getting me involved in the world of sport from the days when he was CEO of the (old) British Triathlon Association. He’s lived on the Cape since 2007 and now runs HOME | BrookSportConsulting offering advice to sport and sport for development organisations across Africa and internationally. My other host was born in Cape Town and lived here for 30 years before moving away and so she lived through the time when South Africa was in isolation because of the “apartheid era.” Two different lenses to look through at life in Cape Town. 

Both my hosts rightly have a concern for their personal safety being residents here, and I’ve heard the phrase ‘life is cheap’ many times whilst I have been here. I have been on alert as a consequence. I was told by the hotel I’m staying in that my laptop will be ok in the safe in my room. That’s four locks away from the street on the other side of a high wall topped with electric wires. Norman lives in a gated community in Hout Bay on the Cape, it’s very close to a sprawling township that we drove through, doors locked, no phones in sight. “I don’t do this often and I wouldn’t do it at night” said my host. His opinion was influenced by a house invasion in 2012 that resulted in Finn the White Swiss Shepherd dog then taking up residence. Finn has lots of big friends across the neighbourhood.    
 
The last time I was in South Africa staying near Johannesburg I visited a museum that looked at the history of the country from a local perspective. It was fascinating to be given this history lesson about colonial rule through a different lens than that of GCSE history taught in England in the 1970’s.  
 
Seeing this insight on South African history from another perspective made me curious and wanting to understand more about the country I’m staying in this time round. The obvious interest was about the impact on the country and its people who lived under the policies of the apartheid regime introduced by the National Party in 1948. Apartheid lasted until the 1990’s and ended with the election of Nelson Mandela. Norman took me to the District Six | Museum built to capture the memories of the people who lived there until their forced removal to clear the land for re-development for the benefit of the ‘white people’. Two things struck me. First the brutality of what people were prepared to do to fellow human beings and secondly that this all occurred in my lifetime. I was left cold and sad. There is obviously still tension here and strong class divides. The city is also the focus of immigration from other African countries, Europeans retiring for better weather and other South Africans coming from Johannesburg because of the dangers there. Cape Town is a city under pressure. 

Hout Bay United Football Community started with a group of people from different backgrounds in the town coming together for informal games of football by the harbour. This included a group of businessmen who subsequently set up the charitable football community in 2014 About Us – HBUFC . 
 
This is what not only Andrew Piley came across on holiday but so too Jurgen Klopp, who to this day has also has a direct involvement in supporting the club. Andrew Piley saw an opportunity to collaborate and connect the two deprived communities through the common bond of football and this has led to the creation of the Fleetwood Town International Football Academy at ‘The Dream Factory” in Hout Bay Dream Factory – HBUFC .

I have travelled to the other end of the world and through my own network in sport find myself connected to a significant part of my life. I was introduced to sport in Fleetwood, captained the Colts and played for the 1st XV at Fleetwood RUFC. I watched sport and volunteered there for the first time. I also saw the devastation of the town with the decline of the fishing industry. I was fortunate in that I was able to go to university and broaden my horizons away from my life on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, and I am very grateful now for something my younger self took for granted.

As I proceed through my personal journey in life I realise increasingly why I do what I do now. When I set up DOCIAsport in 2017 the “Duty of Care In Action” inspiration was the work I did with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson on her report for government. That was and is duty of care in action in sport (including the ‘people looking after the people’ such as coaches, senior leaders etc.) But the direction of travel has turned towards duty of care in action using sport in communities to create and leave a sustainable impact.  

This started initially with the successful pilot programme I ran for the Rugby Football League creating Community Wellbeing Hubs as a legacy for the Rugby League World Cup held in England in 2022. The definition of success turned from medals, cups, and trophies to something with social, environmental, and economic impact. Its why I am passionate about my role on the steering board of TackleLondon and the use of a rugby ball and coach mentors to offer children and young people a different path to entering the world of drugs, gangs and crime. So it is no surprise that I was so struck by the work of Hout Bay United Football Community using a football and coach mentors to promote opportunity for children and young people as well as social cohesion. I don’t know where this all takes me next but as a great friend back in England said to me this week “You were meant to come to Cape Town.” I think he’s right; it’s a milestone on this journey of mine. As my friend Norman said to me starting this off twenty years ago “Everything is worth the price of a cup of coffee” I’ll get the percolator on!