Welcome

Project Front Foot provides kit, coaching and age group matches for the children of Mumbai’s Dharavi slum during the November to May season.

Partnered by the Dharavi-based NGO, Reality Gives, and sponsored by Allcargo Logistics, Project Front Foot launched The Dharavi Cricket Academy in November 2015.

The Academy runs morning and afternoon coaching sessions three days a week for U12, U14 and U16 age groups at the Indian Gymkhana Ground, King’s Circle.

In addition to our work in Dharavi, we provide kit packages to schools, orphanages, sports clubs, hospitals and village communities in and around Maharashtra through our Rural Schools Initiative.

During the summer months we run a UK-wide kit appeal. Tapping into the recycling culture of Dharavi, we have received generous donations from across the cricketing community.

Thanks to the support of British Airways we have, since the autumn of 2009, taken over two tons of clothing and equipment to Mumbai.

Children’s participation in sport is a key component of their education and personal development. Our aim, through cricket, is to provide increased opportunities for the disadvantaged boys and girls of Dharavi and beyond.

More About Project Front Foot

Project Front Foot was founded in 2009 and has been a UK registered charity since 2011. The project spent a decade in Mumbai establishing a cricket academy with coaches, net sessions, and age group matches for the youngsters of Dharavi slum.

In the process, and with the support of British Airways, we took over four tons of denoted clothing and equipment to Mumbai. While the Dharavi children remained the project’s flagship work, the surplus equipment saw us establish our Rural Schools Initiative. Between the years 2009 and 2018, and with kit packages of wicket sets, bats, and balls, we were able to support 150 schools, orphanages, and sporting projects around Maharashtra.

In 2019 we stepped back from India to concentrate our efforts on supporting refugee cricketers in Germany through the provision of much needed clothing and kit. In so doing, we added our own layer to the work of those involved in Integration through Sport. The influx of refugees in the last four years has seen Project Front Foot expand its area of support to include the UK, France, Portugal, and Lebanon.

While the project administration is year-round and includes a quarterly newsletter, social media updates, and contact with donor clubs and individuals, the key times in our year are autumn and spring. At the cricket season’s September end, we embark on a countrywide collection of kit donations. The clothing and equipment is sorted, stored for the winter, and then distributed to beneficiary clubs and projects in the spring prior to the start of the new season.

In the past, the project has either been self-funded or reliant on donations from friends. However, as the project has grown so too have our costs of van hire, driver insurance, ferry tickets, and fuel. Our major costs during the last project year centred on £750 for our autumn kit collections and £1750 for our four-day distribution road trip to Germany and France. With these costs likely to rise still further we have had to look for another income source. In an effort to add a further two years to the project’s working life, we have set a figure of £5,000 as our Go Fund Me target. If you would like to assist our ever-expanding refugee support work, then do please donate. Current project news, views and pictures can be found by going to our Project Front Foot Facebook page.

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