Many of our community members live in poverty, and by providing job opportunities through our Personal Development Pathway we ensure that no HBUFC adult player lives without an income.

An excellent example of our work in this area is the food delivery programme (which you can see here) which took place during our country’s Covid-19 lockdown. We managed to partner with various organisations to fund and deliver over 22 000 meals for the impoverished during this time – more than 6 million meals! The HBUFC Bus became a symbol of hope right around Hout Bay, delivering up to 500 food parcels a day.

Getting children and adults active is one of the most obvious ways the we can contribute towards fulfilling the SGDs. We offer football programmes from age 5 to adult, both competitive and social. Players also receive the opportunity to learn about nutrition and start to feel the benefits of weight loss and increased energy.

We offer various programmes that work towards improving the education of our players and members: work readiness training, after-school homework programmes and life skills workshops. In 2020 we have begun a programme to help our adult players without matric to get their school leaving certificates. We also engage with all local Hout Bay schools to encourage our players to take their studies seriously.

We have girls and boys playing in teams across all age groups, right the way up to our elite ladies and men’s teams. All senior players also undergo training in safeguarding the vulnerable, including education about Gender-Based Violence.

We strive to place every single adult footballer, male or female, in employment that matches their skills and interests. HBUFC subsidises salaries to ensure a living wage is received by all players – have a look at our Community Hub Programme to see examples of our work placements within local businesses.

Our Ubuntu programme provides volunteers and interns from overseas with the opportunity to meet and live with local community members, as well as working together on projects. In addition, HBUFC is a focal point for community-wide interaction across cultures and classes, as can be seen in the diverse and united supporter base at matches, and in all teams.

Our teams are regularly involved in beach, field and river cleanups in an effort to support our environment and reduce our carbon footprint.